Trinity Specialist College

Trinity Specialist College Re-inspection monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Nigel Evans, HMI

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Type of provider: Independent specialist college

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Address:

Lindridge Farm, Lindridge Road, Sutton Coldfield B75 7JB

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Address:

Publication date: Inspection number: 10018136 Monitoring visit: Trinity Specialist College, 25 May 2016

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Context and focus of visit

This is the first re-inspection monitoring visit to Trinity Specialist College following publication of the inspection report on 18 April 2016 which found the following to be inadequate: overall effectiveness; the effectiveness of leadership and management; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for learners.

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Context and focus of visit

Since the inspection, the college’s senior leaders have produced a post-inspection action plan to identify the actions that need to be taken to improve the college.

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monitoring of all incidents or concerns are effective and ensuring that staff

At the most recent inspection, inspectors judged the arrangements for safeguarding to be ineffective. The updating of safeguarding was insufficient, staff did not have an in-depth understanding of safeguarding and managers did not ensure that staff follow the good practice in health and safety. Directors and managers had not complied with the ‘Prevent’ duty and did not have an implementation strategy.

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monitoring of all incidents or concerns are effective and ensuring that staff

College managers took prompt action to address the areas of concern identified in the inspection report. Senior leaders completed relevant training, and contacts with local schools and the local authority safeguarding team are in place. The designated safeguarding lead will receive detailed ‘Prevent’ duty training for June 2016 and all staff received awareness training in May 2016. It is planned that this training will help them understand the need to protect students from the risks of radicalisation and extremism. Physical changes to the college environment taken in response to the inspection included stopping the kitchen area being used as a thoroughfare during food preparation and serving times and converting a toilet into a medical room. Staff now regularly, consistently and routinely record safeguarding incidents and concerns in one central file, with senior managers analysing the reported incidents.

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Priorities for improvement

 Continue with planned actions to reinforce effective safeguarding arrangements throughout the college and monitor the actions for impact and effectiveness.  Have closer and more practical involvement with external organisations and agencies, so that, for example, the local authority and relevant schools have a good working knowledge of the college’s safeguarding arrangements and the college can benefit from safeguarding practices used by others. Monitoring visit: Trinity Specialist College, 25 May 2016  Make good use of the more detailed recording of safeguarding incidents and concerns by analysing records, taking any necessary actions and producing reports for the directors and trustees.  Devise a process to identify which students have the capacity to understand the potential risks associated with safeguarding, using social media and involvement with extremist groups.  Develop an appropriate ‘Prevent’ duty implementation strategy.

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The assessment of students’ needs and abilities before they start college

At the most recent inspection, inspectors judged that staff did not measure the starting point of students in sufficient detail. The current pre-admissions assessments received by the college fail to give a full picture of students’ needs, the skills they have and their barriers to learning. Too much information is inaccurate, not relevant and overly descriptive. In the most extreme cases, young people with complex and significant needs are accepted by the college based on the information supplied, only to find that individuals have much greater and more complex learning support needs when they start at college.

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The assessment of students’ needs and abilities before they start college

Managers recognise that the current main assessment tool does not identify individual students’ starting points. Consequently, this makes the process of making learning suitably challenging and personalised difficult for teachers. The current individual learning plans (ILPs) do not demonstrate the impact of the work of the college or easily show the progress students make towards their primary learning goals and aspirations. Managers are redesigning ILPs so they reflect the medium- and long-term aims of students and their overall ambitions.

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Priorities for improvement

 Work with schools and the local authorities commissioning places so that they provide accurate information on prospective students that enables college staff to identify the skills, expertise and resources necessary to develop an individual learning programme.  Ensure that ILPs make good use of assessment information to identify the individual needs of students, are linked to all elements of their learning programme and clearly identify the main learning goals, aspirations and ambitions.  Revise the current system of recording and recognising progress and achievement so that staff can monitor and measure progress towards the primary learning goals and revise learning goals where necessary. Monitoring visit: Trinity Specialist College, 25 May 2016

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The effectiveness of the curriculum in preparing students for adult life

At the most recent inspection, the college curriculum was judged not to meet students’ needs well enough, learning resources were poor and students did not have opportunities to undertake formal qualifications in English or mathematics, or work to higher levels in order to develop further skills and interests. College staff now emphasise and reinforce appropriate adult behaviour in all situations. Managers and other staff have replaced resources and learning activities designed for children with more age-appropriate materials. Senior leaders appointed two qualified teachers; the mathematics teacher started in April and the other teacher will start in September.

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The effectiveness of the curriculum in preparing students for adult life

Managers recognise the need to make better links between classroom activities and what happens in the work place. Teaching and learning support staff now routinely record work experience activities. Practical subjects such as horticulture provide good hands-on experiences. Managers acknowledge the need for further integration of functional skills to increase their relevance and support the development of social and occupational skills.

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The effectiveness of the curriculum in preparing students for adult life

College managers recognise that target setting for students requires improvement so that activities for students are appropriately challenging and result in their making good progress. Staff now review students’ progress weekly.

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Priorities for improvement

 Ensure that all staff understand their role in helping students to achieve their ambitions and aspirations.  Increase the integration of functional skills with vocational and creative activities so that students can develop these skills in a variety of settings.  Make full use of all learning activities, including work experience and the practical activities offered, to reinforce learning and develop students’ wider skills.  All staff should continue to reinforce and promote appropriate adult behaviour by acting as good role models and creating an environment that prepares students effectively for the wider world.

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improving the progress made and the standards achieved by students

The observations of teaching, learning and assessment were judged, at the most recent inspection, to be too variable in quality; they did not cover all of the settings where students learn and failed to enable the raising of standards sufficiently. Senior managers have increased the frequency of learning observations across the range of activities experienced by students.

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improving the progress made and the standards achieved by students

They are starting to focus on the experience of the student and the progress they make rather than the skills of the tutor and the activities taking place. Learning walks Monitoring visit: Trinity Specialist College, 25 May 2016 have appropriate themes such as the effectiveness of learning support assistants and the management of behaviour.

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improving the progress made and the standards achieved by students

Teaching staff value the professional and developmental approach to observing teaching, learning and assessment and change their practice as a result of practical feedback from observers.

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Priorities for improvement

 Continue to observe teaching, learning and assessment across the range of provision, maintaining the focus on: the impact that activities observed have on individual students; the quality and appropriateness of learning resources and the effectiveness of learning support assistants.  Include judgements on the progress individual students make in sessions and over time, and the standards they achieve.  Use observation records to recognise and share effective practice and to identify areas for staff training, particularly where new areas of expertise are required to meet the needs of students with complex and multiple barriers to learning. Monitoring visit: Trinity Specialist College, 25 May 2016 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

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Priorities for improvement

Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231 or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and

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Priorities for improvement

updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn . Ofsted

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Priorities for improvement

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