John Leggott College

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mr Leon Riley Principal John Leggott College West Common Lane Scunthorpe Lincolnshire DN17 1DS

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Following the short inspection on 8 and 9 May 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The inspection was the first short inspection carried out since the college was judged to be good in March 2014.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Governors, senior leaders and managers have sustained and improved further the good quality of education. You and your team have tightened the focus on improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. As a result, most learners are making at least the progress expected of them.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

You have successfully refocused your leadership team and have a clear strategic direction. You work very well with local and regional partners such as schools, the local authority and the local enterprise partnership, and this enables the college to be responsive to regional priorities and demands. For example, you have introduced full-time provision for learners aged 14 to 16 and increased the number of level 3 vocational programmes for learners. You have also, through effective dialogue with funding bodies, made the strategic decision to withdraw from your small, but underperforming, apprenticeship provision.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Learners benefit from good resources. These include specialist classrooms, laboratories, workshops and independent study spaces, and very knowledgeable subject teachers. You have also provided an appropriate dedicated space for learners aged 14 to 16. You have ensured that your resources are used effectively, and as a result learners make good progress with their studies.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Governors provide a good level of critical challenge to senior leaders and managers by making good use of the accurate data and information that they receive. You and your senior team are well informed about the performance of each subject area and have a good understanding of the areas that require further improvement.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Since the previous inspection, you have maintained the number of learners on level 3 programmes at the college. You have ensured that appropriate pathways and progression routes to higher qualifications, apprenticeships and employment are part of your curriculum offer. You have maintained a good focus on ensuring that learners are well prepared for the next stage of their lives.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

At the previous inspection, areas requiring improvement included the few weaker areas of teaching, learning and assessment, attendance on intermediate courses and the use of value-added data to enable managers to identify underperformance in a small minority of subject areas. You and your senior leadership team have taken decisive and crucial action to improve most of these aspects, leading to a continuing high proportion of learners completing their qualifications and moving on to university or employment.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Governors, senior leaders and managers ensure that safeguarding arrangements are effective. All staff, including governors, leaders and managers, have undertaken appropriate training and keep their understanding and knowledge up to date. Staff are acutely aware of their responsibility to protect learners from possible radicalisation and extremist groups. Learners behave exceptionally well while attending the college, both in lessons and in communal areas; they demonstrate high levels of respect for each other and their teachers. They say that they are safe and know how to keep themselves safe.

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Short inspection of John Leggott College

Senior leaders have good relationships with external partners, local agencies and schools to ensure that learners are safe. Leaders and managers attend, and make significant contributions to, local safeguarding boards and external meetings.

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Inspection findings

 Governors, senior leaders and managers have a good awareness of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the college as a whole and in each subject area. They make robust decisions and intervene quickly to improve quality when needed, which results in improved performance of subject areas, teachers and, subsequently, learners. For example, the proportion of learners achieving high grades on vocational courses has increased as a direct result of robust intervention actions and increased monitoring of the provision.  Leaders and managers have established frequent and effective assessment points throughout the year which give them a much better understanding of the cumulative progress made by individual learners. Learners are better informed of the progress that they are making; most remain on their courses, and the large majority make at least the progress expected of them.  Senior leaders and managers have a good focus on improving the performance of

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Inspection findings

the college. They have access to comprehensive and detailed information about learners’ progress which they use effectively to monitor and review the performance of different subject areas, teachers and learners. Managers are aware of the small proportion of underperforming subject areas and have taken appropriate action to improve learners’ progress and achievement, and establish more consistency across subjects.  Governors, senior leaders and managers appreciate the need to maintain their strong focus on improving the standard of teaching, learning and assessment. The arrangements for observing teaching, learning and assessment are rigorous and result in accurate evaluations. Managers use the findings from observations well to provide regular targeted professional development for teachers. Consequently, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment continues to improve and become more consistent. However, a small minority of teachers

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Inspection findings

provide insufficient challenge for learners, including the most able.  The vast majority of learners are on level 3 study programmes. Senior leaders and managers have ensured that learners benefit from a comprehensive and broad curriculum and a wide range of subjects, including English and mathematics. An increasing proportion of learners study a combination of academic and vocational subjects in line with their prior learning and intended destinations.  Since the previous inspection, leaders have introduced full-time provision for learners aged 14 to 16. Senior leaders and managers have ensured that the statutory requirements for this provision are met and that staff are suitably qualified and experienced. Learners benefit from a broad curriculum offer, including humanities, languages and religious education. Younger learners are confident, articulate and demonstrate good behaviour around the college.

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Inspection findings

Managers have ensured that suitable progression routes are available for younger learners, either at the college or elsewhere.  Learners benefit from the vast range of enrichment activities offered at the college. Just under half of the learners participate regularly in activities, ranging from college societies to competitive sports, many of which are organised and led by learners. However, while managers provide effective work-related activity within the college, they are aware that the proportion of learners taking part in work-related experience with employers is too low.  Learners benefit from very good and effective impartial careers education, information, advice and guidance, which is provided by well-qualified staff. Learners have good access to advisers and information regarding their next steps, including assistance with university applications and progressing to an apprenticeship or employment. Consequently, a very high proportion of learners

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Inspection findings

go on to further study or gain employment on completion of their programmes. Almost all learners have a positive destination on completion of their studies at the college.

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Next steps for the provider

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  the proportion of learners who benefit from work-related experience with employers increases and becomes an integral part of their study programme  all teachers challenge learners, including the most able, to achieve their potential  the proportion of learners who make better than expected progress from their starting points continues to improve and is more consistent across subject areas.

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Next steps for the provider

I am copying this letter to the Education and Skills Funding Agency. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, we were assisted by the assistant principal as nominee. We met you, your senior leaders, middle managers and governors. We visited lessons with members of your management and lesson observation teams to observe teaching, learning and assessment and to look at learners’ work. We spoke to learners, held meetings with them and with staff and reviewed key documents, including those relating to self-assessment, performance and safeguarding. We considered the views of learners, employers, parents and carers by reviewing the comments received on Ofsted’s online questionnaires and by seeking the views of learners during the on-site inspection activity.

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