It’s a bumper Ofsted watch this week, with a total of 15 full FE and skills inspection reports published since our last round-up.

What’s more, over half of these inspections resulted in a grade two rating or higher.

These included HIT Training, which was rated ‘good’ across the board – holding onto the same overall rating it’s had since 2009 – in a report published April 13 and based on an inspection in March.

Inspectors praised the West Sussex-based national provider for its “strong leadership” and its “highly motivated” apprentices and learners, a “large proportion” of whom complete their qualifications.

And West Midlands-based engineering apprenticeship specialist In-Comm Training and Business Services Limited earned a rare ‘outstanding’ across the board in a glowing report published April 11.

Gravesend-based TDLC earned a grade two across the board in its first inspection, carried out in March and published April 12.

Learners, many of whom were unemployed, were found to be “highly motivated” and to “take pride in their learning”, with the result that they become “highly skilled” in bookkeeping and progress onto work following their courses.

London-based Big Creative Training boosted its previous ‘requires improvement’ rating to ‘good’ across the board, in a report published April 20 and based on an inspection in mid-March.

Staff and leaders at the provider, which specialises in study programmes for 16 to 19-year-olds, were commended for their ability to “successfully ignite young people’s enthusiasm for learning” – many of whom were “disadvantaged” or had “a poor experience” of education.

Also up from a grade three to a grade two across the board this week was Nottingham-based SR Education, in a report published April 20 and based on an inspection in mid-March.

Leaders at the apprenticeship provider were found to have “put a range of effective strategies in place to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment” with the result that a “high proportion” of adult apprentices achieved their qualifications.

Surrey-based MIT Skills Limited was rated ‘good’ across the board – holding onto its previous rating – in a report published April 12, and based on an inspection in March.

A “good proportion” of learners found jobs or moved onto further education after their courses, while leaders were praised for the “strong employer-focused approach” to provision.

Sheffield-based Open Door Adult Learning Centre was also given a grade two across the board, in a report published April 10 and based on an inspection in mid-March.

Staff at the adult and community learning provider were commended for supporting the “hardest to reach, isolated and most disadvantaged” to “engage in education”, while achievements were “now high”.

Employer provider Veolia Environment Development Centre Limited was also awarded ‘good’ across the board, up from its previous ‘requires improvement’, in a report published April 21 and based on an inspection in March.

“Ambitious” leaders and managers put “improving workforce skills” at the heart of the London-based company, while apprentices were “highly motived and enthusiastic” and “develop good technical and work-related skills”.

Berkshire College of Agriculture held onto its grade two rating in a report published April 20, based on an early-March inspection.

“Most students” benefit from “good teaching, learning and assessment”, and develop “very good practical skills”.

But the quality of apprenticeship provision – the only area not to have been given a grade two – was found to be “not improving rapidly enough”.

The Manchester College went down from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ this week, in a report published April 21 and based on an inspection in early March.

Its apprenticeship provision was rated ‘inadequate’, while “too many” learners on study programmes did not make “rapid enough progress” and teachers took “insufficient account of learners’ individual starting points”.

Also dropping from a grade two to a grade three this week were Richard Taunton Sixth Form College, and independent training providers Francesco Group (Holdings) Ltd, and YH Training Services Ltd.

Independent providers DV8 Training (Brighton) Limited and ProCo NW Limited held on to their grade three ratings this week, while two providers – Sunderland Engineering Training Association Limited and Halton Borough Council – retained their ‘good’ grades following short inspections.

Finally, a monitoring report for Tresham College of Further and Higher Education – its second since its inadequate report published last August – was published on April 18.

 

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
The Manchester College 07/03/2017 21/04/2017 3 2
Berkshire College of Agriculture 07/03/2017 20/04/2017 2 2
Tresham College 09/03/2017 18/04/2017 Monitoring

 

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Richard Taunton Sixth Form College 07/03/2017 20/04/2017 3 2

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Francesco Group (Holdings) Ltd 28/03/2017 21/04/2017 3 2
Big Creative Training Ltd 15/03/2017 20/04/2017 2 3
SR Education 21/03/2017 20/04/2017 2 3
DV8 Training (Brighton) Ltd 22/02/2017 20/04/2017 3 3
HIT Training Ltd 07/03/2017 13/04/2017 2 2
ProCo NW Ltd 06/03/2017 13/04/2017 3 3
TDLC Limited 21/03/2017 12/04/2017 2
MIT Skills Ltd 14/03/2017 12/04/2017 2 2
In-Comm Training and Business Services Ltd 07/03/2017 11/04/2017 1 2
YH Training Services Ltd 22/02/2017 11/04/2017 3 2

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Open Door Adult Learning Centre 14/03/2017 10/04/2017 2 3

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Veolia Environment Development Centre Ltd 20/03/2017 21/04/2017 2 3

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
Sunderland Engineering Training Association Ltd 21/03/2017 20/04/2017
Halton Borough Council 15/03/2017 21/04/2017

Your thoughts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *