York College
‘ofsted watch’
A private provider has earned the ignominious honour this week of being rated ‘inadequate’ at its first ever inspection. And two “new” apprenticeships providers have fared little better, with both found to be making “insufficient progress” in at least one area, according in monitoring visit reports published this week. The Terri Brooke School of Nails […]
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T-levels will be watched for “potential for losses and fruitless payments” according to the comptroller-general at the National Audit Office. Sir Amyas Morse has turned his eye towards the new post-16 technical qualifications after a rare ministerial direction published last month. The education secretary Damian Hinds last month refused to delay the initial 2020 rollout […]
The FE and skills sector is well represented in the Queen’s birthday honours list this year, in which Ofsted’s chief operating officer has been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Matthew Coffey, who joined Ofsted in 2007 and was appointed COO in 2014, has made a “huge contribution” to the education watchdog, […]
An employer-provider has boosted its grade to ‘good’ in a mixed week for the FE sector, as Highbury College dramatically dropped two ratings from ‘outstanding’. Be Wiser Insurance Services was rated grade two across the board, up from its previous ‘requires improvement’ rating. The main reason for its achievement was put down to a reduction […]
A free school sponsored by England’s largest college group, and which is led by some of its top people, is closing down. The Discovery School in Newcastle, which cost £9 million to set up, opened in 2014. It will shut this year over “capability and capacity issues” that have concerned ministers. Last July, the school […]
It’s been an ‘outstanding’ week for the FE and skills sector, as a specialist college has received the highest possible rating across the board. And an independent training provider has gone straight in with a grade two on its first ever inspection. Hartpury College was rated grade one overall and in all areas inspected in […]
Another Ofsted early monitoring visit to an apprenticeship provider has resulted in a verdict of ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area – but the Department for Education has refused to say whether it will take action. The watchdog’s report into Mears Learning is the fourth of the 11 monitoring reports so far published to […]
Three early monitoring visit reports on new apprenticeship providers were published this week and produced a mixed bag. Lean Education and Development Limited, based in the west Midlands, received the most positive report. Inspectors praised the provider for having a “clear vision and well-considered strategy to become a high-performing provider of learning”. LEAD became a […]
Ofsted will have its powers and budget for FE inspections boosted after the government was embarrassed over apprenticeship accountability, FE Week can reveal. The watchdog will now be given potentially as much as £7 million to visit every new apprenticeship provider. Critically, it will also have the final say over quality. The decision been dubbed […]
