Sally Dicketts has held senior posts in both secondary schools and further education. She became Principal at Milton Keynes College in 1996, and in 2003 became the first Principal of Oxford & Cherwell Valley College.

In 2010, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College took over the responsibility for running Reading College and in 2013 set up a UTC in Reading. In 2013 she became the first Chief Executive of Activate Learning, bringing together in one group, seven FE Colleges (Banbury & Bicester College, City of Oxford College and Reading College, Bracknell and Wokingham and Guildford College Group), 4 UTC’s (UTC Reading, UTC Oxfordshire, UTC Heathrow and UTC Swindon), two 11-18 secondary schools (Bicester and Theale Green), a studio school, a training provider delivering apprentices, training and consulting in the workplace and a specialist engineering training provider.  We also work Internationally and have 4 female colleges in Saudi Arabia, and work in China, India and Malaysia.