Pennine Camphill Community Ofsted Report

Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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Full report What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that strategic planning, quality improvement planning and objective setting across all aspects of the college are specific, with a focus on outcomes rather than a description of actions.  Raise the proportion of outstanding sessions by identifying the precise characteristics of the very best teaching and learning, and develop these into a coherent staff development plan to share good practice across the college.  Further develop opportunities for external work placements so that learners can practise their outstanding practical skills in placements outside the Pennine community.

Inspection judgements

Outcomes for learners

Good  Learners are achieving well in relation to their starting points, and a significant number of learners achieve qualifications that link well to their learning goals.  There are no achievement gaps between learners. The college has recently adopted a curriculum based around personal needs. Learners are entered for qualifications when they are found to be meaningful and meet their identified learning goals. Currently, 15 learners are undertaking qualifications.  The recognising and recording of progress and achievement is good. Learners’ files show very good use of photographs to demonstrate achievement for example pictures of cakes made in the bakery. Where the college identifies a learner is not progressing well, swift action is taken to reassess the learning goals.  Learners make good progress in improving their communication skills and are able to express their choices and the help they need to complete tasks. Where possible, learners develop the skills that enable them to express their own views. The ‘Advocacy group’ encourages learners to show respect for each other’s views and develop good listening skills.  Learners make outstanding progress in developing practical and employability skills. The college campus comprising farm, stable, market garden, and arts facilities provides real work activities for learners to use industry-standard equipment such as strimmers, power tools and looms.  Internal work experience opportunities are good and help learners to develop outstanding practical skills. There are limited external opportunities available through community projects such as the Canal and River Trust. Learners also renovate Victorian seats for a local park. However, learners do not have sufficient external work experience opportunities to be able to generalise their skills.  The development of learners’ personal and independence skills is good. The residential houses provide good opportunities for learners to gain everyday life skills such as cooking and cleaning. These houses provide a secure base for learners as they progress through the college and gain increased independence and the ability to interact with others.  Transition arrangements have improved since the last inspection. Person-centred progress reviews use photographs and videos to show learners’ achievements, progress and preferences. Learners’ destinations are closely monitored and learners who have recently left college and their carers returned to spend an afternoon sharing their experiences about life after college.  Learners develop good English, communication and mathematical skills through their practical activities. For example, in a bakery session learners could weigh and estimate ingredients with confidence. Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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 Learners progress into supported living, day services and colleges at the end of their programmes of study. The skills that learners develop prepare them well for life after college. This year one learner will enter into paid work for three days a week.  Attendance and punctuality are good and learners enjoy their programmes.

