Author: Billy Camden

Three financial health notices and two breaches of minimum standard college reports have been published by the Department for Education. It was double-trouble for Easton and Otley College, rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted’, which received one of each and has been told to stop recruitment of learners in some areas. The other financial health notice was […]

Staff at one of London’s larger college groups will earn a one-off payment and a minor annual salary increase in a new pay deal following strikes. The offer, which has been agreed between the University and College Union and New City College, puts an end to a dispute which involved three days of walkouts last […]

An apprenticeship provider has hit out at how Ofsted conducted an early monitoring visit, and said the ensuing report is based on “factual inaccuracies” and “questionable judgements”. Watertrain Limited, a private provider in Warrington which has delivered apprenticeships as a subcontractor for 10 years, has been making “insufficient progress” in two of the three headline […]

An FE college incorporated in 2014 has found a merger partner, after the FE commissioner decreed it would no longer be sustainable as a standalone institution. Prospects College of Advanced Technology plans to join forces with South Essex College of Further and Higher Education. It only converted from an independent training provider to college status […]

The deadline on the latest T-levels consultation has been extended yet again, and the Institute for Apprenticeships will now give the sector until the end of the month to submit views. The FE community was outraged last month when they were at first given just five working days to respond to the draft content of […]

The big guns of the awarding organisation world are drawing the battle lines in the imminent struggle for ownership of the first T-levels. Despite numerous concerns from across the sector, the government is ploughing ahead with its controversial plan to deploy just one AO per qualification when the first three pathways are launched in 2020. […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships has appointed yet another military person to its leadership team – and they’ve been given the unenviable task of running T-levels. Carmel Grant OBE, who had been the head of army reform at the Ministry of Defence since January 2016, has taken on the role of deputy director of technical education […]

An employer-provider has boosted its grade to ‘good’ in a mixed week for the FE sector, as Highbury College dramatically dropped two ratings from ‘outstanding’. Be Wiser Insurance Services was rated grade two across the board, up from its previous ‘requires improvement’ rating. The main reason for its achievement was put down to a reduction […]

A free school sponsored by England’s largest college group, and which is led by some of its top people, is closing down. The Discovery School in Newcastle, which cost £9 million to set up, opened in 2014. It will shut this year over “capability and capacity issues” that have concerned ministers. Last July, the school […]