Bishop Burton College Ofsted Report

Full report

Information about the provider

• Bishop Burton College is a specialist land-based college, with its main campus in the village of Bishop Burton in the East Riding of Yorkshire and another campus at Riseholme in Lincolnshire. It draws learners primarily from the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North and South Yorkshire, and the city of Hull. The college offers courses in all key sectors of land-based work including agriculture, animal and countryside management, environment, horticulture and equine studies. It has also developed specialisms in sport and public service. It hosts the sporting academies of Hull City football club and Hull’s two rugby league clubs.
• The unemployment rate in the local enterprise partnership (LEP) area that covers the East Riding of Yorkshire is lower than that for the rest of England, while in the Greater Lincolnshire LEP it is higher. The proportion of people without a level 2 qualification is higher in Greater Lincolnshire than in the rest of England. In the East Riding of Yorkshire, the proportion is lower.

What does the provider need to do to improve further?

• Teachers and assessors should plan additional activities and offer extra qualifications to their most able learners on study programmes to enable them to achieve high grades; and extend apprentices’ skills beyond the expectations for competence set out in the apprenticeship qualification frameworks.
• Managers should provide training and support to ensure that teachers and assessors are competent and confident enough to teach mathematics from entry level up to GCSE. They should also ensure that there are enough teaching staff in place to cover all taught classes, so that learners benefit from the consistency and continuity that they need to develop their skills in mathematics.
• Managers and teachers should strengthen and widen the range of activities that they use to make learners fully aware of the risks posed by radicalisation and extremism, and increase learners’ level of understanding of these risks while they are at college.
• Managers need to devise a range of measures in the college’s quality improvement plan so they can assess when actions have been successful.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The principal and senior managers have energetically and successfully pursued their vision of creating a high-performing college. Governors and the senior leadership team have implemented an ambitious plan to provide exceptional facilities for training and research. All staff promote a positive culture of learning and respect that motivates learners to achieve.
• Managers continue to manage the performance of staff effectively, as identified at the last inspection. They accurately identify the small minority of staff whose teaching is weak or who do not enable learners to achieve their potential. They tackle this underperformance in a very timely way, supporting those teachers who respond positively and rapidly removing those who do not.
• Managers have improved the systems for assuring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They now use information from observations of teaching to identify accurately areas for improvement, and put in place effective plans for the future development of staff.
• The principal plays an active role in representing the college’s interests across a wide range of strategic partnerships. As a result, the college’s curriculum addresses the priorities of three local enterprise partnerships and four local authorities, and the training needs of national and regional employers. For example, learners train in precision crop-drilling techniques for agribusiness, and work with elite sports teams based at the college to learn about the latest nutrition and sports massage regimes.
• Senior leaders and managers develop practical policies to enable equality of opportunity for their learners. Generous support for subsidised transport ensures that learners from disadvantaged communities in Hull can attend the college. Extensive additional learning support staff and skilled specialist staff support the progression of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
• Senior leaders recognise that rapid improvements in English and mathematics are an urgent priority. Following the recent appointment of a new manager for this area, attendance has improved and a higher proportion of learners have achieved higher grades in English GCSE. Progress in improving learners’ results in mathematics has not been rapid enough.
• Staff participate positively in a wide range of staff development activities, including sharing best practice. However, this work has not yet overcome all the weaknesses in teaching and learning identified in the last inspection. Staff still do not challenge the most able learners and apprentices to achieve their full potential, as recognised by managers’ own analysis of the quality of lessons.
• In the self-assessment review and quality improvement plan, managers accurately identify areas for improvement; however, they focus too much on the implementation of processes rather than whether learners are doing better as a result of the actions taken.

