Employ My Ability (EMA) Ltd

Employ My Ability (EMA) Ltd Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Matt Hann, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: Independent specialist college

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Address:

The Walled Garden Moreton Dorchester Dorset DT2 8RH

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Context and focus of visit

From autumn 2019, Ofsted undertook to carry out monitoring visits to independent specialist colleges newly Education and Skills Funding Agency-funded from August 2018 onwards. 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 ‘Monitoring visits’ and ‘Monitoring visits to providers that are newly directly publicly funded’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Employ My Ability (EMA) Ltd is an independent specialist college that provides study programmes to 62 learners with high needs, all of whom have an education, health and care plan. EMA provides training that helps the learners to be independent and successful in their lives and in their work. EMA primarily focus on providing the vocational skills needed for job roles in hospitality and catering, horticulture or animal care. EMA trains learners at two garden centres that are open to the public. Most learners are based at its main site in Moreton and a few learners are based at its training site in Gillingham.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders have chosen a curriculum that meets the needs of employers in the surrounding areas. For example, they train learners in hospitality and catering where there are opportunities for learners to move into work locally. However, managers do not track robustly the progress that learners make towards meeting their own individual outcomes. Managers do not design training programmes that are ambitious enough for learners. As a result, learners are not challenged effectively and do not make the progress of which they are capable swiftly enough.

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Insufficient progress

Managers at EMA have not yet established effective relationships with all relevant stakeholders. As a result, not all tutors have the information they need to help meet their learners’ needs. For example, too many staff do not consider the progress that the learners have made or consider their potential when setting goals.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders have recently developed an advisory board of members to provide scrutiny and challenge to senior leaders. However, the board is very much in its early stages. As a result, the challenge and support needed to ensure that learners receive the very best provision and make rapid progress towards their next steps has not yet been established.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers have created an inclusive and respectful training environment. They ensure that tutors and learning support workers are well qualified. For example, tutors are supported well by leaders to attain a teaching qualification.

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Insufficient progress

Learners feel supported. Tutors teach them in small groups, and learning support workers support them well. However, in a minority of subjects, for example in English, managers do not ensure that tutors teach learners sufficiently well to develop the skills they need to become more independent. Specialist staff in speech and language therapies support learners well.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers do not rigorously monitor the transition process for learners starting at the college. Too many learners are working towards goals that are not appropriate for their stage of learning. Not all tutors have accurate and meaningful information about what learners can already do when they start their course. Consequently, not all tutors are able to assess if learners are making good progress.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers do not ensure that the curriculum is ambitious enough for the learners. As a result, too many learners do not study a high-quality programme that meets their individual needs. For example, most learners who are in the later stages of their programme are not being prepared fully to achieve their personal goals. Work experience placements are not sufficiently challenging; consequently, learners miss out on important opportunities to develop their independence and communication skills. Leaders and managers have very recently made changes to the curriculum content to enable it to be more personalised to the needs of the learners. However, these changes are yet to have an impact.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers have not acted swiftly enough to improve the development of learners’ English and mathematics skills. As a result, too few learners achieve their English and/or mathematics qualifications and too few learners develop the skills they need to be successful in their future job roles. Tutors do not always link the mathematical skills that learners use in their work experience job roles to the topics taught in class. For example, linking the successful use of measurement in food and beverage preparation to learning about weights and measures in mathematics.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and managers provide learners with positive experiences at college to enhance the learners’ employment opportunities. For example, learners undertake job roles in the café, where they develop their customer service skills by interacting with the public. However, managers and tutors do not monitor the progress that learners make in developing these skills at their work experience settings well enough. As a result, managers do not move learners on to more aspirational work experience placements beyond the college swiftly enough, and the learners’ transitions are too often delayed.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders ensure that the safeguarding team is suitably qualified and experienced to keep learners safe. The team has appropriate safeguarding policies and processes, which staff follow. The safeguarding team work collaboratively with the local authority and other external agencies well. Leaders ensure that all staff are suitably trained in safeguarding and ‘Prevent’ duty.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders ensure that managers are trained to recruit staff who are appropriate to work with vulnerable adults. They recognise that managers need to scrutinise more robustly new staff prior to their appointment.

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Reasonable progress

Learners feel safe while learning and know how to report any concerns about their safety to their tutors or learning support workers. Staff refer these concerns to the safeguarding team well. Leaders and managers analyse safeguarding concerns effectively. They put appropriate training in place for staff to help them better support their learners, such as mental health first aid. 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

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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

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