Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 273

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Kelly Rinaldi Assistant Principal, John Leggott College Start date: March 2019 Previous job: Associate Assistant Principal, John Leggott College Interesting fact: She once featured on Supermarket Sweep. Claire Holmes Deputy Principal, John Leggott College Start date: March 2019 Previous job: Assistant Principal, John Leggott College Interesting fact: She […]

Ofsted watch: Exemplary week for universities

Universities showed off their apprenticeship delivery skills this week, as one was rated ‘outstanding’ while another was judged to be ‘good’ by Ofsted. It wasn’t so positive for independent providers however, as two were rated ‘requires improvement’ and another was judged to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in its early monitoring visit. Teeside University was the […]

Major bank stands by college fighting for survival following second failed merger

A major high street bank will “remain supportive” of a cash-strapped college that owes it over £6 million, despite fears the college may collapse following the last-minute failure of a second merger attempt. The future of City College Southampton, which is surviving on government bailouts, was thrown into doubt this week when Eastleigh College pulled out of its proposed merger after the Department for Education […]

The NAO report failed to spot the most immediate apprenticeship problem

The National Audit Office findings into the apprenticeship reform repeated a number of well-reported issues and concerns, ranging from the fall in starts to an insufficient budget in the longer term. Surprisingly, they failed to say anything about the farce of small employers being turned away because: 1. Non-levy funding had already run out or 2. Non-levy funding remains unavailable. 1. Non-levy funding […]

Editor Asks: Anne Milton responds to the NAO apprenticeships report

Anne Milton initially seemed in good spirits when I began our interview at a coffee shop at the University for East London’s (UEL) Docklands campus. It was the morning of the third day of National Apprenticeships Week and she’d just finished meeting apprentices at an informal breakfast. Despite the event not entirely going to plan (a falling roof tile that very narrowly missed the […]

Let the games begin: competition hots up for TeamUK place at WorldSkills Kazan

Nearly 80 of the UK’s most skilled young people are battling it out in a five-day competition this week that will decide if they get to represent the nation at WorldSkills Kazan 2019. The squad of apprentices and learners have travelled to colleges all over the country for the team selection event. The 40 best […]

Ofsted Watch: Adult and community learning providers make great gains

Adult and community learning providers have come out the best from this week’s Ofsted reports as two improved to ‘good’ and one ‘inadequate’ council was found making ‘significant progress’. It has been a mixed bag elsewhere, with seven grade three reports and five grade two reports. Bromley London Borough Council upped its Ofsted grade to […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 272

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Asfa Sohail, principal, Lewisham College Start date: February 2019. Previous job: Vice Principal, Havering College of FE. Interesting fact: She does a lot of charity work in her own time. Mike Thompson, strategic advisor, People Plus Start date: February 2019. Previous job: Director Early Careers Barclays. Interesting […]

So much about the ESFA’s register of end-point assessment organisations makes no sense

In October 2016 the then-chief executive of the ESFA boasted about how hard it was for organisations to get onto their apprenticeship register of end-point assessment organisations. As we reported at the time, Peter Lauener told the education select committee that just 21 applications out of 161 had been successful, explaining: “The quality of the […]