The governance of the provider

• Governors are committed to the success of the college. They are honest about the college’s strengths and areas for improvement. Governors ensure that they have the right mix of skills on the governing board and are careful to plan the succession of new members, allowing them to provide effective support and challenge.
• The role of link governor is a very effective way of improving governors’ understanding of the work of the college. For example, it enables them to gain a good understanding of their statutory safeguarding duty, and to become familiar with actions that managers take to improve teaching, learning and assessment.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Appropriate policies and procedures effectively promote safe working practices in classrooms, workshops and the workplace. Learners feel safe, know how to report concerns, and are confident that staff would respond quickly and sensitively.
• Managers have trained all staff in the ‘Prevent’ duty and provide regular briefings on how to identify and support those learners at risk of radicalisation or extremism. However, actions to raise awareness with learners on study programmes have not been effective in raising learners’ appreciation of the risks. Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers use outstanding resources and carefully prepared activities to enable the large majority of learners and apprentices to gain academic and vocational skills successfully.
• Learners are often passionate about their chosen subjects, and demonstrate high levels of increased self-confidence and professionalism that prepare them well for progression to employment or higher levels of education or training.
• The majority of teachers are expert and enthusiastic in their subjects and lead lively and interesting sessions. Learners benefit from linking theory and practice through the real-life examples that teachers and assessors bring to their work. For example, practising farmers use actual data from their farms in an activity to work out the cost per acre to rent out farmland.
• Staff identify learners’ support and learning needs quickly and accurately through initial interviews and initial assessment. For example, learning assistants and specialist therapists support learners with cerebral palsy to progress from foundation to higher levels in a range of vocational subjects, such as business management.
• The majority of teachers and assessors set high expectations and build on learners’ prior attainment. Teachers record and monitor learners’ progress effectively through electronic systems and through programme review boards, team meetings and regular one-to-one reviews.
• Learners develop a good understanding of technical language and a wide range of employment skills, through individual and group activities that stimulate discussion and promote collaboration and mutual respect. In sports science, teachers use a group analysis of sports injuries and their treatments to explore attitudes to recent legislation around concussion and children’s head injuries.
• Most learners and apprentices benefit from oral and written feedback that helps them to improve their work. Teachers use questioning well to check and extend learners’ learning.
• Teachers and learners make effective use of information and communication technology to enrich lessons, support assignment writing, and record evidence of skills development. Classroom assistants use technology creatively on foundation programmes to take digital pictures of learners working during sessions, to provide a record of their increased confidence and skills development.
• The majority of apprenticeship assessors, and also a minority of teachers on study programmes, set targets that are not specific enough to enable learners and apprentices to understand what they need to do to improve and how to go about it. As a result, teachers and assessors do not challenge apprentices and learners to achieve to their full potential.
• Teachers and assessors assess learners’ prior skills accurately but they do not always use this assessment to set appropriate targets or plan teaching to develop their mathematical skills, and to a lesser extent their English skills.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

• The great majority of learners behave well, are eager to learn and are respectful of their peers and teachers. This enables them to achieve their qualifications and progress further in their education or chosen vocational careers.
• Teachers provide very high levels of care and support to their learners through a well-designed programme of tutorials. Learners benefit from their teachers’ relentless focus on what they need to do to progress and the skills and attitudes they should develop to make them more employable.
• Managers and teachers have developed an extensive work experience programme with a wide range of employers across all vocational sectors. Many learners use their time purposefully on work placements to make decisions about their future careers. For example, learners have decided to become land agents or work for grain trading companies following their placements.
• Learners develop lifelong habits aimed to keep themselves safe and healthy. They make a significant contribution to the lives of their local communities through their participation in a rich range of enrichment activities. For example, learners in sports studies run training sessions for children in local primary schools.
• All staff provide effective information, advice and guidance to learners that enables them to make informed decisions about which courses to take at the college. As a result, the rates of withdrawal from courses have declined, and the proportion of learners who complete their courses has increased.
• Learners receive a very high level of additional support to help them achieve. Staff ensure that the rapidly increasing number of learners with high needs are included in college life and achieve positive outcomes.
• Teachers skilfully interweave British values into their teaching of vocational subjects so that increasing numbers of learners have a better grasp of how these values relate to their personal and working lives.
• Although learners’ attendance at English and mathematics classes has started to improve, it remains too low.
• Learners’ understanding of the risks that radicalisation and extremism pose to them vary considerably. Apprentices have a good level of awareness, but only a minority of study programme and adult learners have a secure grasp of the nature and potential of these risks.

