Ofsted watch: ITP goes straight in with a ‘good’

An independent training provider scored a grade two on its first ever inspection, in a week otherwise characterised by a lack of change – as all other providers inspected have held onto their previous grades.

Midlands-based Train Together was rated ‘good’ across the board in a report published February 16 and based on an inspection carried out in late January.

“Highly valued” staff at the provider – which mainly delivers diploma programmes for adults in teaching support but has recently begin delivering apprenticeships – were “well qualified” with “highly relevant experience” and “high expectations of learners”.

“Strong” relationships and links to local employers and communities were found to bring “positive benefits to businesses and learners”.

“Adult learners develop good, relevant skills and knowledge as a result of their training”, the report said – although it noted that a “minority of trainers” did not support learners to “improve their English, mathematics and ICT skills beyond their starting point”.

Sir George Monoux College held onto its ‘requires improvement’ rating, in a report published February 13 and based on an inspection carried out in early January.

The sixth-form college received grade threes in all headline fields except leadership and management – which was rated ‘good’.

“The new leadership team has established a positive environment for both staff and students, with a strong focus on improving teaching”, the report said – but had not yet had “sufficient impact on raising the quality of provision” to ‘good’.

A “minority of staff” were found to “not consistently instil in students suitable behaviour”, while “too many students turn up late for lessons and not ready to learn” which caused “disruptions”.

The Learning and Enterprise College Bexley also held onto its ‘requires improvement’ rating this week, in a report published February 16 and based on an inspection in early January.

Leaders and managers at the adult and community learning provider were criticised for having “not sufficiently improved the quality of teaching, learning and assessment” since the previous inspection in mid-2016.

The proportion of students completing courses that led to qualifications was “too low”, while tutors were found to “not set specific enough targets” that would help students “improve and make good progress”.

In addition, “leaders’ and managers’ actions to improve English and mathematics are not helping more students to achieve their qualifications”.

On the other hand, “students with an identified learning difficulty and/or disability” were found to “make good progress”.

Three providers remained ‘good’ following short inspections this week: Croydon College, Inter Training Services Ltd, and the University of Lincoln’s National Centre for Food Manufacturing.