Jessica Fino | FE Week

Shedding light on Leeds City College’s rebrand and expansion

One of the biggest FE providers in the country is going through a momentous upheaval. Leeds City College Group is juggling a major rebrand while taking on another struggling college, as well as the imminent opening of a £60 million state-of-art campus. Jessica Fino headed to Leeds to find out how the group is handling […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 284

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Meri Huws, Trustee, Vocational Training, Charitable Trust Start date: April 2019 Previous job: Welsh Language Commissioner Interesting fact: Welsh is her first language Jayne Lewis-Orr, Trustee, Vocational Training, Charitable Trust Start date: February 2019 Concurrent job: Executive director, M Squared Media Interesting fact: One of her […]

Sixth form college retains its grade one after 12-year respite

A sixth form college in Merseyside has become the first SFC to score a grade one Ofsted rating in nearly two years, during which time three have lost their “outstanding” status. Carmel College retained its top rating this week, following a respite inspection period of over 12 years. Mike Hill, the college’s principal, said it […]

College starved of cash shuts award winning training restaurant

A college has been forced to shut the doors of its prestigious restaurant, blaming years of government cuts to further education funding. Lancashire-based Runshaw College announced today its award-winning Foxholes Restaurant in Leyland is to close after running for more than 30 years. The restaurant functioned as a training centre for future chefs and catering […]

Colleges fail to win any OfS mental health funding

All three college bids for a £6 million fund to help reduce student mental health problems have been rejected. Instead, ten universities have been chosen to share the cash on offer from the Office for Students, along with co-funding of £8.5 million to develop “innovative” projects. The call was open to both universities and colleges, […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 283

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. John Westhead, Director of training services, St Helens Chamber Start date: May 2019 Previous job: Head of operations and learning, Training 2000 Interesting fact: He coaches children’s football in his spare time Jo Grady, General secretary, University and College Union Start date: Summer 2019 Concurrent job […]

It is easy to conclude that the DfE are not serious about apprenticeship quality

This week we report that the Department for Education will announce that the Office for Students, not Ofsted, will inspect the quality of all level 6 and 7 apprenticeships. It comes after FE Week exposed the fact that thousands of apprentices were at providers where Ofsted had to exclude them from inspection because they were […]

Ofsted watch: Airports apprenticeship provider slammed by Ofsted – again

A new apprenticeship provider that was suspended from recruiting learners last year has been rated ‘inadequate’ in its first full inspection, in what was otherwise an average week for the FE sector. The only other bad report came in for Prospects Training International Limited, which trades a Geason Training and was bought out in a […]