Wiltshire Council

The Wiltshire Council Re-inspection monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Steven Tucker HMI

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Address:

County Hall Bythesea Road Trowbridge BA14 8JQ Monitoring visit: The Wiltshire Council, 4-5 October 2017

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Context and focus of visit

This is the third re-inspection monitoring visit to The Wiltshire Council following publication of the inspection report on 1 December 2016 which found the provider to be inadequate overall.

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Context and focus of visit

At the inspection in October 2016, inspectors judged overall effectiveness; the effectiveness of leadership and management; teaching, learning and assessment; outcomes for learners; adult learning programmes and apprenticeships to be inadequate. Personal development, behaviour and welfare were judged to require improvement.

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Context and focus of visit

During this monitoring visit, the inspector focused on themes and priorities for improvement identified at the second monitoring visit on 19 June 2017.

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Reasonable progress

Since the previous re-inspection monitoring visit, senior leaders have used information held by the council well to inform the strategy for the family learning service. They have analysed data about the employment, income, health and safety of people in Wiltshire communities. As a result, they have identified communities in which people are most disadvantaged and in most need of family learning. Managers have also identified the characteristics of people who are to be targeted by the service. These include vulnerable families, people who do not work and people who have yet to achieve a full level 2 qualification. Currently recruitment is focused on learners who have not achieved a full level 2 qualification. Managers have worked closely with children’s centres and schools to ensure that staff in these settings know that they should promote courses to these learners. As a result, all but one learner enrolled to date in 2017/18 is in this target

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Reasonable progress

group. While this strategy is successfully targeting provision at people with low achievement, other learners in the target groups may be excluded if they already have a full level 2 qualification. Managers have analysed the results of the learner survey that took place in June 2017. They used this effectively, along with information from partners such as children’s centres and primary schools, to inform the curriculum plan for 2017/18. Monitoring visit: The Wiltshire Council, 4-5 October 2017 The strategic plan that managers have produced links well to council priorities such as enabling residents to be independent and lead fulfilling lives, decreasing the proportion of the working age population with no qualifications and giving young people a positive start in life.

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Reasonable progress

Council leaders have set a target of enrolling 450 people in 2017/18. Managers expect each learner to enrol, on average, on two courses. Managers fully recognise that learners who enrol on more than one course should develop new skills and knowledge on each course. At the time of the monitoring visit, 63 learners had enrolled on courses in 2017/18. In 2017/18, managers expect only a small number of learners to progress into a job, as they focus on recruiting those who are least prepared for employment. Managers have set a clear pathway for progression from one course to another and are able to identify whether learners progress to a course that further develops their skills for employment. Managers have set an ambitious target for 99% of learners to achieve their learning goal. However, their definition of achievement is too generous. On one course that has been completed in 2017/18, learners only needed to complete four out of eight

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Reasonable progress

parts of their learning goal in order to achieve.

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Reasonable progress

Managers have replaced the post-inspection action plan with a quality improvement plan that incorporates actions to improve features of the service that have emerged since the previous inspection. This action plan is self-critical and focuses well on features of the provision most in need of improvement. Council leaders have taken the necessary steps identified at the previous re- inspection monitoring visit to put in place a governing board which has clear responsibilities. They have recruited people to the board with the experience necessary to advise and challenge managers. However, the board has not been in place long enough to have had an impact on the quality of provision. Managers have responded well to the concerns raised during the previous re- inspection monitoring visit about the lack of dates in the post-inspection action plan by setting realistic deadlines. In their improvement plan, managers have identified

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Reasonable progress

the actions they need to take to review, revise and implement a curriculum for 2017/18. However, they do not evaluate sufficiently whether each action has been fully completed. Managers have developed a range of new systems for monitoring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They have trained staff in their responsibilities for planning and delivering courses and for assessing learners. However, service Monitoring visit: The Wiltshire Council, 4-5 October 2017 managers have not spent enough time evaluating whether these systems have led to high-quality education and training on the courses that have taken place in 2017/18. They have not looked at the documents produced by tutors and learners closely enough to give tutors sufficient guidance on how to achieve the highest standards in their planning, assessment and teaching.

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Reasonable progress

Managers have addressed the concerns raised about information, advice and guidance at the previous re-inspection monitoring visit by producing an informative website that is easily found through a search engine. They have also produced leaflets for courses that many children’s centres and schools are passing on to potential learners. Council staff recognise that they need to continue to work closely with staff in schools and children’s centres to ensure that they gain a better understanding of the courses available, how they can help the people in the communities they serve and the characteristics of people the council aims to recruit to courses.

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Reasonable progress

Currently only a small number of learners have enrolled on courses. During this re- inspection monitoring visit, the inspector sampled records of learners’ achievements and spoke to a small number of learners and tutors. The courses are clearly recruiting learners from the most disadvantaged communities in Wiltshire and learners are gaining confidence. For example, learners attending a course with their young children identified how the course had helped them gain the confidence to leave their houses and to read with their children. While all learners set themselves targets as part of their induction to the course, some of these are too general and not focused sufficiently on the skills and knowledge they can reasonably expect to achieve on the course. Monitoring visit: The Wiltshire Council, 4-5 October 2017 the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s

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website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . Learner View Learner View is a website where learners can tell Ofsted what they think about their college or provider. They can also see what other learners think about them too. To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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Employer View Employer View is a website where employers can tell Ofsted what they think about their employees’ college or provider. They can also see what other employers think about them too. To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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regulates and inspects to 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 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 children looked after, 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

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the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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