Following the advice of Professor H. M. Jenkins, secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society (R.A.S) they employed Professor Henry J. Webb. In May 1886, Webb commenced the arduous task of converting the school into an esteemed college. Within two years an external examiner from the R.A.S. was including the following in his annual report;  “The questions were intentionally made of as practical a nature as possible, so that a lad that had been about a farm and knew his work practically would be able to score better marks than one who had only read text books. Attention must be made to the thoroughly good work done by the lads at Aspatria School. Some of their answers were so good and showed such an amount of acquaintance with the details of practical work as to earn full marks.” Webb began by reducing the fees to an affordable level, setting the annual charge for day pupils in a range of between £10 and £15; and fixed the charges for boarders at £45; both considerably less than the minimal charge of £150 at the Royal Agricultural College. The steady increase of students naturally necessitated a corresponding increase in boarding facilities. This was at first facilitated by renting Springfield House. The numbers however continued to increase and the accommodation was still insufficient. Webb resolved the situation in August 1890, when he purchased the combined property of Linden and Yarra House; and Jersey Cottage. He later combined the two adjoining houses to create one spacious building. The arrival of Henry Webb coincided with the British government adopting a new approach to agricultural education. In 1887, under the chairmanship of Sir Richard Paget, they instigated a Departmental Commission of the Privy Council to look into the working activities of Agricultural and Dairy Schools. Previous to this report, agriculture's only monetary support had come from grants awarded to maintain students sitting for the theoretical examination of the Science and Arts Department, South Kensington, London (the S. & A.D.). The commissioners were very critical and highlighted the national cost of inadequate agricultural education and poor dairy practice. When called to give evidence, Webb described his views as contrary to those held by contemporary authorities in Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Cambridge. These administrations, he argued, promoted only scientific and theoretic instruction at the expense of practical work. Webb described his prime objective as reinforcing theoretical knowledge with the practical experience gained from daily instruction on working farms. He also stressed the importance of educating people, irrespective of their age. Webb's advice appears to have carried influence, for the Commission recognised:  "The school at Aspatria is on a very different footing to the other institutions mentioned and is doing very good work in admitting students at lower fees.