Three schools will no longer deliver the first wave of T-levels after one received a low grade from Ofsted and two others “decided not to” take part.

But Suffolk New College has been added to the list of those delivering the technical qualifications from 2020, after the government went back out to find providers when the construction pathway changed from “building” to “design”.

Announcing the changes today, a release from the Department for Education said: “We have added Suffolk New College to our list of high-quality providers who will deliver the first, world-class T-levels from 2020.

“This follows their expression of interest to deliver the design, surveying and planning T-level.

“We have also removed two providers from the list who have decided not to deliver T-levels in 2020 and a third provider has withdrawn due to a recent Ofsted inspection grading.”

FE Week understands the three schools to have been removed from the list are the Archbishop Holgate’s School in York, the George Abbot School in Surrey and Bordesley Green Girls’ School in Birmingham.

The only one of the three to have had a recent Ofsted inspection is Bordesley Green, which was rated ‘requires improvement’ by the inspectorate in a report that was published on June 28. It had previously been rated ‘outstanding’.

All three have been approached for comment.

The first T-level providers were announced at the end of May. George Abbot School was only added to the list on June 18, alongside sixth form college turned 16-to-19 academy Priestley College.

Kate Carriett, headteacher of George Abbot School, said the school had “come to the conclusion that we wish to consolidate our provision and expertise in the new A-levels at this point in time.” 

She added: “This does not mean that we will not wish to offer the new exciting T-levels in the future.”

FE Week reported in June that only a quarter of the providers which applied to offer T-levels in 2020 were successful.

Until today’s changes were announced, 16 schools had been approved for the first wave of the qualifications. While 26 colleges made the cut, many were told they weren’t eligible even though they had grade two ratings from Ofsted.

In January this year the Education and Skills Funding Agency invited expressions of interest from providers which wanted to become the first to offer T-levels.

Providers – which can be colleges, independent training providers, university technical colleges or schools that currently deliver relevant ESFA-funded 16-to-19 education to at least 10 students – must be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and must have at least ‘satisfactory’ financial health.

Of the 52 providers chosen, 32 were ‘outstanding’ and 14 were ‘good’, while a further six didn’t have a current Ofsted rating. 

Five of these were academies that were rated ‘outstanding’ before they converted, and the sixth is a university technical college that has yet to be inspected. Suffolk New College has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. 

The updated list of T-level providers for 2020-21

Name of provider	Region
Access Creative College (Access to Music Ltd.)	West Midlands
Barnsley College	Yorkshire and the Humber
Bedfordshire & Luton Education Business Partnership	East of England
Big Creative Training Limited	London
Bishop Burton College	Yorkshire and the Humber
Blackpool and The Fylde College	North West
Bridgwater & Taunton College	South West
Cardinal Newman College	North West
Chichester College Group	South East
Cirencester College	South West
City College Norwich	East of England
City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College	West Midlands
Cranford Community College	London
Derby College	East Midlands
Dudley College of Technology	West Midlands
Durham Sixth Form Centre	North East
Exeter College	South West
Fareham College	South East
Farnborough College of Technology	South East
Gateshead College	North East
Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education	Yorkshire and the Humber
Havant and South Downs College	South East
HCUC	London
La Retraite RC Girls School	London
London Design & Engineering UTC	London
Lordswood Girls’ School & Sixth Form Centre	West Midlands
Nelson and Colne College	North West
New College Durham	North East
Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College	Yorkshire and the Humber
Oldham Sixth Form College	North West
Painsley Catholic College	West Midlands
Peter Symonds College	South East
Priestley College	North West
Runshaw College	North West
Salesian School	South East
Sandwell Academy	West Midlands
Scarborough Sixth Form College	Yorkshire and the Humber
Shipley College of Further Education	Yorkshire and the Humber
St Thomas More Catholic School	North East
Strode College	South West
Suffolk New College	East of England
Sussex Coast College Hastings	South East
The College of Richard Collyer	South East
The Leigh UTC	South East
Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form	East of England
Truro and Penwith College	South West
University College Birmingham	West Midlands
Ursuline High School	London
Walsall College	West Midlands
Walsall Studio School	West Midlands
Weston College	South West
York College	Yorkshire and the Humber

The Association of Colleges is to receive over £400,000 to teach staff in 12 colleges to deliver effective careers training for disadvantaged learners.

The Careers & Enterprise Company today announced the first wave of organisations to benefit from a £2.5 million investment fund to support personal guidance in schools and colleges.

