Hereward College of Further Education Ofsted Report

Full report

Information about the provider

• Located in Coventry, Hereward College (the college) is a very small general further education college with a specialist remit. It is a charity by exemption. The college offers residential on-site provision for 23 learners and day provision for 255 learners. The provision of courses from pre-entry level to level 3 incorporates specialist facilities and support staff for young people with a wide spectrum of types and complexity of disability and additional needs. The college training centre, Hereward Training, is based at the college, which offers health and social care apprenticeships, with currently 16 apprentices at intermediate level and 12 at advanced level. In addition, workplace learning and distance learning programmes account for around 90 learners. Around one in five college learners are of minority ethnic heritage and two thirds are male (the largest group).

What does the provider need to do to improve further?

• To improve the effectiveness of safeguarding, as a matter of urgency leaders should:
  • make sure that the staff responsible for safeguarding learners have a detailed knowledge of all aspects of safeguarding; implement fully the requirements of ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’; update the safeguarding policy and procedures accordingly and train all staff in their use
  • ensure that a senior manager immediately adopts the role of the designated safeguarding lead and undertakes the relevant training; improve staff’s ability to recognise risk to learners, including, peer-on-peer abuse, in all learning and residential settings
  • ensure that leaders and managers engage more regularly with a range of external professionals, accept constructive feedback and use it to inform swift and ongoing improvements to systems and procedures and to the identification and reporting practices; guided by professionals, undertake a risk assessment of the current cohort of learners, take quick and decisive action and monitor and measure the impact of the actions taken
  • evaluate the work previously undertaken to improve learners’ understanding of how to keep themselves safe; take the appropriate remedial action to ensure that those learners who are able to, have a thorough understanding of safeguarding and the actions to take if they have concerns.
• To ensure that the college meets its responsibility in relation to the ‘Prevent’ duty, as a matter of urgency leaders should:
  • make sure that governors and staff are trained and have a good understanding of the ‘Prevent’ duty; promote the duty to all learners and apprentices so that they have a clear understanding of the risks associated with extremism and radicalisation and a good understanding of British values; evaluate the effectiveness of the training and the promotion carried out.
• To improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for learners, leaders should:
  • ensure that teachers have high expectations of the progress that their learners are capable of in individual lessons and over time; improve the quality of targets set by teachers so that they focus specifically on what each learner needs to do to improve in discrete English lessons, ensure that teachers focus sufficiently on improving learners’ technical skills, including writing, spelling and use of punctuation in discrete mathematics lessons, ensure that teachers take into account learners’ varying abilities when planning assessment activities
  • ensure that teachers engage individual learning support staff (ILS) in the planning of learning and assessment and improve the levels of guidance and direction that they give to the ILS staff in lessons, so that they provide learners with the appropriate levels of support and help, to enable them to make the progress they are capable of.
• To improve the accuracy of the self-assessment judgements leaders should:
  • ensure that self-assessment takes into account the progress made in addressing the failings in relation to the ‘Prevent’ duty, and the impact of actions taken to strengthen safeguarding.
  • ensure that governors, learners, staff, parents, carers, professionals and employers are involved in the self-assessment process and use their feedback to inform continuous improvements to the provision, keep track of the actions taken and measure the improvements over time.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Since the previous inspection, there have been reported a number of alleged incidents of peer-on-peer abuse in the college’s day and residential provision. One or more of the alleged incidents remains under investigation by another agency. Ofsted has no powers to investigate incidents of this kind. Actions taken by the provider’s leaders and managers in response to the allegations were considered alongside the other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.
