Bluecoat SCIT Alliance

Bluecoat SCITT Alliance Nottingham Maid Marian Way, Nottingham NG1 6AB

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Inspection judgements

Primary and secondary age-phase combined

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education and training Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Trainees are very positive about their experience of training to teach with this provider. They benefit from a programme that is well thought through. Trainees learn the ‘fundamentals’, using up-to-date thinking about how pupils learn. Opportunities to ‘dive deeper’ and ‘go beyond’ help trainees to develop and apply their practice.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Primary trainees are well prepared to teach the full range of national curriculum subjects, including early reading and phonics. Expert leaders develop secondary trainees’ specialist subject and pedagogical knowledge. Trainees frequently reflect on how they can improve their practice.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

A strong culture of equality and inclusion permeates all parts of the programme. Trainees learn how to be ambitious for all pupils. They are well prepared to teach pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. Specialist placements enhance trainees’ knowledge of how to support these pupils. Trainees develop a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE provider?

Centre- and school-based leaders work together very effectively. Their complementary approach helps trainees to manage their workload. Trainees appreciate how leaders go the extra mile to prepare them for the rigours of teaching. As one trainee explained, ‘The course has challenged and pushed me to be the best version of myself.’

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ The Bluecoat SCITT Alliance Nottingham partnership opened in September 2015. It provides initial teacher training for both primary and secondary education phases. ◼ The provider is part of the Archway Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust based in Nottingham City. The lead school is Bluecoat Aspley Academy. ◼ The provider currently has 27 trainees. There are six trainees on the primary programme who are training to teach pupils aged five to 11 years. There are 21 trainees on the secondary programme. They are training to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 years or aged 14 to 19 years, depending on each trainee’s subject specialism. ◼ There are 19 schools in the partnership, across four local authorities. At the time of the inspection, there were trainees completing placements in 10 of these schools. ◼ The provider offers school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT). Trainees work towards qualified teacher status. All trainees follow the School Direct route, either

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Information about this ITE provider

fee-paying or salaried. Most trainees also opt to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. This is accredited by Sheffield Hallam University. ◼ The provider works with a range of primary and secondary schools of different sizes that are located in varying contexts. The schools were judged outstanding, good or requires improvement at their previous Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

◼ The inspection was carried out by two of His Majesty’s Inspectors and one Ofsted Inspector. ◼ Inspectors met with the director of the SCITT and other members of the leadership team, including the primary and secondary phase leaders and the business manager. The lead inspector met with seven representatives of the SCITT’s strategic governance board. ◼ Inspectors spoke with 18 current trainees and nine former trainees from both the primary and secondary age-phases. ◼ Inspectors carried out focused reviews of reading and the foundation subjects in the primary phase. Inspectors carried out focused reviews of chemistry, mathematics and religious education in the secondary phase. ◼ Inspectors visited eight schools to meet with trainees, mentors, initial teacher training coordinators and headteachers. These visits included observations of trainees’ teaching. ◼ Inspectors checked the partnership’s conformity with the ITE compliance criteria and

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Information about this inspection

looked at records of safeguarding checks. ◼ Inspectors considered a range of documentation linked to the training programme, including curriculum plans, training materials, information about trainee assessment, partnership policies, self-evaluation documents and development plans. ◼ The lead inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s surveys for initial teacher education. These included 25 responses from current trainees and 41 responses from staff.

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better?

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum, rooted in the provider’s values of ‘excellence, collaboration and inclusion’. Strong links with nearby primary and secondary schools help leaders understand the local context and respond to changing recruitment needs. Leaders often review the training programme to make sure that it remains suitable. The SCITT has a long-established reputation among local schools for preparing trainees very well to join the teaching profession.

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better?

Leaders pay close attention to how the programme is organised. They ensure that each aspect is underpinned by the most up-to-date pedagogical research and thinking. The programme easily meets the requirements of the Department for Education’s core content framework.

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better?

