York College
‘ofsted watch’
Ofsted will save around £400,000 during the next academic year by elongating the maximum period between inspections for ‘good’ providers from three to five years, it has told FE Week. This change in inspection policy was revealed in the April edition of the learning and skills inspection handbook. “We estimate that this could potentially save […]
News
A college group has been criticised for its poor oversight of subcontractors, in the latest of a new wave of special Ofsted monitoring reports. The RNN Group’s senior leaders’ “management of all subcontractors and subsidiary companies was not good enough” during a period when they oversaw two college mergers. They failed to “evaluate accurately” the […]
The country’s largest FE provider didn’t get “anywhere near” quashing its now infamous ‘inadequate’ rating during its legal fight with Ofsted, the judge from the case has said. After a seven month wait the Manchester Administrative Court has finally published the detailed judgement following Learndirect’s failed judicial review in early August last year. Mr Justice […]
Private providers fared best out of the whole FE sector this week as three achieved ‘good’ ratings. There wasn’t any cause for celebration for colleges however, as two of them – Stoke-on-Trent and Moulton – were handed critical ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ ratings respectively. Starting with the private providers: CSM Consulting Limited rose from ‘requires […]
The second of a new wave of Ofsted early-monitoring visit reports keeping a close eye on newcomers to directly funded apprenticeship provision has returned with largely positive findings. The report into London College of Apprenticeship Training rates it as making significant progress in one area and reasonable progress in two. This is far more positive […]
A college that was told a year ago that it couldn’t survive on its own has announced plans to merge, following a second hunt for a partner. Grade three Epping Forest College, which has been in administered status since March last year, is set to join forces with New City College from August 1, according […]
Two providers managed to pull themselves up from grade four this week – one to ‘good’ and the other to ‘requires improvement’. But at the other end of the scale there was disappointment for another provider as it failed to improve from its previous ‘inadequate’ grade. Adult and community learning provider Essex county council boosted […]
A strong week for adult and community learning providers saw three climb up from ‘requires improvement’ ratings. Slough Pitstop Project Limited was rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. Inspectors recognised that “leaders, managers and trustees set a clear direction for the charity”, and “welcome all learners to their courses, which benefits the local community”. It was […]
The chair of the Commons education select committee has urged the government to “deliver” on its election promise to cut travel costs for apprentices. Robert Halfon made the call in his speech on the final morning of FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference in Birmingham. “In its manifesto the government pledged to help apprentices with transport […]