• Leaders and managers have failed in their duty to ensure that statutory requirements are met in relation to safeguarding and therefore learners are not safe. Leaders’ and managers’ reporting to governors on safeguarding is weak. Managers’ partnership working with local authority staff to improve the safeguarding of learners is unacceptable. Leaders and managers have not accepted the findings from the local authority’s investigations from the first alleged incident, and they have acted too slowly and with insufficient rigour to take remedial actions.
• Leaders and managers have not complied with the ‘Prevent’ duty. Their implementation of a ‘Prevent’ strategy has been too slow and is incomplete. The requirement for a strategy was reported at the previous inspection in January 2015, but it was not until January 2016 that governors approved this. Learners do not have a clear understanding of the risks associated with extremism and radicalisation. Too few staff and governors have been trained in the ‘Prevent’ duty.
• Governors, leaders and managers have underestimated the significance of a few serious weaknesses in self-assessment; for example, the lack of implementation of the ‘Prevent’ duty, and the insufficient scrutiny of the effectiveness of safeguarding. As a result, leaders’ and managers’ self-assessment of the overall effectiveness of the college is overgenerous and inaccurate.
• Governors, leaders and managers have not ensured that learners have a good enough understanding of British values.
• The recently appointed vice-principal for curriculum and quality has injected more rigour and challenge into the quality improvement process. Leaders now have an accurate understanding of the improvements required in teaching, learning and assessment. Leaders and managers have taken a number of remedial actions which have resulted in improvements; for example in the integration and development of learners’ English and mathematics skills across all of the curriculum pathways. However, these actions are too recent to have resulted in a consistently good standard of teaching, learning and assessment across all of the provision.
• Despite making changes and expending much effort to improve the apprenticeship provision, leaders and managers have not been able to sufficiently raise performance levels. Apprentices’ achievement rates remain well below the national rate.
• Leaders’ and managers’ collaborative work with local schools and employers is effective. Much of the curriculum is well planned to meet local and regional needs. The Learning for Life provision, for learners with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), was established as a result of identifying a local need with partners. However, the range of qualifications for learners with high needs does not yet include areas with real potential for employment, such as hospitality and retail.
• Leaders and managers do not analyse destination data sufficiently to identify the correlation between learners’ goals and aspirations on entry to the college, and their progression between course levels and their destinations. As a result, they are unable to evaluate fully the impact of provision and the quality of careers guidance on learners’ opportunities and outcomes after they leave college.
• Governors, leaders, managers and staff understand well the environment in which the college operates locally, regionally and nationally. They engage effectively in strategic planning, constantly reviewing external influences to identify options and seeking collaborative partnerships for sustaining the provision.
• Leaders and managers take learners’, parents’ and carers’ views seriously. They use the feedback well to inform improvement actions. However, the collection and use of feedback from employers in work-based provision is insufficient to inform the improvement of the provision.
• Governors and leaders benefit from sound management information and reports for many aspects of college operations. They use these well to assist in their governance and management of the college. Financial management is particularly strong, and the college has sustained healthy finances despite the recent changes to funding.
• Managers have established effective links with employers, which have resulted in a supported internship programme for learners and work-experience placements; these provide a small but growing cohort of learners with good opportunities to enter the workplace and develop new skills. As a result, just over half of the learners who completed their internship progressed into paid employment. In addition, to assist further with ensuring that learners gain an appropriate experience of work, college staff provide workplace employees with training on improving their awareness of learning difficulties and disabilities, and several employees are training to be mentors to learners as part of their own continuous professional development.
• Leaders, managers and staff promote equality and diversity effectively across all activities. Leaders carefully monitor the achievements of different groups of learners and have effectively reduced gaps in almost all cases, with appropriate plans in place for the remainder. During the inspection, learners demonstrated good levels of behaviour, high levels of mutual respect for staff and their peers and a strong willingness to learn.

