What does the provider need to do to improve?
- Leaders and managers should bring about rapid improvements in the quality of apprenticeships so that apprentices achieve by their planned end date by:
- ensuring that the off-the-job training for apprentices is planned with employers and recorded accurately, taking into account the knowledge and skills that apprentices already have
- ensuring that teachers and assessors improve the progress apprentices make by planning their lessons and reviews so that activities are ambitious, interesting and relevant.
- Teachers should ensure that they set suitably demanding work for learners. In particular, teachers should ensure that they challenge the most-able learners to achieve the grades of which they are capable.
- Leaders, managers and staff should continue to focus their improvement strategies on underperforming courses. They should continue to increase the proportion of learners achieving their qualifications, including GCSEs at grades A* to C or grades 9 to 4 in English and mathematics.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
- Rapidly increase the proportion of learners and apprentices who make or exceed the expected progress and achieve their qualifications and targets by:
- ensuring that the college’s strategy to improve quality leads to an increase in the pace of improvement and secures high-quality provision in all areas
- increasing the rigour and accuracy of the evaluation of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and taking action quickly to improve practice that is less than good
- ensuring that teaching and training is challenging and stimulating, and motivates learners and apprentices to achieve well
- rigorously monitoring apprentices’ progress so that trainers can take action quickly to support apprentices who are at risk of not achieving.
- Set specific and challenging targets and actions for teaching staff to improve the quality of their teaching and raise the achievement of their learners and apprentices; monitor closely the performance of teaching staff and take action quickly to improve performance when it is not good enough.
- Increase the proportion of younger learners who gain English and mathematics qualifications by improving the quality of teaching on functional skills and GCSE courses.
- Improve the rate of attendance and punctuality.
- Increase the proportion of learners who progress to a higher level of study by improving the support and guidance that learners receive at the end of their course.
- Ensure that managers and staff promote a culture where the highest standards of health and safety are the expectations throughout the college, replicating the best practice from industry, so that learners and apprentices are kept safe and prepared well for the work environment.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
- Raise the proportion of good or better lessons by:
- ensuring feedback on submitted work informs students on how to improve
- routinely developing students’ English and mathematical skills in lessons
- ensuring students receive sufficient challenge to achieve their potential and develop higherlevel skills
- routinely using information from the assessment of students’ starting points to plan learning which meets their individual needs
- using information and learning technology to support learning in and outside the classroom
- sharing good practice across the college more widely between teachers and curriculum areas.
- Maintain the focus on improving attendance and punctuality consistently across all curriculum areas.
- Monitor students’ performance rigorously, using the information and data available, to support them to achieve their full potential.
- Ensure apprentices receive regular reviews of their progress and ensure their targets are achievable and fully understood.
- Evaluate and continue the strategic drive by senior staff and managers to improve performance further.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
- Rapidly improve the quality of learning by ensuring that all teachers:
- clearly communicate, reinforce and monitor the importance of students attending all lessons, arriving on time and being ready to learn
- have high expectations of what their students can achieve and drive success throughout the college
- plan lessons that include a range of activities that engage and motivate all students to learn new knowledge and skills
- set regular and meaningful assessments that are marked promptly and provide sufficiently detailed and useful feedback to help students improve the quality of their work
- ensure that students develop independent working and research skills by setting activities that involve work outside lessons, including the use of information and learning technology.
- Improve success rates on most courses by:
- ensuring that all students have aspirational, clear and measurable targets so that progress towards achieving their full potential can be monitored
- using data across the organisation to identify and take swift purposeful action to improve underperformance quickly and consistently.
- Ensure that management information is up-to-date, understood and used by managers at all levels to drive improvements.
- Develop quality assurance systems to monitor improvement actions and ensure they are having a positive impact.
- Implement robust performance management so that actions to improve standards are followed consistently by all staff and standards rise rapidly.
Areas for improvement
The college should address:
- low retention rates
- inconsistencies in self-assessment.
What should be improved
- poor student punctuality and attendance in some areas of learning
- the proportion of outstanding teaching
- apprenticeship pass rates
- retention rates on some advanced subsidiary-level (AS-level) courses
- pass rates at level 4
- the adequacy of some teaching accommodation
- the use of information and learning technology (ILT).
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