Took Us A Long Time Limited

Took Us a Long Time Limited Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Lynda Brown, Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Address: 32 Charlotte Street London W1T 2NQ Monitoring visit: Took Us a Long Time Ltd, 16-17 April 2019

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Context and focus of visit

From October 2018, Ofsted undertook to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of apprenticeship training provision which began to be funded from April 2017 or after by the Education and Skills Funding Agency and/or the apprenticeship levy. This monitoring visit was undertaken as part of those arrangements and as outlined in the ‘Further education and skills inspection handbook’, especially the sections entitled ‘Providers newly directly funded to deliver apprenticeship training provision’ and ‘Monitoring visits’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Took Us a Long Time Limited is the subsidiary trading company of Tasty PLC, a branded restaurant operator in the UK casual dining market. It operates two restaurant brands with a total of 58 restaurants nationally. Its head office is in Camden, London. Took Us a Long Time Limited became a prime contractor for apprenticeships in August 2017 and currently delivers level 2 production chef, level 2 hospitality team member and level 3 hospitality supervisor. There were 58 apprentices on standards programmes at the time of the monitoring visit. The vast majority of apprentices are on level 2 programmes. Took Us a Long Time Limited subcontracts to Lifetime Training to deliver the functional skills aspect of the apprenticeship.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers do not assess apprentices’ skills and knowledge at the beginning of their programmes sufficiently well. General managers do not participate in the assessment of apprentices’ existing skills at the beginning of their programmes. They therefore do not ensure that apprentices self-assess their starting points accurately. Apprentices are recruited from the company’s existing staff and already have experience of serving or preparing food within a commercial environment and to commercial standards. As a result, too many apprentices are placed on programmes on which they do not develop substantial new knowledge and skills.

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Insufficient progress

Took Us a Long Time Limited outsources the delivery of functional skills to a subcontractor, Lifetime Training. Leaders have not managed the subcontracted provision sufficiently well to ensure that all apprentices receive the support that they need to achieve their functional skills qualifications. Leaders do not have adequate plans in place to confirm that apprentices’ starting points in English and mathematics Monitoring visit: Took Us a Long Time Ltd, 16-17 April 2019 are accurately identified and they are not able to identify whether apprentices are making adequate progress in these subjects. They do not support apprentices who speak English as an additional language and, as a result, these apprentices do not make sufficient progress.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers have recently introduced quality assurance processes, such as curriculum compliance meetings and teaching and learning observations. However, managers do not use these well enough to secure the rapid improvements required. As a result, leaders and managers do not have a detailed understanding of the quality of the provision or the progress that apprentices make.

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Insufficient progress

Managers do not monitor apprentices’ progress frequently enough or with sufficient accuracy and as a result, are unable to intervene swiftly when apprentices do not make the expected progress. Managers do not analyse or use the information they have well enough to have a good understanding of apprentices’ progress and whether they are on track to complete within the planned timescales.

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Insufficient progress

Senior leaders are committed to developing the apprenticeship programme. They have made considerable financial investment in the apprenticeship programme, including recruitment of a team of well-qualified and experienced staff who have an excellent understanding of the hospitality business. They have recently employed managers with a background in apprenticeships.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers have a sound understanding of the components of apprenticeships. They have developed effective programmes of study in line with the standards and have established a broad range of training so that apprentices meet the requirements for off-the-job training.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors do not have a good enough understanding of apprentices’ skills and knowledge at the beginning of their course. Apprentices self-assess their skills, knowledge and behaviours but managers are not involved in this process to ensure that this assessment is accurate. As a result, tutors’ planning of individual training is weak and too often focuses on completion of work rather than the development of apprentices’ skills and knowledge. Too many tutors do not consistently set clear targets that apprentices should achieve within set timescales so that they make rapid progress. However, tutors in ‘back of house’ apprenticeships provide apprentices with effective individual targets which support them to develop their knowledge and skills, for example creating a site-specific cleaning schedule.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors do not accurately assess apprentices’ starting points in English and mathematics at the beginning of their programmes. Consequently, too few apprentices receive support with the development of their English and mathematics Monitoring visit: Took Us a Long Time Ltd, 16-17 April 2019 skills. Most apprentices have very limited contact with functional skills tutors, are not set relevant work and do not know what is expected of them. Tutors do not routinely monitor apprentices’ progress in English and mathematics skills. As a result, apprentices do not make sufficient progress in developing their English and mathematics skills and are not prepared well for their functional skills tests.

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Insufficient progress

The majority of apprentices receive frequent progress reviews with their tutors. However, too often, restaurant managers are not involved in the reviews or in monitoring apprentices’ progress. Consequently, the link between on- and off-the-job training is weak. Tutors do not ensure that apprentices record their achievements and progress accurately or frequently enough. As a result, tutors are not able to assess apprentices’ progress or set challenging targets for new learning. Arrangements to record apprentices off-the-job training are ineffective and therefore tutors and managers do not know if apprentices receive their entitlement.

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Insufficient progress

The majority of apprentices enjoy their apprenticeships and most develop new knowledge and extend the skills that they carry out in their job roles. They develop a good understanding of why they complete tasks in a particular way, for example the use of different cleaning methods and portion control. They also gain a good knowledge of different wines to recommend to customers. The majority of apprentices have a good understanding of the requirements of the end-point assessment.

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Reasonable progress

A designated safeguarding lead and deputy lead manage safeguarding for the apprenticeship programme. Apprentices feel safe and are safe within their working environments. They know how to report any issues that they have and are confident that these will be resolved swiftly and effectively. Apprentices have a very good understanding of food safety and health and safety in the workplace. Leaders carry out appropriate employment checks on staff working on the apprenticeship programme.

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Reasonable progress

Although staff have received safeguarding training, records of training are not held centrally and, as a consequence, managers do not ensure that staff training is regularly updated for all aspects of safeguarding, including the ‘Prevent’ duty. They do not ensure that planned training is appropriate to their different roles within the organisation.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices do not gain sufficient awareness of fundamental British values and the ‘Prevent’ duty and how they relate to their working environment. Monitoring visit: Took Us a Long Time Ltd, 16-17 April 2019 the guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s 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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Reasonable progress

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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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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