The governance of the provider

• Governors have failed to execute the key duties in respect of safeguarding learners and complying with the ‘Prevent’ duty. Governors have not given sufficient priority to overseeing procedures for safeguarding learners. They have not challenged the slow pace at which the ‘Prevent’ duty strategy has been implemented; they have not challenged the rate at which managers have taken remedial action as a result of the alleged incidents of abuse at the college.
• Governors provide clear leadership through strategic planning. They contribute high levels of expertise, local knowledge and valuable external experience nationally of further education and of provision for learners with high needs.
• The college benefits from very good financial management in which governors play a significant role. They provide a relentless focus on sustaining financial viability. High standards and strong discipline are maintained in planning, risk analysis, internal audit and budgeting. Governors provide suitable support and challenge across many key performance areas.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding learners are ineffective.
• The culture of safeguarding is weak. Inspectors have concerns about managers’ ability to recognise risk and safeguard all learners.
• Leaders and managers have dealt with only a minority of alleged incidents appropriately through timely referral and notification; managers are working in partnership with external agencies to improve staff’s knowledge, understanding and reporting practices. However, the systems and procedures to deal with such incidents are ineffective.
• Managers have failed to recognise sufficiently the risks linked to the mix of learners who attend the college. They did not take quick and decisive action to address this concern. The local authority conducted an investigation into the first alleged incident but governors, leaders and managers have not accepted the findings.
• Although leaders and managers have overseen activities with the majority of learners who have the ability to understand safeguarding, to help them to keep themselves safe, they have not evaluated the effectiveness of these activities.
• Following the previous alleged incidents, the leaders and managers have recently amended their system for reporting safeguarding concerns to the designated safeguarding lead (DSL). However, staff at the college have not yet undertaken training on this new system, and so there has been no measurable impact.
• The staff responsible for safeguarding do not demonstrate a sufficiently full and detailed knowledge of all aspects of safeguarding; their knowledge of key documents, ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’ is limited. The role of the DSL does not comply with the latest requirements of ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
• The college’s recently updated safeguarding policy does not include a section on peer-on-peer abuse. Therefore, leaders and managers have not provided staff with essential information and guidance to enable them to take appropriate action to safeguard learners.
• Leaders and managers have not complied with the ‘Prevent’ duty. Too few staff, governors, apprentices and learners have been trained in ‘Prevent’ and have insufficient understanding of their responsibilities in this area. Learners and apprentices, who were interviewed by inspectors, do not have a clear understanding of the risks associated with extremism and radicalisation.
• Arrangements for the recruitment and selection of staff and the monitoring and investigating of complaints are robust and effective.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• In the majority of lessons, teaching is not sufficiently challenging, because teachers do not have high enough expectations of learners’ abilities. Teachers carefully assess and identify learners’ abilities and additional support needs at the beginning of their learning programme. However, they do not use this detailed and accurate information well enough when planning lessons and assessment activities. Consequently, teachers do not sufficiently build on or develop further learners’ knowledge and skills.
• Teachers do not engage individual learning support (ILS) staff sufficiently in the planning of learning and assessment. Too often, they do not direct ILS staff appropriately, particularly in lessons for learners of mixed ability. As a result, a few learners do not make the expected progress and too few exceed the expected levels of progress.
• Too often, teachers do not explain well enough to learners how they can improve further the standard of their work. Teachers do provide learners with positive praise and verbal feedback. However, in the majority of cases, this is perfunctory and not skilfully targeted to enable learners to identify their key areas for development.
• Teachers and ILS staff do not use questioning well enough to draw out sufficiently detailed answers from learners or to enable them to reflect on their prior learning. Too often they do not provide learners with enough time to answer their questions, and in a minority of instances, answer the question for learners. As a result, learners do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Teachers’ recording of learners’ progress is insufficiently precise or robust. Teachers set targets that are often too broad and centred around the achievement of qualifications. They do not sufficiently focus on individual learners’ needs and aspirations. However, on Foundation Pathway, teachers set clear targets, using small steps that learners can understand and achieve. As a result, learners make at least the expected progress in lessons. In art and sport, learners’ class work folders contain their personal and academic targets; learners accurately record the progress they have made against the targets at the end of each lesson and so they know how well they are progressing.
• In discrete English lessons, teachers do not develop sufficiently learners’ skills in writing, their correct use of punctuation or skimming and scanning strategies to improve their reading and comprehension. Too often, teachers use learning activities which learners find dull and uninspiring. In discrete mathematics lessons, staff do not take into account learners’ varying abilities when planning assessment activities. As a result, those learners who are more confident and more able are insufficiently challenged.
• Apprentices’ progress towards achieving their functional skills is poor. This is mostly due to a historic lack of availability of specialist functional skills teachers, and has led to apprentices failing to complete in the planned timescale.
• On curriculum pathways at all levels, vocational teachers skilfully develop and broaden learners’ mathematics and English skills. For example, in an art lesson on the Discovery Pathway, learners applied new skills well when calculating endurance and strength measures and then converting them into calories; in media, learners used the technical vocabulary ‘mis-en-scene’ accurately when describing the need to place an object in the correct setting before taking a photograph.
• In many lessons, learners benefit from the links that teachers make to the workplace; teachers often promote the skills that learners will need to develop in order to gain and sustain employment. Job coaches prepare learners well for work experience; learners engage in pre-placement learning activities in lessons and in the additional activities that take place across the college. However, too few learners engage in external work-experience placements, which restricts the achievement of their potential.
• Learners on distance-learning courses make good progress; assessors provide them with detailed and thorough assessment feedback on written work, which includes the areas for improvement and the correction of spellings, punctuation and grammar. As a result, learners develop good levels of English skills.
• Apprentices extend their subject knowledge and make good progress towards achieving their technical certificate, as a result of effective on- and off-the-job training and assessment. Apprentices, work-based learners and distance learners benefit from well-qualified and experienced assessors. Assessors set apprentices and learners challenging targets, which support the development of new skills and help them to achieve their learning goals.
• Teachers and ILS staff skilfully use technology in almost all lessons to encourage learners to improve their use of digital technology, and to support and assess learning. For example, learners take part in the completion of well-prepared online quizzes; learners in art and design use 3D printing equipment to produce high-quality work.
• Learners work harmoniously with their peers in whole-class and group-work activities. They listen carefully and respect each other’s responses or views, even if they do not agree. Peer support is effective and well established in most lessons.
• Many teachers carefully plan for and celebrate diversity well in lessons. For example, in an art lesson on the Discovery Pathway, learners understood the differences and accurately reflected the colours and tones of an individual’s skin when painting a portrait.
• A few teachers effectively engage learners in discussions and activities that help learners better understand how to stay safe. For example, in an English GCSE lesson, learners read about ‘sexting’ and discussed the implications of engaging in this.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Inadequate

