Personal Track Safety Ltd

Personal Track Safety Limited Progress monitoring report

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

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address:

6–7 Westleigh Office Park Scirocco Close Northampton NN3 6BW Monitoring visit: Personal Track Safety Limited, 10–11 March 2021

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Context and focus of visit

Personal Track Safety Limited received a new provider monitoring visit in January 2019. At that time, inspectors made progress judgements under four themes.

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Context and focus of visit

This monitoring visit focused on the extent to which leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action to provide education and training in the current circumstances. It was undertaken as outlined in the operational note on visits carried out from January 2021 and with reference to the further education and skills handbook.

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Context and focus of visit

These visits are to help learners, parents, employers and government understand how providers are meeting the needs of learners in this period, including those with high needs and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Context and focus of visit

Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown restrictions, inspectors carried out this monitoring activity remotely. As a result, the range of evidence available to inspectors was narrower than would be the case during an on-site inspection. Therefore, this report provides a more limited level of assurance.

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Context and focus of visit

The impact of COVID-19 has been taken into account in the findings and progress judgement below. Inspectors did not evaluate leaders’ response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer of 2020, when the provider was not open to all learners and there were no national expectations regarding remote education.

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Reasonable progress

Since the previous monitoring visit, leaders have made significant changes to the curriculum that they teach. They have changed the curriculum focus from security to the food and drink sector. Leaders recognise that the organisation had grown exponentially since the previous visit and they have made a strategic decision to rationalise the curriculum and focus on a narrower range of subjects.

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Reasonable progress

At the time of the visit, a governing board was not in place. Leaders were taking action to appoint new governors to reflect the sectors in which they now work. Consultants have supported leaders to revise governance structures and quality processes, but these have not yet been implemented. As a result, leaders do not have any external scrutiny or challenge to their assessment of the quality of provision or apprentices’ progress. Monitoring visit: Personal Track Safety Limited, 10–11 March 2021 Managers and tutors work collaboratively with employers to plan the curriculum to meet the needs of the businesses they work with. For example, in butchery, assessors teach rudimentary knife skills first, so that apprentices can go on site and perform tasks swiftly. At the start of the pandemic, tutors on custody and detention officer apprenticeships could not get on site to assess apprentices. As a result, they

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Reasonable progress

changed the curriculum to teach functional skills English online early in the course. This has helped apprentices to improve their English skills so that they can apply them to their assignments. Managers plan to implement this model with future apprenticeship programmes.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors and assessors successfully moved their teaching sessions online during restrictions. They use assessment strategies such as question and answer and weekly tests to check that apprentices understand what has been taught. Tutors moved back to face-to-face teaching as restrictions have eased. Where apprentices cannot attend online sessions, for example due to changes in work patterns in detention centres, tutors recap lessons to ensure that apprentices keep up with their learning.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors respond well to the needs of employers. They teach group sessions where they can, for example on custody and detention officer apprenticeship courses, where apprentices are in the same organisation. On facilities management supervisor apprenticeship courses, apprentices’ disrupted work patterns in detention centres mean that tutors teach them individually.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices develop new knowledge and skills. In butchery, apprentices understand swiftly about food hygiene so that they can work on meat production lines. They then learn more advanced butchery techniques and prepare poultry and intricate meat cuts. Managers enable butchery apprentices to gain work experience with different employers to gain additional skills. On facilities management supervisor apprenticeship courses, apprentices understand better how to coordinate complex logistics activities to meet the needs of the businesses they work in, for example coordinating delivery of equipment for home workers.

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Reasonable progress

Employers speak highly about the apprenticeships that their employees are studying. They report that apprentices are motivated by their training and become more confident in their job roles. Tutors communicate frequently with employers to ensure that the components of the apprenticeship are taught. For example, managers have ensured that in custody and detention officer apprenticeships, apprentices are given enough time to complete their off-the-job training.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors monitor the progress of apprentices through an online tracking tool which they share with employers. At the start of their programme, apprentices on facilities management supervisor apprenticeships made slow progress. Managers have taken action to rectify this and apprentices are now confident in the work that they are doing.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors support apprentices well. Where apprentices do not have the necessary technology, managers provide them with laptops to complete their work. Tutors Monitoring visit: Personal Track Safety Limited, 10–11 March 2021 respond swiftly to apprentices’ requests for support and are flexible in meeting their needs. For example, tutors record verbal feedback for apprentices so that they can listen to the feedback at home. Leaders recognise that tutors’ written feedback is not sufficiently detailed. Too often, tutors identify apprentices’ strengths but do not provide enough detail on how to improve.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors carry out frequent reviews with apprentices. They set targets for apprentices, but these are often too broad and do not help apprentices to understand what they need to do to achieve their targets. As a result, tutors’ monitoring of targets is not sufficiently rigorous.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and those responsible for governance should take further action to:

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Reasonable progress

 establish robust governance arrangements so that leaders benefit from independent oversight and assurance  ensure that tutors set targets for apprentices that cover all aspects of the apprenticeship programme and ensure that apprentices know what they need to do to achieve them  ensure that tutors and assessors provide apprentices with detailed and helpful feedback on their work so that apprentices know what they need to do to improve. Monitoring visit: Personal Track Safety Limited, 10–11 March 2021 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

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Reasonable progress

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.

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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

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