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Good  Teaching, learning and assessment are good and reflect the good achievement made by most learners. Tutors are highly motivated and have high expectations of what learners can achieve. A recently introduced person-centred curriculum is improving learners’ progress.  Teaching and learning are generally well planned. Sessions are mainly good and a minority are outstanding. Most sessions are purposeful, productive and well matched to individual need. In the best sessions, smart targets are clearly identified and progress towards these is well recorded. Sessions take place in real work settings where learners gain good practical skills. Workshops include woodwork, basketry, weaving, pottery, small animal care and the farm; estate management involves learners in using lawn mowers and a range of industrial standard tools.  Staff place a high emphasis on maintaining personal safety. They design activities to enable learners to navigate their way around the community and use public transport. Attention to health and safety is good in all sessions. Learners are consistently reminded of the importance of personal protective equipment. Comprehensive risk assessments are in place and the guidance is implemented consistently. For example, learners may not be able to use a strimmer safely but can carry out the maintenance and understand the risks involved.  Most sessions have activities that meet individual needs well. In a weaving workshop one learner was weaving a table runner using two shuttles with two different coloured threads while another learner was being well supported to complete a simple silk painting activity.  In a minority of sessions, learning is less effective because tutors do not plan a sufficient range of activities to stretch and challenge all learners. They do not always ensure that there is sufficient time to evaluate and consolidate what has been learnt. Some class sizes are small; learners do not always have sufficient opportunities to interact with their peers and to learn from each other. Less successful sessions do not include adequate opportunities for progression.  Resources are well used in the high quality accommodation. Shop, cook and eat sessions take place in a fully equipped house kitchen, the productive 56 acre farm and market garden are used successfully for growing the food for the residences. Learning support is good and staff are well directed. The consistent application of behavioural strategies results in a calm ordered environment for most sessions.  Assessment processes have recently been strengthened and are now good. Target-setting is more rigorous and based on the outcome of comprehensive assessment. Most sessions successfully include learners’ individual targets but progress against these is not consistently captured across all areas. The standard of learners’ work is good and their achievements are well celebrated.  Literacy, numeracy and communication skills are successfully promoted in sessions. The many craft workshop settings provide realistic contexts for developing these skills. For example, a learner was asked to estimate the time a bus journey would take by using information from a bus timetable that he had downloaded from the internet. Learners planting vegetables used a metre stick to ensure that they were providing sufficient space between plants.  Tutors provide good support and care for learners. They are friendly, approachable, accessible and highly flexible in their response to learners’ needs. Learners receive consistent and appropriate advice and guidance. There is a comprehensive induction process that enables new learners to familiarise themselves with the college and its staff.  The college community is harmonious and tolerant. Equality of opportunity is promoted through a culture of mutual respect and sensitivity towards all. Gender stereotyping is well challenged by Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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encouraging learners to participate in a wide range of activities that are sometimes associated with a particular gender. The college day has well-established practices that help the development of learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There is a full programme of concerts and plays and an active celebration of many religious-based festivals. The short-term multi-national volunteers are encouraged to share their cultures. During Chinese New Year the four volunteers from China provided the community with a meal and dragon dance. The dragon was produced in the basket making session.

The effectiveness of leadership and management

Good

 Leadership and management are good because of leaders and managers success at bringing about significant improvements in the quality of outcomes, teaching, learning and assessment. Leaders and managers are effective in implementing the college’s strategic direction to secure sustained improvement. Tutors have high expectations for all learners and are fully aware of the college’s strategic goals and the contribution they make to overall college success. Senior managers are clear about their roles and responsibilities and this helps them to achieve the college’s overall aims and objectives.  Trustees provide good critical support and hold leaders and managers to account for any aspects of underperformance. They play an active role in monitoring the quality of provision and have been fully involved in developing the college’s strategic plan. The composition of the Trustee Board has improved since the previous inspection. More trustees have business, financial or educational experience and use their expertise well to provide increased rigour in holding senior managers to account.  Monitoring and quality assurance of provision are effective in identifying the actions needed to be taken to ensure learners make good progress in their learning. Systems introduced to improve the recognition and recording of learners’ progress have provided more rigour in the evaluation of how well learners achieve their learning targets. This information helps managers to address underperformance quickly.  The college provides a good overall evaluation of the outcomes of lesson observations and walkthroughs to identify areas for improvement in the overall quality of teaching and learning. However, individual session observation reports do not focus well enough on the extent to which learners are developing their skills and making progress in their learning. Feedback given to tutors does not always help them to understand fully the impact of their teaching on learners’ achievements or progress.  New improved performance management processes have improved the quality of teaching and learning across the college. Tutors are now closely supervised to monitor the actions taken to improve their performance. Outcomes of teaching observations are included in annual appraisals so that persistent underperformance is successfully challenged. Further support or training is effectively identified and arranged. Although teachers and support staff receive extensive training a coherent programme of professional development is not yet fully established.  Quality improvement and self-assessment processes are mainly effective. The college successfully identifies the actions it needs to take to improve aspects of the provision and these are closely monitored. Learners are increasingly involved in evaluating the quality of provision to inform self-assessment. However, the college does not set ambitious targets for improvement across all areas.  The management of the curriculum is good. The college’s move towards more personalised programmes for learners to follow ensures that learning activities are highly responsive to individual needs. Resources are of a high standard providing learners with realistic settings and equipment to develop their skills. Learners are given good opportunities to achieve relevant qualifications. They are provided with very good learning opportunities to practise and develop work-related skills. Internal college work experience placements are good but opportunities for developing work-related skills in external placements are limited. Functional skills are integrated Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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into all curriculum activities enabling learners to develop relevant communication, literacy and numeracy skills in meaningful and relevant ways.  Equality and diversity are effectively promoted across all aspects of provision. Learners are valued as individuals and personalised planning ensures learners’ needs are well met across all ability levels. Male and female learners are afforded the same opportunities to develop skills which challenge gender stereotypes. Tutors plan learning to ensure activities match different levels of ability.  The college meets its statutory requirements for the safeguarding of learners. The health and safety of learners is given a high priority and risk assessments for both learning activities and for individual learners are detailed with actions taken to minimise risks. Issues which may impact on learners’ welfare are closely monitored and recorded. Policies and procedures are successfully implemented and learners feel safe and able to report with confidence if they feel bullied or harassed knowing that these issues will be quickly acted upon and resolved. All staff have regular safeguarding training and this is being addressed for the new trustees. Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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Record of Main Findings (RMF) Provider name