Outcomes for learners Good

• The great majority of learners and apprentices achieve their qualifications and progress to positive destinations in education and employment.
• The proportion of learners on study programmes who achieve their qualifications has improved over the past year, and the proportion of learners who achieve continues to be higher than among similar providers.
• Learners on study programmes develop good technical skills and vocational knowledge that increase their future employability in important economic sectors, particularly in agriculture and other land-based activities.
• The majority of learners on level 3 vocational qualifications make the progress expected of them from their initial starting points. However, not enough of the most-able learners are challenged sufficiently to make better than expected progress. In a minority of subjects, such as animal management and art and design, a high proportion of learners do achieve high grades.
• The majority of adults achieve their qualifications. Over half of learners on Jobcentre Plus courses gain employment as a result of the employability skills that they acquire. The newly introduced access course prepares adults well for their next step into higher education.
• Achievement rates for apprentices are well above the national rates, and the majority of apprentices complete their qualifications within the planned timescales.
• No significant differences in achievement exist between groups of learners. Well-planned and targeted additional support ensures that learners who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, children looked after and those who were in receipt of free school meals achieve as well as their peers.
• Learners make good progress between different qualification levels. A significantly higher proportion of learners have progressed from level 2 to level 3 programmes in the last two years.
• The very great majority of learners secure a positive next step when they leave the college, moving either into further education or employment related directly to their qualifications. An increasing number of learners move into the college’s expanding higher education programme.
• Too few learners on study programmes achieve their qualifications in mathematics, both at entry level and level 1, and too few achieve high grades in GCSE mathematics. Following recent management interventions, learners now make better progress in English, with the majority achieving high grades after re-sitting their GCSE.

Types of provision

16 to 19 study programmes Good

• The college has 1,640 learners on study programmes. The majority of learners study agriculture, animal management, equine studies, countryside management and horticulture. A large sports studies programme also exists. Two thirds of learners are on level 3 vocational qualifications.
• Managers have developed programmes effectively to enable learners to study vocational qualifications that help them to progress in their chosen career, whether in further education, employment or training. Strong links with industry partners, particularly in the agricultural and land management sectors and in sport, provide learners with clear progression routes linked to their chosen vocations.
• In the great majority of lessons, enthusiastic teachers use their considerable specialist knowledge and experience to support learning and development. Learners enjoy their learning; they are proud of their work and achievements and aspire to reach their full potential within the sector with the encouragement of their teachers. Learners take part in regional and national competitions, often at elite level, and this further develops their confidence in their skills.
• Teachers set high expectations for learners to meet professional and industry standards. Learners benefit from carrying out regular duties within the college’s commercial enterprises, such as the farm, dairy, pig production unit and stables. As a result, they develop good social, employability and independent learning skills as part of their main course aims.
• Teachers plan lessons well to meet the needs of the majority of learners. As a result, lessons build the knowledge and skills of learners effectively over the length of the programme. Teachers give good oral feedback that helps learners apply their practical skills and provides them with the confidence to experiment with new activities.
• Teachers integrate English and mathematical skills skilfully into vocational learning activities so learners can use them to carry out practical tasks. For example, learners soon become aware that weighing animal feed accurately affects the profit or loss of a farm, and that there are cost implications in getting the measurements for stables and enclosures right in a stable. Learners develop good communication and customer service skills through staffing the many equestrian events held at the college.
• Staff provide additional learning support effectively to enable learners to work independently and make the same good level of progress as other learners at the college. Staff establish extensive planning links with other agencies before learners with additional support needs arrive at the college, ensuring that specialist staff and resources are available once they start their programmes.
• The great majority of learners behave well and respect one another in the classroom and around the college campus. Teachers use the tutorial programme effectively to reinforce learners’ adherence to the core college values. Learners feel safe at college and have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, both online and in their daily lives.
• Teachers do not set work that is sufficiently demanding or requires a deeper level of understanding for the most able learners on level 3 vocational qualifications. As a result, too many learners do not make better than their expected level of progress in a number of subject areas.
• Too few learners achieve their qualifications in mathematics, either at entry level or level 1, and too few achieve high grades at GCSE. Some teachers are too inexperienced to teach this subject well, and turnover among teaching staff is too frequent to provide learners with the continuity they need to progress. As a result, a small minority of learners do not behave well in these classes, and hamper the learning of others.
• The majority of learners do not have an adequate understanding of the risks of radicalisation and extremism, either as it affects them as individuals or its potential impact on the wider communities in which they live.