• Teachers and learners adopt safe working practices in lessons and the workplace. During the inspection, learners told inspectors that they felt safe in lessons, at college and at work; they said that they would speak to the progress coaches or mentors if they felt unsafe or worried. However, learners did not know the full college process for reporting their concerns. A number of alleged incidents have taken place at the college since the previous inspection. Learners do not know how to keep themselves safe from the risks of radicalisation and extremism. Safeguarding is judged to be ineffective. Therefore, learners’ personal development, behaviour and welfare are judged to be inadequate.
• In a minority of sessions, teachers do not sufficiently focus on reinforcing the correct safeguarding practices with learners. For example, in an English functional skills lesson, the teacher asked learners what they would do if a friend shared ‘a secret worry’. One learner said that they would ‘keep it confidential’. The teacher stated that it might not be possible to keep it confidential. However, they did not take the opportunity to explore the matter further or provide the class with information regarding the correct procedures to follow.
• Learners and apprentices do not have a clear understanding of British values or the risks associated with extremism and radicalisation. Learners engage in a wide range of additional enrichment activities, covering topics such as anti-bullying, healthy lifestyles, money-management skills, and first aid. However, the first enrichment session to focus on the ‘Prevent’ duty is not planned until November.
• Staff work closely with learners to help them to improve their self-confidence and their problem-solving and speaking and listening skills. For example, learners are well supported by staff to lead working groups, such as a group to promote men’s issues and the newly created, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group ‘Equal Love’. In addition, learners take part in a ‘Democracy Challenge’. They visit the local council buildings to question councillors and to run a virtual council, in order to understand better how local government works.
• Despite providing employers with flexible times for apprentices to attend functional skills lessons, apprentices’ attendance at these is poor. As a result, apprentices do not sufficiently develop their English and mathematics skills and they make slow progress towards achieving their qualification.
• Managers have established effective links with employers. They have developed a number of new internship programmes designed to enable learners to develop further their employability skills and to gain ‘real’ work experience. A range of local and national companies offer 18 learners the opportunity to attend a full-time, year-long supported internship. These include, Severn Trent Water; National Grid; Airwave, Whitefriars Housing and the University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire. Learners enjoy the internship experience; last year just over half of the small cohort gained employment at the end of the programme.
• Staff and employers carry out thorough risk assessments prior to learners starting an internship programme; all learners engage in a comprehensive induction programme. Apprentices have a good knowledge of health and safety in the workplace practices and the related safeguarding issues. Apprentices working in challenging care service environments, undertake MAPPA (restraint) training to help protect themselves and their clients from harm.
• Learners develop the appropriate skills to help to prepare them for the next steps and for employment. For example, in the Discovery Pathway information technology lesson, learners worked together well to plan, design and produce a website for the parents and carers of children who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The project brief and the specified timeframe were set by the external client.
• Employers value the improvement in learners’ and apprentices’ technical and employability skills, which enhance their ability to work effectively, in particularly challenging workplace settings. For example, apprentices are supported by employers to develop additional care skills such as dementia care. Apprentices undertake advanced care roles, such as skin management, which enhance and improve the health of their clients.
• Staff manage learners’ behaviour effectively both in lessons and around the college. The majority of teachers challenge the low levels of inappropriate behaviour and they support learners to manage better their own behaviour. For example, in a music technology Explorer Pathway lesson, the teacher stopped the lesson to deal with a disruption caused by two learners. They asked the class to explore the impact of the poor behaviour on the lesson and linked it very well to the expectations of employers in the workplace. The teacher had appropriately high expectations of the group and reinforced the importance of respect for each other.
• Learners have access to good-quality information advice and guidance through well-qualified specialist staff at the college, and through a range of employment support agencies, including working with the local authorities in each learner’s home area. As a result, learners are confident and well informed when making choices regarding their next steps.

