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‘ofsted watch’

Colleges scrap merger plans less than 3 months after announced

Two colleges have scrapped merger plans less than three months after they were announced. Stanmore College and West Hertfordshire College formally declared their intention to join forces in February, following the West London area review. But both have now confirmed the merger has fallen at the first hurdle. Gill Morgan, West Herts College principal, told […]

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Ofsted watch: Three colleges slide to grade three

Three colleges dropped from Ofsted ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ this week, in a bad week for FE. The only silver lining was for Abingdon and Witney College, which maintained its grade two rating. Southampton City College lost its ‘good’ rating following an inspection report published May 9 and is now deemed to ‘require improvement’, after […]

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Ofstedwatch: Contrasting fortunes for colleges

This week saw a reverse of fortunes for two colleges – with Ofsted dragging one down from ‘outstanding’ but boosting another two grades from ‘inadequate’. Meanwhile, a good week for the independent sector saw Northern Care Training Limited made the leap from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’. Blackburn College lost its ‘outstanding’ rating following an inspection in mid-March […]

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College crashes two grades from ‘outstanding’ after lengthy inspection wait

A college that went nearly 10 years without being inspected by Ofsted after being rated ‘outstanding’ has crashed two grades. Blackburn College was given a ‘requires improvement’ verdict by the inspectorate in a report published this morning, following inspection from March 14 to 17. It comes nearly a decade after its previous full inspection in […]

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Ofsted accused of hiding huge gaps between inspections

Ofsted has been forced to deny that it removed inspection dates from its new promotional logos due to the length of gaps between inspections. The inspection watchdog recently released new logos that schools, colleges and providers are entitled to use in their own promotional materials if they receive ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ ratings. The decision to […]

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Why the delay for Learndirect inspection report?

Ofsted’s eagerly awaited inspection report on the nation’s largest FE provider has been delayed by six weeks, with the “silence period” before the election given as the reason. Learndirect was visited by the education watchdog a month ago, and speculation has been mounting over the grade it will receive. However, in an unusual move Ofsted […]

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Ofsted watch: Concern over weak governance at Manchester provider

Concerns over governance were raised in the first ever Ofsted report on Manchester-based Impact College, an independent training provider given a ‘requires improvement’ rating. That report, published April 26 and based on an inspection in mid-March, found that governance was “weak” and the “self-assessment process is not rigorous enough”. It noted that learners’ starting points were […]

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Ofsted watch: A bumper crop of ‘good’ grades

It’s a bumper Ofsted watch this week, with a total of 15 full FE and skills inspection reports published since our last round-up. What’s more, over half of these inspections resulted in a grade two rating or higher. These included HIT Training, which was rated ‘good’ across the board – holding onto the same overall […]

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Editor asks: Halfon answers three key questions after snap election announcement

Tonight, the Institute for Apprenticeships held a launch event in London at Mansion House. The apprenticeships and skills minister, Robert Halfon, was there to deliver a congratulatory speech. Afterwards, against a backdrop of the snap election announcement and as the event continued around us, I had the opportunity for a short interview and asked him […]

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