The core curriculum is carefully considered. Trainees start by learning the essentials of behaviour management and how pupils learn. Other key elements, including adaptive teaching and pedagogy, are skilfully interwoven. High-quality specialist sessions build on trainees’ knowledge. Experienced phase and subject leaders guide trainees to apply what they learn to their own practice. Primary trainees are well prepared to teach early reading, including using systematic synthetic phonics. These trainees revisit each foundation subject throughout the course to deepen their understanding. Secondary trainees learn about practices that are unique to their subject, as well as enhancing their own subject knowledge. Trainees place considerable value on these specialist sessions.

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better?

Trainees benefit from experiencing at least two contrasting school placements. Communication between SCITT leaders and partnership schools is strong. Centre-based training and trainees’ school experiences are closely aligned. School-based mentors are skilled professionals. They are familiar with the course content and know how to help trainees develop their knowledge and practice. However, a few mentors do not focus sharply enough on how well trainees help pupils secure a lesson’s intended learning outcomes. Agreed ‘progress steps’ do not always focus on the most appropriate things that trainees need to work on.

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better?

Assessment of trainees is thorough. A wealth of evidence helps leaders identify any trainees who need extra support so that trainees are ready to gain qualified teacher status. However, these comprehensive checks sometimes divert trainees’ time and attention away from developing their classroom practice as their teaching commitment grows.

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better?

Current and past trainees are great ambassadors for the course. They typically say their experience is ‘brilliant preparation for the future’. Despite this, SCITT leaders rarely seek the collective views of past trainees to highlight these positives and identify what could improve. Trainees know exactly what to expect when they take up their first teaching posts and how they can continue to develop. Many trainees find employment within partnership schools or locally. This reflects the confidence school leaders have in the quality of the training programme.

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secondary combined phase?

◼ Mentoring is not as consistently precise as it needs to be. A few mentors focus overtly on trainees’ classroom management when discussing lesson visits with trainees. They do not pay close enough attention to how trainees’ practice helps pupils acquire new knowledge and skills. Leaders need to ensure that all mentors implement the agreed approaches to supporting trainees so that trainees have the chance to reflect on how their classroom practice secures pupils’ learning. ◼ As the courses progress, some trainees find the assessment checks required to monitor their progress a little overwhelming. At key points, there is tension between the requirements of these checks and the focus trainees need to give to their increased teaching commitments. Leaders should ensure that the demands of the assessment processes allow trainees to focus their attention on the most pertinent aspects that help them develop as a teacher.

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secondary combined phase?

◼ Early careers teachers who completed their training with the SCITT do not routinely share their experiences of the programme with leaders. Leaders do not always use the views of past trainees to inform their strategic plans for improvement. Leaders need to provide past trainees with opportunities to collectively share what went well with their training and how the programme could be improved.

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comply with the ITE compliance criteria?

◼ The provider meets the DfE statutory compliance criteria.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 70305 Inspection number 10291984

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ITE provider details

This inspection was carried out in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook’.

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ITE provider details

This framework and handbook sets out the statutory basis and framework for initial teacher education (ITE) inspections in England from September 2020.

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ITE provider details

Type of ITE provider School-centred initial teacher training Phases provided Primary and secondary combined Date of previous inspection 15 May and 27 November 2017

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Inspection team

Rachel Tordoff, Lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Chris Stevens His Majesty’s Inspector Martin Finch Ofsted Inspector

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Annex: Placement schools

Inspectors visited the following schools as part of this inspection:

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Name URN ITE phase

Bluecoat Primary Academy 145145 Primary Whitemoor Academy (Primary and Nursery) 138663 Primary Bluecoat Aspley Academy 137798 Secondary Bluecoat Beechdale Academy 140369 Secondary Bluecoat Wollaton Academy 145146 Secondary Leesbrook Academy 143934 Secondary St John Houghton Catholic Academy 137908 Secondary The Long Eaton School 136716 Secondary 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 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Name URN ITE phase

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. 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 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-

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Name URN ITE phase

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Name URN ITE phase

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Name URN ITE phase

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

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