Outcomes for learners

Requires improvement

• The college’s own data suggests that around half of the learners who left college last year progressed onto voluntary work, a supported internship or further learning in other institutions; three learners progressed onto higher education to study media and information technology. However, only around one in 10 learners progressed into paid employment, which is well below the college target. Managers have accurately identified that too few learners, who identified moving into supported and or independent living as an aspiration when joining the college, achieved their goal.
• Most learners with high needs make at least the expected progress on the Foundation, Discovery and Explorer Pathways. A minority make better than expected progress towards achieving their qualifications and developing further their vocational skills. On the non-accredited courses, teachers set learners individualised and challenging targets; staff carefully monitor learners’ progress towards achieving the targets. As a result, most learners make at least the expected progress. However, on discrete English and mathematics courses, too often, teachers set targets that are too broad and too easy for learners to achieve, often accrediting learners with the skills that they already have.
• The majority of workplace learners on diploma and distance-learning courses make at least the expected progress. Too many apprentices do not make sufficient progress toward achieving their functional skills qualifications; as a result, the rate of achievement within the agreed timescale is poor.
• The standard of learners’ vocational work is high at all levels in art, sports, music technology, and media. For example, in sport at level 2, learners exhibit a good knowledge of technical language and they develop their higher-level debating and thinking skills very well.
• The standard of apprentices’ and workplace learners’ practical skills and knowledge is good. For example, in a dementia care setting, an apprentice demonstrated communication and intervention skills; they effectively controlled a very challenging situation where clients became physically agitated. The apprentice successfully protected both clients and co-workers from harm and safely de-escalated the situation.
• Teachers and assessors encourage learners to develop further and improve their speaking skills in vocational lessons, at work placements and at internships. As a result, many learners become more articulate. On discrete English courses, teachers do not focus sufficiently on improving learners’ technical writing skills, and particularly for the most able learners. Their expectations are often too low. As a result, learners’ spelling requires improvement and their use of apostrophes is often incorrect.
• Learners and apprentices enjoy their learning experience at the college and in the workplace. Staff and learners treat each other with mutual respect throughout the college.
• Learners develop good personal skills that prepare them well for life after they leave college. A small but growing cohort of learners undertake a year-long, full-time internship with local employers. Job coaches effectively support learners to engage in sufficiently challenging and purposeful activities when attending an internship. Consequently, learners develop transferable employability skills and an in-depth knowledge of workplace practices. As a result, in 2015, just over half of the learners progressed from an internship onto paid employment.
• Learners’ achievement of accredited qualifications is high. Workplace-learning and distance-learning achievement rates are high. Although the number of apprentices who have achieved the full framework has improved significantly, the overall achievement rate is low and remains well below the national rate.
• Functional skills achievement rates for learners aged 16 to 18 are well above those of learners in other providers, and are high at entry level; achievement for the smaller cohort of adults is low at level 1.
• A few learners study towards achieving a GCSE qualification; all of the learners made good or better progress and achieved an A* to C grade in mathematics, and just over half of the learners made good progress and achieved an A* to C grade in English.
• Managers carefully monitor and compare the progress made by different groups of learners. There are no significant differences in the achievement of most groups of learners. However, the achievement rates of the small cohort of children looked after and care leavers are well below their peers.

