York College
‘ofsted’
> Principal breaks silence on ‘very short’ timescales for DfE applications > Government defends linking opportunity to area review deadlines A principal has spoken out over the “significant pressure” being placed on dozens of sixth-form colleges (SFCs) that have been given just a few weeks to complete the complex application process for academy status. The […]
News
Graham Taylor casts a weary eye over the evolution of study programmes. The study programme is now in its third year, but what have we learned? Firstly it’s a misnomer. It doesn’t all have to involve “study” — just work experience or enrichment activities. Is the marked increase in full-time learners attributable to padding out […]
Opinion
A national training provider has ceased trading four months after being hit with an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted, with the loss of 35 jobs. Education and Youth Services (EYS), which had a head office in Stevenage as well as 16 training centres around the country, went into administration on February 4 after having its contracts […]
Greenwich Community College has been hit with its second consecutive inadequate Ofsted rating, following an inspection carried out two weeks after it federated with another London provider. The grade four-overall report, published by Ofsted on Tuesday, was highly critical of maths and English provision and wider teaching at Greenwich and said that “the proportion of […]
A cash-strapped Cumbria sixth form college has been given the green light by Skills Minister Nick Boles to merge with its nearby FE college in July. Barrow Sixth Form College (pictured) was issued with a financial notice to improve last month, as reported in FE Week, having been graded as inadequate for financial health in September. […]
The number of notices of concern issued to FE providers by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has more than doubled in the last year, FE Week can reveal. A total of 75 notices have been issued since 2010, with 53 per cent of these being given out in 2015 alone. Only 24 per cent were […]
One of the largest providers of apprenticeships has asked the Skills Funding Agency for permission to give cashback to employers, prompting the agency to say it would have “grave concerns” about any such arrangement. In an email about Trailblazer funding, dated 22 December and released to FE Week following an FoI request, JTL Training asked […]
The government has spelled out what sixth form colleges (SFCs) need to do to convert to academies, in a document published this morning. The guidance, which comes after Chancellor George Osborne announced in the government’s autumn statement that SFCs could become academies “so they no longer have to pay VAT”, was welcomed by the Sixth […]
Alice Barnard has started in her position as the new chief executive of the Edge Foundation. She takes over from David Harbourne, Edge’s director of policy and research, who has been acting chief executive since Jan Hodges’ retirement last April. Ms Barnard moves from her position as leader of the Peter Jones Foundation, which she […]
Movers and Shakers