Four organisations will share just under £870,000 in the first phase, with up to £1.7 million available in the second round. The four organisations are Achieving for Children, Adviza, the AoC and Careers Connect.

The AoC will receive the largest slice, being given £431,000.

The project is aimed to “strengthen and extend the reach of their existing personal guidance delivery” within  12 colleges (see list below).

It will train curriculum staff to “deliver effective ‘triage’ which supports the delivery of every learner receiving a personal guidance interview” and the colleges included will be “providing support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and special educational needs”.

The AoC previously said the “type of additional activity” supported through the fund includes upskilling “existing careers professionals – qualified staff get access to continuing professional development, unqualified staff supported to achieve QCF Level 6” and “training for new careers professionals for future delivery”.

“Our proposal will aim to develop effective ways for groups of colleges to work together to deliver personal guidance in a cost-effective way,” the association added.

The ‘Personal Guidance Fund’ invests in “projects that deliver innovative models of personal careers guidance to clusters of schools and colleges”, the Careers & Enterprise Company said.

“With a focus on the training of careers development professionals, the fund aims to explore the effectiveness of different approaches to career guidance, and how they can be scaled up and integrated across the education system.”

These programmes will be used to create “case studies, develop guidance on scaling best practice, identify new approaches and make the case for further investment”.

Career Connect, a charity working across the North West, will receive £220,000 to provide careers advice and guidance services in 12 “identified schools” in the region.

Adviza is working across Thames Valley and has been given £114,000 to deliver two programmes.

The first will offer a “number of level six career guidance trained advisers the opportunity to gain an accredited coaching qualification” and the second will “improve the impact of personal guidance by harnessing the power of parents and carers”.

Achieving for Children will receive £105,000 to work across 13 mainstream and special schools, “providing ‘Next Steps’ personal guidance interviews to students with education, health and care plans and those with special educational needs in years 10 and 13”.

The interviews will “provide information on post-16 options and help them explore longer term aspirations”.

Claudia Harris (pictured), chief executive of the Careers & Enterprise Company, said: “Personal guidance is a key ingredient of a good careers education.

“We know there are already countless careers professional doing really effective, innovative work in the personal guidance space. This fund is about backing and celebrating that good practice, so it can be scaled up and shared across the country.”

Applications for the second wave of funding are open from today (October 16) until the end of November. Interested organisations should contact investment@careersandenterprise.co.uk.

The 12 colleges to receive targeted careers training:

                Abingdon and Witney College

                Barnsley College

                City of Westminster College

                Derby College

                Heart of Worcestershire College

                Isle of Wight College

                Leicester College

                Petroc

                RNN Group

                Selby College

                South Devon College

                York College

The government is lobbying those in charge of controversial university technical colleges to move away from recruitment at 14, the academies minister has revealed.

Lord Agnew (pictured) told the House of Lords today that he is “trying to encourage” Lord Baker, the founder of the UTC movement to “adjust the entry age of UTCs so that they are not in conflict with surrounding schools and then local areas can work in harmony with one another”.

His intervention marks a significant climb-down for the government, which until now has been hesitant to express a view either way on UTC admissions.

The UTC model has been fraught with problems, largely because recruiting students at 14 is so difficult. Ministers and UTC architects have come under pressure to change the admissions age as more and more of the 14 to 19 institutions have failed to become financially sustainable and closed down.

We are doing as much as we can. The system still needs to improve

Lord Agnew did not say what the admissions age should be, but most of those lobbying for change advocate a switch from 14 to 16, a move which would bring UTCs in line with sixth forms.

Last week, the former schools minister David Laws called for the admissions age to change to 16 and a halt to the expansion of the UTCs programme, after his think tank the Education Policy Institute faulted their academic progress and ability to recruit and retain learners.

Asked in the Lords by Lord Baker if he would “spread his enthusiasm” for UTCs amongst his colleagues in government, Lord Agnew praised the “enormous amount of effort” put in by Lord Baker and his organisation, the Baker Dearing Trust.

“He’s right, I have put a lot of my own time into it because I think they are a vital part of the skills network,” Lord Agnew said.

“We are doing as much as we can. The system still needs to improve. I am encouraging the Baker Dearing Trust to allow more UTCs to join multi-academy trusts so their resources can be pooled. I’m also trying to encourage [Lord Baker] to adjust the entry age of UTCs so that they are not in conflict with surrounding schools and then local areas can work in harmony with one another.”

Lord Baker described UTCs as “outstanding schools, some of the most successful schools in the country”, and said we “need many more of them”.