Types of provision

Provision for learners with high needs Inadequate

• The college provides full-time learning programmes at pre-entry level to level 3 for around 270 learners with high needs; 26 learners are in residential provision. The programmes include the Foundation Pathway for learners working at pre-entry and entry levels 1 and 2, the Explorer Pathway at entry level 3 and level 1, the Discovery Pathway at levels 2 and 3 and the Learning for Life Provision, for learners who have PMLD.
• This provision is inadequate because the safeguarding of learners is ineffective.
• Too few learners move on to employment when they leave. Although the college offers courses at all levels from pre-entry to level 3, the range of qualifications does not include areas with real potential for employment, such as hospitality and retail. A programme of internships is successful in getting a small cohort of learners into paid employment; too few learners with high needs engage in regular work-experience placements.
• Teachers do not sufficiently personalise vocational courses on the Explorer and Discovery Pathways to the needs and abilities of individual learners. In mixed-ability groups following the same qualification, teachers do not regularly prepare more demanding work for the most able learners. Equally, learners who struggle to understand do not always have the opportunity to work carefully through the stages leading up to a task that would enable them to understand it better and to complete it successfully.
• Teachers’ planning of learning on courses leading to a recognised qualification is not sufficiently effective. Too few teachers plan lessons that clearly identify the skills to be developed for the different group members. On occasion, planning consists only of a series of activities to be completed. This leads to difficulties in recording individuals’ progress. Learners’ targets are often simply those specified by the qualification and do not focus sufficiently on learners’ individual skills development needs. Teachers often set learners targets that are far too large and broad to be assessed such as ‘continue to develop self-confidence’.
• Too few teachers are aware of the importance of solving learners’ difficulties with handwriting by substituting paper and pens with computer tablets as a matter of course. As a result, learners’ progress is too often hindered.
• A skilled and experienced team of specialist therapists provides learners with very effective assessment of prior achievement and support, from before they join the college to when they leave. Physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and teachers work closely together to ensure that learners get the special equipment, the technological aids and the regular treatments they need to make the expected progress and enjoy their learning.
• Learners receive strong support from their individual progress coaches who help them with any practical or personal difficulties, which might otherwise disrupt their learning. In addition, mentors provide each learner with advice and encouragement to enable them to progress and succeed on their chosen course. Counsellors and the college educational psychologist provide specialist support to learners who need help with managing their anxieties or behaviour.
• The college’s peer support initiative, originally set up to eradicate bullying and harassment, now provides learners with excellent additional opportunities to develop their skills and understanding outside of their learning programmes. Peer supporters receive substantial training in providing non-judgemental support to other learners. They develop new skills in arranging and presenting to schools and other colleges, speaking in public and successful fundraising. As a result, their confidence and social skills increase rapidly and they now play an integral part at all the college’s open events.
• Foundation Pathway learners enjoy a carefully designed programme, tailored to each learner’s individual needs, that enables them to develop skills important in their adult lives, such as the ability to make choices about the use of their leisure time or how to direct those staff who assist them with practical tasks and personal care.
• Learners develop well their ability to communicate in a wide variety of ways. Those who use speech enjoy learning and using new vocabulary. Teachers in art and design provide learners with a particularly stimulating and enjoyable learning experience. Teachers’ recording of the very small steps that show learners’ progress is effective.

Provider details

Unique reference number 130474 Type of provider General further education college Age range of learners Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year 16+ 572 Principal/CEO Sheila Fleming Telephone number 024 7646 1231 Website www.hereward.ac.uk

Provider information at the time of the inspection

Main course or learning programme level Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 or above Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) Number of apprentices by apprenticeship level and age 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 64 134 41 253 10 29 - - Intermediate Advanced Higher 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 5 27 1 22 - - 16–19 - 19+ - Total - Number of traineeships

Number of learners aged 14 to 16 Number of learners for which the provider receives high-needs funding - 278 Funding received from: Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors:

None

Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the vice principal for curriculum and quality, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected within the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider.

Inspection team

Denise Olander, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Helen Humphreys Harpreet Nagra Lesley Talbot-Strettle Derrick Spragg Pippa Wainwright Richard Deane

Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector