Gateshead College

Name of lead inspector: Charles Searle, HMI

p.1

Type of provider: General further education college

p.1

Address:

Baltic Campus Quarryfield Road Gateshead NE8 3BE Interim visit: Gateshead College, 21 to 22 October 2020

p.1

Context and focus of visit

On 17 March 2020, all routine inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. As part of our phased return to routine inspections, we are carrying out ‘ interim visits ’ to further education and skills providers. Interim visits are to help learners, parents, employers and government understand how providers are meeting the needs of learners and apprentices in this period, including learners with high needs and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

p.2

Context and focus of visit

We intend to return to routine inspection in January 2021 but will keep the exact timing under review.

p.2

Context and focus of visit

The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below and the findings are based on discussions with leaders, managers, staff and learners.

p.2

Information about the provider

Gateshead College is a large general further education college. It has six campuses in locations in Gateshead, Newcastle and Sunderland. The college serves an area characterised by high levels of social deprivation. At the time of the visit, there were 2,797 learners aged 16 to 18, 1,585 adult learners, 1,057 apprentices, and 59 learners with high needs. The college works with four subcontractors.

p.2

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Leaders responded to the national lockdown by harnessing the collaboration and consultation that they had established with staff for a major organisational restructure of the college. This enabled them to plan their way through the various stages of the pandemic.

p.2

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Prior to the lockdown, leaders had invested in virtual learning platforms and had adopted more flexible ways of working for members of staff. These developments helped to ease the transition to remote learning for all teachers and learners.

p.2

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Leaders kept one central campus open during the initial phase of the lockdown for vulnerable learners and the children of key workers. Although take up was low, staff maintained weekly contact with 530 vulnerable learners to check on their welfare and educational progress.

p.2

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Managers followed their standard timescale to plan the curriculum for the current academic year, using the framework set by senior leaders. These plans were subsequently updated to reflect three potential different scenarios. These were business as usual, a blended learning model, and the reimposition of a full lockdown. Interim visit: Gateshead College, 21 to 22 October 2020 Leaders believe it is still too early to assess the impact of the pandemic on the relevance of the current curriculum. They do not plan to make radical changes to the content of the curriculum. Instead, they are altering the sequence of some activities within programmes, such as pushing back work experience to later in the year.

p.2

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Leaders have identified a number of challenges that they want to address during the current year. They want to ensure that learners can develop their broader personal and social skills at a time when so much time is spent online. They know that they need to motivate learners about their next steps when the breadth of opportunities for their future appears to be shrinking.

p.3

stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Leaders consider that there have been some positive unintended consequences from the pandemic. They believe, for example, that learners have had to become more innovative in using social media to showcase their skills to potential employers.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Teachers continued to provide learning activities for those learners whose examinations had been cancelled in the summer term or who had completed their final assessments. They encouraged learners to create videos of the skills that they had learned to use in recruitment campaigns for the new academic year.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Teachers and assessors used the early part of the restart of face-to-face teaching to help their learners and apprentices develop some of the skills and knowledge that they had missed learning or had forgotten. For example, apprentices in practical trades, such as construction and engineering, were brought back into workshops in small groups to develop essential hand skills.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Managers have staggered the start to the new academic year for different groups of learners. This enabled them to extend the induction period so that teachers could spend more time establishing the starting points of learners to identify whether they had gaps in their skills and knowledge. This was particularly important in English and mathematics, where staff considered that some teacher-assessed grades from feeder secondary schools were too high.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Teachers have overcome constraints on space and the lack of access to external partners’ venues by moving sessions online. Learners on a music course have partnered with a local arts venue to record live performances where learners can develop their skills playing alongside professional practitioners. These recorded sessions can be accessed by self-isolating learners at any time.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Teachers have developed new methods of assessment to accommodate remote learning. For example, in some instances, learners produce ‘vlogs’ to camera instead of written assessments. Interim visit: Gateshead College, 21 to 22 October 2020 Leaders have ensured that learners continue to receive their entitlement to careers advice and guidance. This starts at induction, when learners establish their career plans. The plans are then revisited at individual sessions with tutorial staff. All of this has been done virtually, when necessary.

p.3

the reasonable needs of learners?

Teachers report that attendance at sessions since the restart has been high. They have noticed that learners’ enthusiasm for all forms of learning has been redoubled as they welcome the return to social contact with their peers and staff.

p.4

potential risks, including from online sources?

Leaders and staff identified quickly all those learners who could be at risk during the lockdown. They established a system of regular checks on the welfare and safety of these learners.

p.4

potential risks, including from online sources?

Staff provided learners with helpful ideas and resources about how they could stay fit and well while working from home. Each learner was encouraged to develop their own self-care plan.

p.4

potential risks, including from online sources?

Leaders ensured that staff were trained in how to deliver online sessions safely, including how to control live chat functions. Learners returning to college for the new term completed courses in ‘netiquette’ so that they could conduct themselves appropriately online.

p.4

potential risks, including from online sources?

Managers have consulted closely with learners and staff about how best to keep everyone safe. They have adopted suggestions such as giving out red wristbands to anyone who wanted to be in college but needed their personal space to be respected by others. Interim visit: Gateshead College, 21 to 22 October 2020 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.

p.4

potential risks, including from online sources?

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 .

p.5

potential risks, including from online sources?

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

p.5

potential risks, including from online sources?

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.5

potential risks, including from online sources?

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

p.5