Cheynes Training

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

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Mr William Howarth Programme Director Cheynes (Management) Limited T/A Cheynes Training 16 Rutland Square Edinburgh Scotland EH1 2BB

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Following the short inspection on 5 and 6 June 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 provider was judged to be good in August 2014.

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Since the previous inspection, you and your staff continue to provide good-quality apprenticeship programmes for apprentices working in the hairdressing and barbering sector. Managers continue to build on the strong partnerships in place with the large number of subcontractors, referred to as academies, which deliver these programmes with employers across the country. Through regular meetings, monitoring and effective management of academies’ performance and quality, managers ensure that apprentices continue to receive a very good standard of teaching, learning and assessment and make good progress.

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Leaders, managers, trainers and apprentices have high expectations. The majority of apprentices achieve their qualifications within the planned time and almost all remain in employment with their salons. Many apprentices complete extra awards and attend external events that support them to gain additional skills and knowledge. For example, apprentices complete awards in the awareness of dermatitis, attend hair shows and take part in photoshoots that display their work. A small minority of apprentices work with charities, which supports them to develop essential life skills. For example, apprentices work in teams in Uganda to build schools. As a result, they are able to appreciate the things they have and learn well how to cope with stress, and work to deadlines.

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Apprentices continue to enjoy their learning in very well-resourced and modern salons, which give them exposure and access to the most up-to-date hairdressing and barbering techniques. They develop in confidence, gain excellent communication skills and adapt their behaviour effectively to meet the needs of a wide range of customers.

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Leaders and managers establish and maintain a culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that there are appropriately trained designated safeguarding officers, and that academies fulfil their safeguarding duties. Officers deal promptly and well with safeguarding referrals. Managers and academies maintain good relationships with their local external agencies to ensure that apprentices are safe. Through the recruitment process, managers ensure that staff are safe to work with apprentices. The safeguarding policies and procedures are appropriate, with clear lines of responsibility and reporting. Through the well-planned training activities and resources available, apprentices gain a good understanding of keeping themselves safe while working online and understand well their own responsibilities at work.

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Short inspection of Cheynes Training

Apprentices have a good understanding of the potential threat posed by those who hold radical and/or extreme views. Staff and apprentices receive appropriate training about the ‘Prevent’ duty. Training prepares apprentices effectively for dealing appropriately with terrorist threats, and staff at academies practise ‘lock- down’ procedures in salons and training centres.

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Inspection findings

 Through the close-working partnerships with academy staff, leaders successfully implement the new hair professional apprenticeship standards and prepare apprentices well for their end-point assessment (EPA). Apprentices take part in mock assessments and receive helpful feedback from staff on how they can improve the outcome of the formal assessment. As a result, apprentices feel confident about their EPA and develop the appropriate skills to support them to be successful in passing. Staff have high expectations that apprentices will achieve distinctions in their EPA; however, not all apprentices are aware of their target grade.  Leaders and teaching staff ensure that apprentices take part in a variety of sufficiently challenging off-the-job training activities, which support apprentices to develop very good technical skills and knowledge. Apprentices record and reflect on the skills they develop comprehensively in their ‘learner journey’ files.

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Inspection findings

Apprentices are rightly proud of their work in these files, which show the detail of their learning and skills development. For example, barbering apprentices develop good skills such as fades and textured crops that enable them to meet the needs of the contemporary client. Apprentices on advanced hairdressing programmes confidently carry out colour correction techniques, restoring mistreated hair to a good condition.  Leaders manage the performance and quality of their academy partners very effectively. They understand well each academy’s strengths and weaknesses and through a comprehensive series of meetings, reviews and reports identify any areas for concern. Leaders were quick to notice that the slight decline in achievement rates in 2016/17 was due to a small number of poor-performing academies and they worked swiftly to support academies to improve. Leaders managed those that did not make the necessary improvements effectively out of

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Inspection findings

the partnership. Leaders, in their quality improvement planning, consider the academies’ strengths and areas for improvement. However, they do not share these sufficiently with academy managers so they can see how they contribute to the overall improvements of the organisation.  Current apprentices make good progress, as a result of frequent and effective training, feedback and assessment. Apprentices benefit from regularly working on live models, often recruited through effective use of social media. The majority of employers participate in apprentices’ progress reviews. However, trainers do not use employers’ feedback on apprentices’ performance consistently to inform apprentices’ improvement targets.  Managers track well the progress apprentices make through the quarterly review meetings with academy staff and agree clear actions when apprentices fall behind. Managers correctly recognise that they do not have an effective system

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Inspection findings

to give them clear oversight of the overall progress apprentices make across all academies. This restricts the opportunities to provide early support to apprentices who fall behind in between the quarterly review meetings.  Apprentices develop very well the appropriate mathematics and English skills to support them in their job roles and future careers. Trainers ensure that activities to support apprentices to develop these skills are relevant to hairdressing tasks. For example, apprentices can use mathematics in the right context when using ratio for mixing colours and angles when working on specific haircuts, as well as working out product and service costs. Apprentices communicate well with clients and use a good range of technical vocabulary, for example, during shampoo massage.  The majority of trainers support apprentices well to improve their written work, including their spelling and punctuation. As a result, apprentices’ written work in

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Inspection findings

their diaries and on client consultation sheets is of a good standard and, in most cases, free of errors.  Apprentices benefit from effective advice and guidance to ensure that they are on the correct apprenticeship and to prepare them for a career in the hairdressing sector. Managers ensure that academy staff use their detailed knowledge of the industry to inform apprentices of the options available to them. The majority of apprentices remain in employment with their current salon after completing their programme, and staff have successfully raised their aspirations to consider developing their careers to work abroad, as senior stylists or go into teaching. Leaders do not have enough information about whether apprentices achieve these aspirations, or how many progress with their employers to more senior or responsible roles on completing their apprenticeship.

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Next steps for the provider

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the provider

 they develop their systems to enable them to: – track the progress that all apprentices make in between the quarterly review meetings with academies – collect more detailed information about apprentices’ destinations when they complete their programmes  apprentices on the hair professional standards know and understand their target grades  they share the overall quality improvement plan with the academy staff  trainers make good use of employers’ feedback on apprentices’ performance at progress reviews to inform the targets set for apprentices.

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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

Three of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and two Ofsted Inspectors, supported by the Cheynes training technical director, carried out the inspection at short notice. We visited academies across the country to observe learning and interview apprentices and managers. We telephoned apprentices, staff and employers, and accessed the electronic portfolio system remotely. We viewed key documents including managers’ most recent self-assessment of performance, and documents relating to safeguarding.

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