New College Worcester (NMSS)

Published date 19 July 2012 Inspection Number 388029 Unique reference number: 117064

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Name of lead inspector: Deborah Vaughan-Jenkins HMI

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Type of provider: Independent Specialist College

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Address:

Whittington Road Worcester Worcestershire WR5 2JX Telephone number: 01905 763933

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Focused monitoring visit report

Focused monitoring visit: New College Worcester, 14 June 2012 1 of 3

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Context and focus of visit

New College Worcester is a non-maintained, residential special school for young people aged 11 to 19. A sixth form facility caters for learners aged 16 to 19. All learners are blind or partially sighted. A minority of learners have additional needs, including hearing impairment and Asperger’s Syndrome. Of the 42 learners in the sixth form, three are funded by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

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Context and focus of visit

Learners study GCE A-level subjects with the majority progressing to higher education. A small number study foundation courses. Some learners enrol at the college from mainstream schools. In January 2012, the college completely restructured its governance arrangements with the creation of a single governing body.

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Context and focus of visit

The college received its last full Ofsted inspection in November 2008, at which time inspectors judged the college to be good for overall effectiveness, capacity to improve, outcomes for learners, quality of provision and leadership and management. This report focuses on the themes explored during this monitoring visit.

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progress

The college recognises that it needs to use headline data better and is in the process of strengthening its quality assurance procedures. The introduction of frequent mini- audit checks of provision is underway to ensure more coherent and consistent implementation in areas such as learner target setting and lesson planning. Recent changes to the structure of the governing body have provided a clearer focus on performance monitoring. The governing body is aware that the college needs to use key performance indicators much more effectively to review its overall progress and evaluate its impact.

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progress

The college self-assessment process remains well established. The self-assessment report is detailed and is more evaluative than at the previous inspection. Some evidence within the report however is too anecdotal. While in several cases comparisons are made to improvements on the previous year, references to three- year trends across all aspects of provision are under used. As a result, it is not always easy to for the college to demonstrate fully the longer-term impact of its work and the sustainability of improvements. Focused monitoring visit: New College Worcester, 14 June 2012 2 of 3

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progress

The development of learners’ broader outcomes, such as gains in self-confidence and improving the levels of learners’ independence, remain a positive feature of the college. The majority of learners achieve their qualifications either fully or partially, although some achievement varies by subject and across qualifications. The college’s self-assessment report recognises accurately the need to improve the consistency of individual learner target setting across the provision in order to better capture and measure all aspects of learners’ progress, including incidental learning.

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progress

The self-assessment report also highlights accurately the need to better track learners’ destinations formally over time. On leaving the college, information on learners’ intended destinations is collated routinely and shows a high proportion of learners progress successfully to either further or higher education. The tracking of learners’ destinations beyond this point, in order to measure how effectively the college is preparing learners to pursue their future choices, is currently less rigorous. In order to ensure learners’ destinations are sustainable, a number of well- considered initiatives have been introduced. For example, a programme of lessons has been designed to help learners develop the skills they will need to cope in mainstream environments. These sessions include increasing learners’ assertiveness and coping skills and providing strategies on how best to prepare for an interview.

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progress

In 2008, the progress learners made on AS programmes was well below expectations and achievement on AS-level courses was more mixed than for other courses. Since the last inspection outcomes for AS qualifications have improved notably, with most learners studying at AS-level making progress at least in line with expectations and several making much better than expected progress. Pass rates have improved from 64% in 2007/08 to 87% in 2010/11 and those achieving A to C grades improved from 24% to 48% within the same period. For the three current EFA-funded learners, most are on target to at least meet their predicted grades this year. The college however, does not yet systematically report on the progression rates of those learners who move from AS to A2 programmes or explicitly reference success rates. Focused monitoring visit: New College Worcester, 14 June 2012 3 of 3

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progress

The college’s staff training and development programme continues to focus on improving teaching, learning and assessment. Peer observations have been initiated recently to aid in the sharing of good practice between teachers. Since the last inspection, managers have strengthened the moderation arrangements for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. Around half of all observations are now observed jointly with members of the senior or middle management team which is helping to increase the rigour of judgments made about lessons. As a result of this increased rigour, the college’s data show a reduction in the overall number of lessons judged good or better from 77% to 69% but an increase in outstanding lessons from 5% to 13%.

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progress

While improvements in the college’s observation arrangements are clear, not all areas of the quality monitoring processes are yet sufficiently robust. For example, in- year observation data are not compiled and analysed until the end of the academic year. Consequently, it is difficult for managers to identify and action swiftly any emerging issues, or indeed, highlight the positive impact of any training. Additionally, the college does not extract and analyse systematically the quality of teaching for learners above the age of 16 to see if there are any variations with that for younger learners. The quality and detail of observers’ written records varies. While some are comprehensively written with clear justification for the grade awarded, others are less convincing given the evidence presented. Senior managers are aware processes need to be strengthened further and from September 2012 the senior leadership

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team is being restructured to incorporate a senior post holder with specific responsibility for teaching and learning. 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 learning and skills training, 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 copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you

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

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