A college is considering a judicial review after claiming its latest Ofsted inspection was “fundamentally flawed”, despite receiving five ‘outstanding’ grades.
Hampshire-based Farnborough College of Technology lost its long-held ‘outstanding’ overall rating following an inspection in March 2025. While Ofsted graded the college ‘outstanding’ in five out of eight headline areas, including for apprenticeships and high-needs provision, it rated quality of education, leadership and management and overall effectiveness as ‘good’.
College leaders believe the fall from ‘outstanding’ to ‘good’ for the education programmes for young people (EPYP) judgment was based on “misrepresenting” data and led to other key judgments being downgraded in a way that was “inconsistent” with other colleges.
Principal CEO Virginia Barrett told FE Week that the college is now consulting solicitors and is considering a judicial review after an internal complaint to Ofsted was unsuccessful.
“This is not about demanding to be ‘outstanding’,” she said. “But we fundamentally disagree with how the inspection was carried out – the disproportionate focus on A-levels, the data misinterpretation, and the lack of proper dialogue all raise serious concerns about the fairness of the process.”
The college, previously ‘outstanding’ since 2011, had 2,161 learners aged 16 to 19, 591 adult learners, 61 learners with high needs and 854 apprentices. It was one of a handful of colleges affected by the 2023 RAAC scandal, which Barrett said the college is still recovering from.
The row centres on the college’s claim that there was a disproportionate focus on A-levels during the inspection. Barrett told FE Week: “We are a 95 per cent technical college, yet Ofsted bypassed that and spent four days looking at A-levels.”
Ofsted’s inspection report, published in late June, heaped praise on the college’s art and design, catering, and education and childcare T Level courses for young people.
But the watchdog said learners on AS-level courses “do not acquire the knowledge they need to pass their assessments and achieve their A-levels” and “the actions of leaders and managers have not ensured that learners studying education programmes for young people experience consistently high-quality education”.
The report also stated: “Too few learners on AS- and A-level courses achieve their qualifications”, and the college needed to “improve teaching and assessment of AS- and A-level courses.”
But Barrett disputes the inspection and report’s emphasis on A-levels. “A-levels account for just 5 per cent of our 16 to 18 provision,” she said. “We’re a 95 per cent technical college. Yet A-levels were observed almost exclusively. This skewed the judgment on our leadership, quality of education, and overall effectiveness.”
Barrett described the inspection as “four days of intense scrutiny, focused obsessively on a single programme area representing just 5 per cent of EPYP enrolments” and accused inspectors of dismissing college data showing that A-level results were actually 5 per cent above the national average.
She also raised concerns over how inspectors retrospectively justified the downgrade.
“Only after we submitted a complaint did we hear for the first time about a supposed ‘25 per cent of level three provision’ being underperforming. That figure wasn’t discussed during inspection. I can’t understand how they can be allowed to rely on that,” Barrett said.
Barrett also said Ofsted had apologised for using comments from governors about “poor” English and maths outcomes as another justification.
“That is a misrepresentation of what governors said. They apologised for that.”
The college told FE Week that it will now escalate its complaint to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO), but it is also consulting with lawyers.
“We have engaged a solicitor because we think that actually there are a lot of issues here that we think may end up in a judicial review.”
Ofsted declined to comment.
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