Heart of Worcestershire College

Published date 02 November 2011 Inspection Number 376136 Unique reference number: 130713

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Name of lead inspector: Lindsay Hebditch HMI

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Last day of inspection: 28 September 2011

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Type of provider: General further education college

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Address:

Peakman Street Redditch Worcestershire B98 8DW Telephone number: 01527 570020

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Focused monitoring visit report

Focused monitoring visit: North East Worcestershire College, 28 September 2011 1 of 4

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Context and focus of visit

North East Worcestershire College is a large general further education college with a large campus in Redditch and a second campus in Bromsgrove. This year the college has enrolled around 8,000 learners; approximately 57% of these are adults and 65% are female. Some 11% of learners are from minority ethnic groups which is higher than the figure for these groups in Worcestershire. The college offers courses in nearly all subject areas and the majority of learners follow intermediate-level courses. The college also provides employment-based training in seven subjects. The social and economic environment is favourable although areas of deprivation exist, particularly in Redditch. The unemployment rate in Redditch is slightly higher than the national figure.

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Context and focus of visit

The most recent inspection report was published in July 2010. The college was judged to be good in overall effectiveness, capacity to improve, outcomes for learners, quality of provision and leadership and management. Of the four subject areas inspected, two were judged to be good and two were satisfactory. This report focuses on the themes explored during the visit.

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progress

Following the recent staff reorganisation the quality improvement team has been given increased responsibility and clearer lines of accountability. The team has worked effectively to ensure that self-assessment procedures are understood clearly and implemented correctly. Teaching staff have received training to ensure that at programme level their evaluations are accurate and rigorous. Self-assessment is now better informed by the views of students and employers. The new quality reviews form a valuable resource which enables managers to understand the underlying reasons for unsatisfactory performance. The reports from these reviews are informed by more accurate and more readily understood data, which help staff to measure progress against key performance indicators, including of the quality of teaching, and provide a good basis for self-assessment. At the time of the visit, the college was finalising its self-assessment report for 2010/11. Provisional grades within this report

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reflect appropriately the current college performance data and the information contained in the quality reports. Focused monitoring visit: North East Worcestershire College, 28 September 2011 2 of 4

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progress

Since the last inspection the college has addressed issues concerning the accuracy and reliability of data on learners’ achievements. Managers now have an accurate knowledge of learners’ outcomes but have yet to deal with the legacy of data inaccuracies which served to conceal a decline in success rates on long courses for learners aged 16 to 18 and for adult learners. In some subject areas the decline has resulted from falling retention rates and in others declining achievement rates. The college is aware that the low success rates on advanced-level courses represent a particularly significant weakness and have resulted from both declining retention and achievement rates. The low value-added scores in the majority of AS- and A-level subjects indicate that these learners are not making as much progress as they should. The proportion of learners who achieve high grades has increased, but remains low. Outcomes for work-based learners are much improved. Apprentices

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now achieve success rates that are well above average, including for those who achieve their qualifications within the specified timescale, while success rates for Train to Gain learners are slightly above average. Learners’ attendance is satisfactory.

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The college’s previous lesson observations provided an over-optimistic assessment of the quality of teaching and learning. The revised observation scheme, based on observations of all teaching staff, provides a profile of grades which is much lower but more consistent with learners’ outcomes. The college has been able to identify areas where there is a clear correlation between teaching which is less satisfactory and low success rates, and has therefore been able to plan sensible and well- targeted actions for improvement. Although it is too early to assess the impact of these changes there are clear and encouraging signs that teachers have accepted the need to improve the quality of their teaching and are planning their activities more thoroughly, although currently they give insufficient attention to the development of learners’ literacy and numeracy. At the time of this visit, the college’s own analysis and the comments of learners confirmed that variations in the quality of

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teaching within and between subject areas persist, but are diminishing.

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Since the last inspection the college has placed a greater emphasis on target setting for learners. Senior managers were aware that the targets set were not effective in helping the college to achieve sufficient improvement in learners’ outcomes and Focused monitoring visit: North East Worcestershire College, 28 September 2011 3 of 4

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provided training to help staff understand how to set and agree challenging targets with individual learners. The revised tutorial programme now provides teachers and learners with more opportunities to meet to discuss progress, and learners receive targets which are clearly based on their own abilities and learning needs. The college has increased the number of staff available to support learners’ personal development needs and early indications show that their well-chosen interventions and careful selection of short-term targets are helping learners to improve their attendance and punctuality.

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The college has raised the profile of cross-college enrichment by providing a greater range of activities and publicising them more widely. Learners have become increasingly involved in developing and supporting cross-college enrichment. Participation in sports and recreational events has improved at both main sites; learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who follow programmes in English for speakers of other languages participate well. The development of volunteering has been a strong feature since the last inspection and provides the college with an excellent foundation to extend its community work. The college recognises that it must evaluate its cross-college enrichment activities more fully if it is to maximise their potential benefit to all learners.

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progress

The college has given a high priority to equality and diversity through its strong programme of staff training and more effective monitoring of the promotion of equality and diversity in the curriculum. Lesson observations have been used well to gauge progress and identify areas of good practice or where opportunities to promote equality have been missed. In work-based learning the promotion of equality and diversity during learners’ reviews has been much improved by the use of workplace scenarios to prompt discussion and reflection. The most recent performance data indicate that there are no significant differences in the progress made by different groups of learners. Learners demonstrate good knowledge of equality and diversity issues and confirm that these issues are promoted well in the college. Focused monitoring visit: North East Worcestershire College, 28 September 2011 4 of 4

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The college has made major improvements to its accommodation since the last inspection. In Redditch the college has opened a new block for adult education and professional studies and extended further its impressive provision in construction. The cramped accommodation in hairdressing noted in the last inspection report has been improved by the provision of two additional salons. In Bromsgrove a building extension now provides spacious and well-resourced accommodation for media arts and motor vehicle engineering. Internal refurbishment in Bromsgrove has increased the space available for learners to study, rehearse and use computers. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based

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