The Principal awarded an OBE for her outstanding contribution to education

Rachael Hennigan OBE

Graduate: Physical Education Sport and Dance, 2002

A proud LJMU graduate and now honorary fellow, Rachael Hennigan OBE has been the Principal and Chief Executive at Hugh Baird College since 2020.

At the heart of everything Rachael does is a simple belief: that every learner deserves opportunity and hope for the future.

But how did she get to where she is now? And what have her career highlights been?

Why did you decide to study at university, and why LJMU?

I chose to study at LJMU because I wanted the best of both worlds. I still wanted to stay close to my family—I’m from Bootle, so only about 25 minutes away—but I also wanted the independence of living away.

I was really lucky that my mum encouraged me to move into halls, which gave me that opportunity to meet new people, learn new things and fully experience university life. At the same time, I could still go home on Sundays, have a home-cooked dinner and get my washing done, so it felt like the perfect balance!

You’re now Principal CEO of Hugh Baird College, was that always the goal?

It definitely wasn’t something I always planned—I didn’t grow up thinking, ‘That’s going to be my job.’ But I’ve been really fortunate to have people around me who encouraged and supported me along the way.

I was fortunate to have a really good teacher called Penny Beard who studied at LJMU, so she was another key factor as to why I studied at LJMU. She was infectious. She’s a real advocate for teaching and she had a massive impact on me and made me believe that actually university was a possibility.

I was the first person in my family to go to university, so it wasn’t something we talked about all the time or necessarily saw as the obvious next step. But meeting Penny made me realise what was possible. She was so passionate about teaching and she had built a life I admired, —it made me believe in the power of education.

So I studied at LJMU and from there my career path has been quite varied. I started working in a school for students who had been excluded, which was very much a baptism of fire in my early career. From there, I worked in different schools, including at St Julie’s, and progressed into post-16 work.

I’ve worked all around the country but always lived in Liverpool. Again, I’m a home bird, and if I ever moved out of the city, I think my mum would hunt me down.

Being in Liverpool has always felt right, I studied at Hugh Baird College so to now work there as Principal it’s a real full circle moment.

What have been your career highlights?

I know it sounds really cliche, but probably every day observing people really impacting our young people and older people's lives is a fortunate position to be in. To be surrounded by amazing colleagues who are really trying to make a difference, not just to individuals, but to our communities, giving people better lives. I'd say that's a real career highlight.

A year ago, we also got Ofsted Outstanding, which is something that I didn't know if we would ever achieve. It was an amazing accomplishment. And personally, being awarded an OBE, something like that was completely out of my thinking when I was growing up, so being recieving that and making my family so proud felt amazing.

Do you feel like you've had a moment in your life where you've been in the right place, right time?

I think I’ve probably had multiple moments like that and for me it’s right place, right time - right people.

I've been lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing people and they've fully supported me, I've stood on their shoulders a lot of the time.

I'd probably say the pivotal moment in my life was when my dad died when I was young, I was only nine. And so, my mum's focus wasn't necessarily on education, it was keeping us safe, keeping food on the table, and working really hard. And so, I wasn't a massive studier, I didn’t consider myself academically gifted, I failed my A-levels the first time and I remember thinking I should probably just go and get a job, but I didn't, I kept the faith.

That’s when I went to college and then the people around me, Penny Beard, my mum, they pushed me to go to university. So, I do genuinely believe that the people you surround yourself with, that sense of support, encouragement and collaboration from them is so important and without a doubt can make such a huge difference to your life.