A sixth-form college that has fallen into trouble in recent years has been commended by the FE commissioner for turning itself around before a merger.

Richard Atkins’ team visited John Ruskin College in October after it emerged its financial health had declined rapidly, and it had dropped two Ofsted grades to ‘requires improvement’ in 2017.

The London-based college appears to have worked tirelessly to get back into shape, and the FE commissioner praised leaders for doing “well to maintain healthy cash balances and manage down external debt”.

The college has also tackled shortcomings in the quality of provision, according to the FE commissioner’s report.

A quality improvement board has been established and meets every term, and there is now “scrupulous tracking and monitoring of learners at risk of underachieving”.

The governors that the commissioner’s team met were said to be focused on the challenges facing the college in terms of both quality, finance and the wider FE landscape.

As a result, there was an 11.1 per cent increase in overall achievement rates between 2016/17 and 2017/18 at John Ruskin.

Apprenticeship provision has also improved, with overall achievement at 78.5 per cent, almost 10 per cent above the national average.

Outcomes in GCSE English and maths increased to 93.1 per cent in 2017/18, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year.

“There is clear evidence that the actions they’ve taken are having a positive impact on the quality of provision and on student outcomes,” the report said.

It added that students “demonstrated a strong sense of ambition and cited an extensive range of opportunities for engagement and student voice with enthusiasm”.

Governors are also “optimistic” about the prospects of the merger to improve student numbers and expand the range of curriculum on offer.

The college merged with East Surrey College on February 1 to form Orbital South Colleges.

The commissioner’s report said that, given both colleges’ “strong balance sheets”, the Department for Education’s transactions unit concluded that “no restructuring funds should be necessary to support the merger”.

In a letter to John Ruskin College’s chair of corporation, Alec Stow, skills minister Anne Milton said: “I welcome the positive work the college has already undertaken to prepare for the planned merger with East Surrey College.”

A spokesperson for the college group said: “The merger generates a wealth of opportunity for us to grow and achieve together.

“It presents excellent opportunities for both colleges and we are already seeing growth potential.”

Furthermore, the college has confirmed that the commissioner’s recommendations – actions to improve budgetary control and to progress the merger with East Surrey College – are either complete or under way.

Despite the positives, the college is expected to run a deficit of 15 per cent of turnover in 2018/19.

The commissioner’s intervention was triggered after its financial health declined from ‘outstanding’ in 2015/16 to ‘satisfactory’ in 2017/18.

The London-based college’s 16-19 learner numbers have fallen “rapidly”, by 12 per cent, since 2016/17, with a further decline in 2017/18; and Ofsted had downgraded it from grade one in 2013 to grade three in 2017.

The college had become dependent on delivering apprenticeships for small businesses, but this came to a halt last year after it failed to secure a non-levy allocation for starts post-March 2018.

Its deficit increased by 1,756 per cent between 2016/17 and 2017/18, rising from £26,629 to £494,234.

In his report, the commissioner warned the college still faces “significant” financial challenges.

“Governors and senior leaders rightly recognise the need for structural change as a result of the significant decline in turnover, substantial operating losses and the gradual erosion of cash reserves.”

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has been forced into hastily finding “interim” arrangements for its apprenticeship external quality assurance service for April.

Open Awards has held the contract to monitor end-point assessment organisations on the institute’s behalf since August 2017, but this deal comes to an end in March. 

A procurement was launched at the end of January for a new organisation to take on the job, which would run until March 2021. 

However, tender documents, seen by FE Week, show that “service commencement” will not be until May 2019. 

FE Week asked the institute what this meant for the month of April, and a spokesperson confirmed that external quality assurance “will continue during April”. 

However, it has had to come up with “interim arrangements” for the month, which haven’t been finalised yet. 

This is likely to cause some concern, considering that the institute is the nominated EQA provider for 191, or 55 per cent, of 345 approved standards. 

Under its contract with Open Awards, the IfATE, like Ofqual, doesn’t charge end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) for the quality assurance service. 

But this will change when its new contract comes into play.

Tender documents for the institute’s new contract state that “legislation allows the institute to charge EPAOs a fee per apprentice that undertakes an end-point assessment and it is these fees that will pay for the EQA service”. 

They add: “The institute’s budget is limited and we are seeking to work with a supplier who will deliver a high-quality service at a price that offers strong value for money.” 

The bidding organisation is asked to “confirm what price they would charge per end-point assessment”, and would receive a minimum payment of £20,000 a month for the duration of the contract. 

The winning bidder can therefore expect to earn at least half a million pounds over the two-year contract period. 

A spokesperson for the institute said EQA is to be delivered on a “cost-recovery basis and not for profit” and this has “been made clear to potential bidders”. 

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, has labelled charging for EQA as the “biggest mistake yet”.

The ESFA sets a funding band for each apprenticeship standard, which is usually the value given to providers to deliver the training. 

Up to 20 per cent of the total funding is available to fund the end-point assessment. The EQA cost is paid by the end-point assessment organisation and is factored into the EPA price. 

There are currently 18 approved external quality assurance bodies that monitor end-point assessment organisations, to ensure the process is “fair, consistent and robust”. 

FE Week revealed the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges last week, which were criticised by sector leaders for ranging from a free service to £179 per apprentice. 

Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, representing many of the 199 currently approved EPAOs, said: “These practices run the risk of bringing the entire reforms into disrepute.” 

The closing dates for bids to IfATE’s tender is February 26.

The government has finally confirmed that a huge private university has been stopped from recruiting new starts months after an Ofsted monitoring visit warned it was making insufficient progress’ in its apprenticeship provision.

Managers at BPP University faced criticism for being “too reliant on subjective information from assessors on the progress of their apprentices, which at times misrepresents the slow progress that apprentices make” in a report published on October 31.

The university, which has around 15,000 students studying law, business and technology, nursing and health, received two ‘insufficient’ ratings from Ofsted during the inspection of its level two to five provision.

Despite this, it is the only provider to receive an ‘insufficient’ rating that has not been listed as temporarily banned from recruiting new starts on the register of apprenticeship providers, prompting concerns that it was receiving special treatment.

However, the Department for Education has now confirmed BPP University is no longer advertising apprenticeship vacancies for courses at level five or below, and said it had not appeared on the official pause list because it also offers level six and seven training, which are not inspected by Ofsted and so not affected by any ban.

The DfE said that if they were included on this pause list then it would wrongly appear to employers that they were unable to recruit apprentices at any level, as it is still free to recruit apprentices at level six and seven.

These higher levels are regulated by the Office for Students, but the OfS did not respond before going to print on whether it would be monitoring BPP University’s degree-level provision
following Ofsted’s findings.

BPP University is part of the global BPP Professional Education Group.

BPP appears on the register of apprenticeship training providers four times, as BPP University, BPP Holdings, BPP Professional Education and BPP Actuarial Education.

Like BPP University, both BPP Professional Education and BPP Actuarial Education are new apprenticeship providers and in line for a monitoring visit. However, no inspection reports have been published for either, and Ofsted would not comment on if or when these would take place.

BPP can continue to recruit apprentices at levels two to five through these other branches, and it is not clear if it can switch BPP University’s allocation of apprenticeships to one of its other providers.

BPP refused to comment or confirm any ban when approached by FE Week.

This week, six more providers were banned from recruiting new apprentices after receiving ‘insufficient’ ratings.

There are currently 23 providers on the barred list, not including BPP University, while four have been fully removed from the register of apprenticeship training providers.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has handed a financial health notice to improve to Macclesfield College.

It follows an assessment of the college by the FE Commissioner in November and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) grading the college’s financial health as ‘inadequate’.

The notice, dated 14 January, instructed Macclesfield College to prepare a draft financial recovery plan to be shared with the ESFA by today (Friday 15 February).

The final plan, including a strategy for managing the college’s reliance on subcontracted delivery and actions to implement savings, must be submitted to the ESFA by 8 March.

The college also has to submit monthly management accounts for the ESFA to review on the 25^th of each month and the agency may observe governor meetings until it is satisfied there is sufficient oversight of the financial position.

Further action could be taken, the ESFA has warned, if “the college fails to take the necessary actions, in whole or part, within the timescales set out, or if evidence of progress is not appropriate or not available”.

The college principal, Rachel Kay, said: “The college has had a strong financial record over the past three years, and has been graded officially ‘good by Ofsted, as stated in their inspection report in November 2017.

“Like many other colleges, the demographic decline in 16-18 year-olds has impacted on the enrolment numbers over the past two years.

“The college has worked hard to make efficiencies and to continue on its academic journey to be an ‘outstanding’ college.

“The college’s financial health is forecast to be ‘good’ at the end of this academic year and moving forward into 2019/20 and beyond.”

To have the notice lifted, the college must improve, financially, from the ‘inadequate’ rating in 2017/18 (calculated by scoring its profitability, solvency and total debt as a percentage of reserves and debt) to ‘satisfactory’.

The college must maintain a ‘satisfactory’ rating through 2018/19, up to 2019/20.

And even then, the ESFA will look at whether, beyond 2019/20, there is a significant risk of decline in the college’s financial health.

• Easton & Otley College has been placed in administered status today by the ESFA, following its second grade 4 Ofsted report in a row.

The chancellor was urged to show that he does love colleges today after representatives from a campaign group calling for more FE funding delivered him a Valentine’s card.

FE unions joined the Association of Colleges in paying a visit to the Treasury to hand-deliver the card which aimed to raise the profile of the Love Our Colleges campaign.

It reads: “Dear Chancellor, show your love for colleges with: increased college funding for students and fair pay for staff #LoveOurColleges.”

University and College Union head of policy Matt Waddup said: “The government speaks a lot about the importance of skills, but massive cuts to further education funding have left staff and students worse off.

“It’s time for the chancellor to show his support for the vital work of colleges by funding them properly and investing in the further education workforce.”

The Love Our Colleges campaign is calling for all 16 to 19-year-olds to increase to £4,760 in the upcoming spending review.

Funding for 16 and 17-year-olds has been frozen at £4,000 per student since 2013, while per-student funding for 18-year-olds was cut to £3,300 in 2014.

The Valentine’s card is the second time Mr Hammond has been urged to up college funding in a matter of days.

A cross-party letter signed by 164 MPs was handed to the chancellor on Friday demanding an above inflation increase to FE funding in the upcoming spending review.

It was given to Mr Hammond by Conservative MP Richard Graham and Gloucestershire College principal Matthew Burgess.

The Association of Colleges chief executive, David Hughes, said: “There is now very strong cross-party support for the 2.2 million people who study and train in FE colleges each year. It’s vital the government helps those tasked with helping to solve the skills gap.”

The Love Our Colleges campaign is supported by University College Union, Unison, Unite, GMB, National Education Union, National Union of Students, TUC, the Association of School and College Leaders and the Association of Colleges.

The Hadlow Group is on the hunt for an interim chief executive after its leader went on sick leave following the resignation of his deputy and the intervention of FE commissioners.

On Monday, FE Week reported deputy chief executive Mark Lumsdon-Taylor had resigned and the commissioners had visited the Kent-based institution the week before – likely in relation to its finances, as it has been granted an extension to submit its 2017/18 accounts.

Now, the college group’s top boss, Paul Hannan (pictured), has stepped back from his duties.

It is also understood that the FE Commissioner will revisit the college group tomorrow.

In a statement, the group told FE Week: “The board can confirm the group principal and chief executive is on leave due to ill health. In his absence, the board is in the process of putting in place interim senior leadership arrangements.

“The board will provide further information as soon as it’s in a position to do so.”

The statement continued: “Governors are working proactively with the FE Commissioner and the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

“The outcomes from the current visits are still ongoing and not yet finalised, and as such, we cannot comment further at this time.”

Mr Hannan has served as head of Hadlow College since 2005, through its adoption of West Kent and Ashford College following the collapse of K College in 2014, and the formation of The Hadlow Group the same year.

As well as Hadlow and West Kent and Ashford colleges, the group also encompasses Betteshanger Sustainable Parks, Broadview Garden Centre, Saplings Rural Nursery and Pre-School, Hadlow Rural Community School, Produced in Kent, and Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery School.

Hannan was one of the highest paid college leaders in 2016/17 after taking home a pay packet of £264,000.

His deputy Mr Lumsdon-Taylor was paid up to £210,000 in 2016/17.

Separate published accounts for West Kent and Ashford College and Hadlow College, for 2016/17, show a combined turnover of £45 million.

An arts and media provider with a large proportion of high needs learners is challenging an ‘inadequate’ report after Ofsted criticised it for not moving enough students onto further study or employment.

Sheffield Independent Film and Television (Shift) was given the lowest possible rating in every category bar one in a report published by the education watchdog today.

Inspectors reported that the quality of provision had “declined” at the provider, after it was rated ‘good’ at its last two inspections in 2013 and 2016.

Shift is the second arts and media provider to be rated ‘inadequate’ in the last month, after Ofsted criticised the employment outcomes for learners at Dv8 Training (Brighton) in January.

In November, chief inspector Amanda Spielman spoke out about the “mismatch” between the numbers of students taking arts and media courses and their “future employment in the industry”.

Speaking at the Association of Colleges’ conference, she said Ofsted’s research on level two qualifications found these courses were giving learners “false hope” and questioned if some providers were chasing income over the best interests of their learners.

Her controversial comments made headlines in The Guardian, The Times and the Daily Mail.

Shift has 51 learners enrolled, around a third of which have high needs, who are on 16 to 19 study programmes in a variety of creative media subjects including digital media, film, television and the cultural industries. 

Its Ofsted report found the proportion of its learners who go on to further study, apprenticeships or employment is “low” and warned that learners make “slow progress” in achieving qualifications and developing skills.

Tutors were criticised for failing to develop individual study programmes for high needs learners based on their education, health and care plans, and for not setting “high enough expectations of what their learners should achieve”.

Attendance was said to be low, with too many learners turning up late and submitting work after the deadlines, but they are met with a “lack of challenge from tutors”.

Inspectors also criticised senior leaders for “weak” performance management of staff and failing to hold them to account well enough for their performance.

However, the small provider has plans to formally challenge Ofsted’s decision.

Bridget Kelly, chief executive of Shift, said: “We don’t agree with the judgement and we are going to challenge it through the complaints procedure.

“Our key focus at the moment is the wellbeing of our students. We are taking external advice on the appeal.”

A grade four report could prove catastrophic for the provider, as the Education and Skills Funding Agency typically terminates government skills funded contracts for private providers who receive the rating.

Shift’s report highlighted several strengths at the provider.

Inspectors found that most learners “enjoy their programme and value the kind and caring approach of staff”, while parents were said to be “appreciative of the support that staff provide to young people, many of whom have had previous negative and unsuccessful experiences of education”.

Careers guidance is “effective and impartial”, and tutors have strong relationships with local employers to provide a “broad variety” of work experience activities.

“Leaders work effectively with local partners and employers in the media sector across the city of Sheffield,” the report added.

“Employers provide meaningful work experience activities that help learners to develop their knowledge and understanding of the creative industries.”

However, it also warned that too few learners – particularly those with high needs – completed the programme and achieved their qualifications, and warned that they do not develop the English or mathematics skills “needed to be successful in future learning or work”.

 

A studio school in Bath that has struggled to meet costs as a result of severely low student numbers is to close at the end of the 2020 summer term, it has been confirmed.

The Wellsway Multi Academy Trust said this morning that the Department for Education has made the final decision to close The Bath Studio School (TBSS) next year.

The government agreed “in principle” to close TBSS in October; an announcement that was followed by a five-week consultation exercise.

The creative and digital specialist school opened in 2014, but struggled to recruit enough students to make it viable and has been operating at a capacity of 47 per cent or less since opening – with student numbers forecast to fall even further.

Due to the poor intake, TBSS has required a “considerable” amount of subsidy and financial support from the trust.

Closing TBSS at the end of Summer term 2020 means students will be able to finish their qualifications.

No new pupils will be admitted from September this year, and the trust is looking at redeploying staff to its other schools.

The trust’s chief executive Andrea Arlidge said: “The decision by ministers to consent to the closure of TBSS reflects the challenges the school faces – medium and long-term.

“Ultimately, there is simply not enough demand in the Bath area for the type of education that TBSS provides.

“We remain excited by the potential of Aspire Academy, our special school that shares the site and building with the school.

“We are aiming to further develop Aspire to provide much needed special school places for children and young people on the autistic spectrum with challenging needs. 

“Through our studio school in Keynsham, IKB (which is focused on STEM subjects), we also remain committed to the studio school concept for particular subjects and students.”

Yesterday, Studio@Deyes studio school revealed it was considering closure. Although it has a capacity for 300, it has just 196 pupils and its accounts show it ended last year with a deficit of almost £600,000.

Twenty-one studio schools have closed to-date, and a number of others have set out plans to shut, despite millions of pounds in government investment. No new studio schools opened in 2018.

In September, the Department for Education denied that there had been a formal review of the programme ordered by minister Lord Nash.

That was despite emails, released under Freedom of Information, showing the Studio Schools Trust chair, David Nicoll, had asked Lord Nash to postpone a meeting they were due to have as “it seems that the review will not have been completed in time”.

The awarding organisations that will develop, deliver and award the first three T-levels have been revealed by the government.

Following a competitive tender, NCFE has been awarded a contract to deliver the education and childcare pathway, and Pearson has been awarded contracts to deliver T-levels in design, surveying and planning as well digital production, design and development.

The contracts are worth £17.5 million in total and give the awarding organisations exclusive rights to deliver each T-level subject.

Stewart Foster, managing director of NCFE Awarding, said his organisation is “excited to be at the forefront of the implementation of T-levels”.

Rod Bristow, President of Pearson in the UK, said: “The award of these licenses recognises our longstanding collaboration and partnership with employers of all sizes to design, develop and deliver world class qualifications in these industries.”

The government’s decision to have a single awarding body per T-level has proved to be highly contentious.

It was one of the reasons why the Federation of Awarding Bodies threatened the Department for Education with legal action in the summer, but the department has held firm with the policy.

Fifty providers will deliver the first three T-levels from 2020.

Education secretary Damian Hinds said today: “This is a major step forward in our work to upgrade technical education in this country.

“T-levels are a once in a generation opportunity to create high-quality technical education courses on a par with the best in the world, so that young people gain the skills and experience they need to secure a good job, an apprenticeship or progress into further training.

“We have made significant progress to implement these vital reforms which are on track for delivery from 2020.”

Sir Gerry Berragan, chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, which took over the running of T-levels this month, said: “I am really pleased at the pace the work has developed and the institute will continue to build on the work of DfE.

“Technical education offers a real and exciting alternative to A-levels for young people, with T-levels now sitting alongside apprenticeships.”