However, research by FE Week found in March that more than two thirds of UTCs visited over the previous year were rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. None of the UTCs inspected between February 2017 and February 2018 were rated ‘outstanding’.

Since 2011, the Department for Education has allocated almost £330 million of capital spending to the UTC programme. In this time, 59 UTCs have been established, although eight of these have since closed and one converted to an academy. Another, UTC@Harbourside, will close in August 2019.

The chair of education select committee has urged the chancellor to “look very carefully” at the core level of funding for students in FE ahead of the budget and spending review.

Robert Halfon (pictured) wrote to Philip Hammond today to highlight the stark disparity between funding for pre- and post-16 education.

He stated that it “cannot be right that a funding ‘dip’ exists for students between the ages of 16 and 18, only to rise again in higher education”.

“Successive governments have failed to give further education the recognition it deserves for the role it pays in our national productivity puzzle,” Mr Halfon said.

“As you prepare for the budget later this month and next year’s spending review, we would like to take this opportunity for you to look very carefully at the core level of funding for students in FE, as opposed to targeted announcements.”

His letter follows last week’s education select committee hearing on FE funding, in which sector leaders urged the government to “stop the initiative mania” and focus on core funding.

“We have to work back from what this country needs, we have to do our work in envisioning what an education system should look like post-16, including adult, and then we have to work out what it will cost to fund it,” said Dr Alison Birkinshaw, the former Association of Colleges president.

“Politics needs to come out of it because we cannot afford the short-termism that we get currently.”

Mr Halfon, who is a former skills minister himself, said that the “substantial sums” of £500 million for T-levels and £80 million for Institutes of Technology are to be “welcomed”.

However, the witnesses at last week’s hearing “highlighted some of the particular challenges for further education, including underspends of more than £100 million in recent years, additional costs in the form of VAT, requirements for students to study additional maths and English and the need for specialist facilities for some subjects”.

Mr Halfon told Mr Hammond that FE plays a “vital role in tackling social injustice and providing an educational ladder of opportunity”.

“One in three college students live in the most disadvantaged wards in the country, yet they manage to outperform independent schools when it comes to next steps,” he said.

Look very carefully at the core level of funding for students in FE

“Eighty seven per cent of college students are in education, training or work six months after finishing their course, compared to 82 per cent from independent schools.”

Mr Halfon also used the letter to invite Elizabeth Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, to give evidence in its inquiry on college funding.

“We will, of course, be taking evidence from a minister in the Department for Education towards the end of our inquiry,” he said.

“Given the specifically financial aspects of our inquiry and the link to improving national productivity and creating a skills-based economy, we would also like to hear from a treasury minister.

“I would therefore like to take this opportunity to invite the chief secretary to give evidence to our inquiry on school and college funding on a mutually convenient date later this year, and hope that your officials will be able liaise with the committee staff to make this happen.”

The letter has been published at the start of Colleges Week, in which unions, colleges, and students across the country are coming together to march on parliament to lobby for greater funding.

The principal of one of the biggest college groups in the country has stepped down with immediate effect.

John Connolly, who heads up the RNN Group, is leaving by “mutual agreement” with the group’s board, after year in which the group has faced criticisms over its leadership, the quality of apprenticeship provision and planned for a loss of over £1 million for this academic year.

A notice announcing his departure said: “John Connolly has considered for some time whether he is the right person to take the RNN Group on to the next stage of the group’s journey.

“After discussion with the board, and by mutual agreement, John will take a step down from his day to day activities with immediate effect.”

It added that he will continue to work with the board during the “transitional period” while they look for a replacement, and thanked Mr Connolly for his “contribution, commitment, professionalism and achievement in bringing the RNN Group together”.

The organisation, which incorporates Rotherham College, North Notts College and Dearne Valley College, has completed two mergers in the last four years and recently opened a £10.5 million higher education facility in Rotherham.

Minutes from a board meeting in March 2018 reveal the group planned to be facing a loss of £1.3 million by the end of this academic year.

“An initial draft budget was presented, indicating a loss of £1.3million for 2018/19, before any measures to offset income reduction,” the minutes reported.

“Income had declined by £281,000 compared to the original budget, mainly due to a reduction in 16-18 numbers, a shortfall in apprenticeships, and lower than expected HE enrolments.”

The minutes also said that all teaching staff were on 900 hour contracts, although average group sizes “had declined to around 13”. Despite the possible drop in finances, “provision for a one per cent pay award” was included in the 2018/19 budget.

Although the RNN Group has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted since an inspection in 2013, an early monitoring visit carried out in February warned it was making ‘insufficient progress’ in managing subcontracted provision effectively.

“During a period in which senior leaders and managers oversaw two college mergers, their management of all subcontractors and subsidiary companies was not good enough,” the report warned, adding that on several apprenticeships programmes “the quality of provision was poor and achievement rates were low.”

In 2016/17, the group had 2,569 apprentices and 14,860 learners. That year, Mr Connolly’s salary was £144,000, making him the 83rd most highly paid principal. The RNN Group’s income was £47.1 million, cementing their place as the 23rd biggest college.

Mr Connolly’s resignation from a major college is the fourth in just three weeks.

Andrew Cleaves, one of the highest paid principals in the country, stepped down from Birmingham Metropolitan College on September 25. He was followed by Dame Asha Khemka, another highly paid principal, who resigned as principal of West Notts on October 1. Just last week, Joe Docherty quit as principal of the NCG group with immediate effect.

 

A recently merged college with historical cash problems has received a financial health notice to improve after the government assessed its monetary situation as “inadequate”.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency hit North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College with the notice today following a “review of the financial plan” it submitted to the agency in July.

It will now be referred to the FE Commissioner for an independent assessment to test the college’s “capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.

David Poole, the college’s finance and risk executive director, explained that the college delivered “£1 million of unfunded teaching in 2017/18 due to the funding methodology” and also saw a “decline in income from apprenticeships which mirrors the national picture”.

“We will continue to work with the EFSA to address the issues raised,” he said.

North Warwickshire and Hinckley College merged with South Leicestershire College in August 2016.

The former FE Commissioner, Sir David Collins, warned prior to this that the recurring deficits at the two separate Midland colleges were hitting finances and urged them to merge to fix this.

But it doesn’t appear to have worked. According to the ESFA’s college accounts, the merged college owed £2.5 million in exceptional financial support in 2016/17.

A total of £1.3 million of that was owed by South Leicestershire College in 2015/16 – pre-merger – and the remaining £1.2 million was taken out post-merger.

The college’s own accounts for 2016/17 show loans worth £14.2 million were outstanding.

Three loans were with Lloyds Bank, two were with Royal Bank of Scotland, and another was with the Department for Education.

Minutes from a July 2018 board meeting show that the college broke its banking covenants.

“David Poole highlighted the background to the failure to secure an operating surplus in accordance with the medium term business plan, due to the non-achievement of
income targets and complex issues relating to the adult education budget,” they said.

“As a consequence of the deficit the EBITDA covenant had been breached. The Banks had been informed of the position and further meetings were taking place shortly to discuss
the current position and the breach.

“Marion Plant reminded Members that despite the breach, the banks had both signed new loan agreements with the college.”

The minutes also stated that the college’s “cash position which had previously been stated as £3 million” was now “£1 million due to the need to absorb the drop in income”.

“The plan showed that the college would generate cash from its operating activities in 2018/19 and in the two following years and maintain a positive cash balance throughout the three year period,” the said.

“Repayment of the Department for Education loan had been factored in with repayments of £1 million in 2018/19 increasing to £2.8 million in the final two years. After 2021 the cash position would be improved by £1.3-1.5 million per year.”

The minutes added: “The Plan showed whilst there would be cash ‘pinch points’ that needed to be managed carefully, the College was a ‘going concern’.”

The college is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College’s financial notice said the college must now work with ESFA and the FE Commissioner and his advisers to “facilitate an independent assessment of the college’s capability and capacity to make the required changes and improvements”.

The college, which is led by principal Marion Plant (pictured), must “prepare and share with ESFA a draft financial recovery plan which should then be approved and finalised by the college Corporation after ESFA’s comments have been received by the college” by no later than November 30, 2018.

The plan must include “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely activities and milestones”.

It should also “detail specific, time-bound activities that the college will undertake, and should include the outcomes of exploration into further staff savings for 2018/19 and 2019/20, which should include a thorough review of curriculum areas and their contribution”.

The plan should also include “student number projections and staff planning assumptions, and a detailed sensitivity analysis on these assumptions; for both in year savings and moving forward” as well as “actions to implement savings you have identified, manage expenditure and maintain or increase income, including specific measurable objectives for how you will ensure financial sustainability”.

The ESFA will lift the notice to improve when the college “can demonstrate a financial health grade, which is at least satisfactory evidenced by audited financial statements and finance record”.