Inspection grades are based on a provider’s performance: 1: Outstanding 2: Good 3: Requires improvement 4: Inadequate Overall effectiveness Outcomes for learners The quality of teaching, learning and assessment The effectiveness of leadership and management

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Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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Provider details Type of provider

Independent specialist college

Age range of learners

16-25

Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year

24

Principal/CEO

Mr Stephen Hopewell

Date of previous inspection

March 2011

Website address

http://www.pennine.org.uk

Provider information at the time of the inspection Main course or learning programme level

Level 1 or Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 below and above

Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) Number of apprentices by Apprenticeship level and age Number of traineeships

16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 2 22 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Intermediate Advanced Higher

16-18 N/A 19+ N/A 16-18 N/A 19+ N/A 16-18 N/A 19+ N/A

16-19 N/A 19+ N/A Total N/A

Number of learners aged 14-16

N/A Full-time N/A Part-time N/A

Number of community learners

N/A Number of employability learners N/A

Funding received from At the time of inspection the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors:

Education Funding Agency (EFA)

 

N/A N/A Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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Contextual information

Pennine Camphill Community (Pennine) is an independent specialist college that provides further education and training for learners aged 16 to 25 who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Pennine is located four miles from Wakefield on a 58 acre site and is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Within the campus are practical craft workshops, community houses, a market garden, a farm and a riding school. It is staffed by residential co-workers and day staff. The trainee co-workers are volunteers from a wide range of countries and usually work at Pennine for one year. Currently, 24 learners are funded by the Education funding Agency. Of these, two learners are aged 16 to 18 years and 22 are 19 years or over; nine learners are residential and 15 attend on a daily basis. At the time of the inspection one learner was of minority ethnic heritage and 16 were male.

Information about this inspection

Lead inspector

Gill Reay HMI

One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI), and two additional inspectors, assisted by the education manager Claire Richardson as nominee, carried out the inspection with short notice. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors also used data on learners’ achievements over the last three years to help them make judgements. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected throughout the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider. Inspectors looked at the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across all of the provision and graded the sector subject areas listed in the report above. Inspection report: Pennine Camphill Community, 20–22 May 2014

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What inspection judgements mean

Grade

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4

Judgement

Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Handbook for the inspection of further education and skills 2012, Part 2:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/handbook-for-inspection-of-further-education-and-skills-september-2012

Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website:

www.ofsted.gov.uk If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

Learner View is a website where learners can tell Ofsted what they think about their college or provider. They can also see what other learners think about them too. To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk

Employer View is a new website where employers can tell Ofsted what they think about their employees’ college or provider. They can also see what other employers think about them too. To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk