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‘ofsted watch’

Sector leaders hit back at Ofsted for ‘encouraging government’ to restrict funding choices

Sector bodies have hit back at Ofsted’s chief inspector for “encouraging government” to restrict course choices made by colleges and employers. One leader said putting restrictions on how firms can spend their cash risks “further reducing training opportunities in lots of workplaces”, while another warned that Whitehall “choosing winners” has a “very chequered history”. The […]

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‘I’ve never experienced anything like this’: Shrewsbury College in grade 4 battle

A college is battling Ofsted to prevent the publication of a grade four report after inspectors claimed to have found serious safeguarding failures. Shrewsbury Colleges Group, which teaches more than 9,000 students mostly aged 16 to 18, is set to receive an ‘inadequate’ rating following an inspection in November. But the college has insisted the […]

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Ofsted watch: Troubled college and Williamson’s alma mater among swathe of positive results

A college in financial trouble and the education secretary’s old sixth form are among a host of positive Ofsted results for FE providers. The week was somewhat overshadowed, however, after independent provider EQV (UK) was handed a grade four because apprentices and their bosses did not know they were on an apprenticeship programme. Brooklands College […]

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Grade 4 provider to close after losing Ofsted appeal

The first FE provider to receive a grade four under Ofsted’s new inspection regime is closing down. Sixteen jobs are set to be lost and hundreds of learners will be affected after an appeal by independent learning provider Mercia Partnership (UK) Ltd failed to overturn an ‘inadequate’ rating, first published in October. The provider, which […]

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Most learners don’t know they’re apprentices at management provider, Ofsted finds

A provider of management courses has been declared ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted after it was found learners and their bosses did not know they were on the apprenticeship programme. EQV (UK) has been handed a grade four for its provision to nearly 80 apprentices, who are either on the level 3 team leader or level 5 […]

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Ofsted watch: ‘Outstanding’ start to the new year for specialist college

A specialist college retained its ‘outstanding’ grade while seven providers received grade twos in a good week for FE. But it wasn’t without some poor reports: four private providers were found making ‘insufficient progress’ after early monitoring visits from the education watchdog. Orchard Hill College, which until last summer was led by Caroline Allen, who […]

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Notts ‘college’ funding terminated

A multi-site “college” is to have its funding contracts terminated, after serious safeguarding failures were exposed in a damning Ofsted report. City College Nottingham, a private training provider with eight campuses across the Midlands, laid off staff and stopped taking on new enrolments ahead of the publication of a grade four inspection report on December […]

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Government commissioned college finance review to slam ESFA

A government commissioned review is set to heavily criticise the Education and Skills Funding Agency and their intervention regime for failing to spot when colleges get into finance trouble, FE Week understands. Dame Mary Ney, who had a 40-year career in local government, was commissioned to undertake the review in August after the FE Commissioner’s […]

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DfE plans for all ‘outstanding’ providers to be inspected over next five years

Gavin Williamson has vowed to send Ofsted inspectors into every ‘outstanding’ training provider in England within five years, as he confirmed an earlier pledge to lift their inspection exemption. The education secretary announced last September that the exemption, introduced by Michael Gove in 2012, would finally be abandoned. It followed repeated warnings from Ofsted that […]

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