Adult learning programmes Good

• There are 166 adult learners studying on full-time and part-time courses across a range of subject areas and levels. The majority of adult learners study alongside learners on study programme courses or on the college’s new land-based access to higher education course.
• The majority of teachers use their good vocational expertise to plan lessons so that learners develop the skills and knowledge they require to be successful in their chosen career. For example, learners become skilled in interpreting animal behaviour when working in kennels or stables.
• Learners on the access to higher education course develop good study skills and research skills that prepare them well for the next stage in their career. Learners receive good support from teachers in building their confidence and preparing them for higher education.
• Learners on employability programmes develop a good range of useful skills that increase their chances of gaining employment in the health and social sector. They develop a good understanding of the importance of treating people as individuals rather than focusing on their illness or on the abilities that they have lost.
• Learners receive good support from teachers to develop their English and mathematical skills in vocational lessons. For example, animal nursing learners accurately use subject-specific terms such as ‘arrhythmia’ and ‘ectoparasite’.
• Learners benefit from very good resources that prepare them well for employment. For example, the on-site commercial dog grooming salon provides a real work environment. Learners on the access to higher education course make good use of the comprehensive online learning resources outside of their lessons.
• Most teachers provide good individual coaching and constructive verbal feedback which helps learners to make swift improvements in their written and practical work. Written feedback to learners on the access to higher education programme results in learners improving their work and achieving higher grades.
• Learners are keen to learn, attend regularly and most achieve well. They feel safe and demonstrate safe working practices in practical settings such as when handling small animals and lifting animal feed on the farm.
• Learners work well together during group activities and learn from each other during discussions. Teachers promote an inclusive atmosphere and a culture in which learners demonstrate respect for their peers and their teachers.
• Teachers raise learners’ awareness of British values effectively. For example, they lead discussions on the implications of the Animal Welfare Act and on the reasons why veterinary surgeons have to be registered.
• In a small minority of lessons, teaching is dull and uninspiring. In these lessons, teachers do not focus sufficiently on the less able or less confident learners, or provide challenging tasks for the most able to promote the swift progress of which they are capable.
• A small number of teachers are not sufficiently skilled at checking if learners understand what they have been taught. As a result, these teachers move on without being sure that all learners have understood.
• A very small minority of teachers do not give sufficient attention to accurate writing; they make spelling mistakes on their written feedback and on presentation slides that learners copy.

Apprenticeships

• The college has 270 apprentices following programmes in agriculture, game keeping and

Good

horticulture. The majority of apprenticeships are at intermediate level, with the rest at advanced level. Apprentices are widely dispersed across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

• Apprentices develop very good practical skills that they apply well at work. For example, they learn about maintaining crops, mixing animal feed, contributing to employer tax returns and diagnosing minor faults on tractors.
• Apprentices develop a good range of subject-specific terminology and language that they use confidently and apply accurately at work. Agriculture apprentices are able to use the correct scientific terms for pesticides, and explain these to customers; horticulture apprentices know the Latin terms for plants.
• Assessors and teachers promote and reinforce health and safety very well. As a result, apprentices develop a good knowledge of safe working practices related to their own workplace. Agricultural apprentices speak accurately and confidently about cross-contamination of livestock areas, and game keeping apprentices demonstrate the safe handling of guns.
• Assessors involve employers fully in the planning of programmes and reviews of progress to ensure that apprentices develop good skills for their job roles. Employers provide high-quality placements and opportunities for assessment across the agricultural and land management sectors.
• Most tutors and assessors routinely and appropriately correct spelling, punctuation and grammar errors; as a result, apprentices develop good written English skills. Apprentices who make spelling or punctuation errors in their first written assignments receive support so that they do not repeat the mistakes in subsequent pieces of work.
• Apprentices feel safe in their workplace and in college. They are aware of the process to follow should they wish to raise a concern or make a disclosure about personal safety.
• Apprentices have a sufficiently well-developed understanding of the risks associated with radicalisation and extremism. They are able to distinguish between the different types of extremism, and can discuss maturely how the media can distort people’s view of different types of threat.
• Assessors do not plan sufficient opportunities for the most able apprentices to develop their knowledge and skills beyond the expectations for competence set out in the qualification frameworks. Assessors do not set targets that are specific enough for each individual apprentice which means that, in a number of instances, apprentices do not extend their skills fully.
• Assessors do not develop the mathematical skills of their apprentices sufficiently. Apprentices who have met the mathematical requirements for their qualifications are not set additional work or encouraged to develop their skills further in this subject.

Provider details

Unique reference number 130584 Type of provider Specialist college Age range of learners Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year 16+ 2,520 Principal/CEO Jeanette Dawson OBE Telephone number 01964 553000 Website www.bishopburton.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+ 130 13 328 63 1,246 125 0 0 Intermediate Advanced Higher 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 163 56 51 33 0 0 16–19 0 19+ 0 Total 0 Number of traineeships Number of learners aged 14 to 16 Number of learners for which the provider receives high-needs funding N/A 35 Funding received from: Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors:

N/A

Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the deputy principal, business development and skills, 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

Dr Charles Searle, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Gill Reay Heather Cadman-Marks Stella Owen Lynne Paxton Gillian Forrester Suzanne Duncan

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