Ambition Institute

Ambition Institute 2 Bridge Wharf 156 Caledonian Road London N1 9UU

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Outstanding

The quality of professional development and training Outstanding

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Outstanding

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection N/A

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provider?

Equality sits at the heart of Ambition Institute. All parties involved in the programme share the same vision to train and develop educators who enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve the very best.

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provider?

ECTs are exceptionally well supported by Ambition Institute. A culture of learning permeates at every level. Leaders are fully committed to ensuring that the programme prepares ECTs extremely well for the reality of teaching and enables them to meet the needs of all pupils. There is absolute clarity about the founding principle of the programme, that ECTs learn the core content and develop transferrable knowledge and skills. Everyone involved in the programme commits to ‘keep getting better’.

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provider?

The programme is meticulously planned with carefully considered design choices at all stages. ECTs have regular opportunities to revisit learning and deepen their understanding. This is highly successful and enables ECTs to successfully build and apply their knowledge over time.

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provider?

The core programme, exemplification materials and guidance enable facilitators and mentors to meticulously shape the programme around ECTs’ individual starting points and their own context and needs. Delivery partners have a deep and consistent understanding of the curriculum. Expectations are crystal clear at all levels. There has been careful consideration of workload and, as a result, learning is precise and impactful.

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Information about this lead provider

◼ There are 14,892 ECTs undertaking the lead provider’s ECT programme. Of these, 7,839 are in their first year of the ECT programme and 7,053 are in their second year. ◼ Ambition Institute works with 39 delivery partners, who deliver training to ECTs. ◼ Delivery partners include 26 teaching school hubs and alliances, eight multi- academy trusts and two local authorities. ◼ Ambition Institute provides direct delivery to 769 ECTs .

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Information about this inspection

◼ This inspection was carried out by seven of His Majesty’s Inspectors. The inspection was carried out through in-person meetings, online meetings, on-site visits to seven delivery partners, online visits to four delivery partners and Ambition Institute’s centrally delivered programme. Inspectors also held a meeting with four additional delivery partners. ◼ Inspectors met with the lead provider’s representatives, including the executive director of programmes and the director for ECF delivery. The lead inspector also met with the chief executive officer and two members of the trust board. ◼ Inspectors carried out focused reviews in primary and secondary programmes. For each focused review, inspectors met with delivery partner leaders and facilitators, discussed training with groups of ECTs and mentors, met with headteachers, reviewed exemplified training materials and scrutinised documentation. An inspector also observed one live clinic session.

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Information about this inspection

◼ Inspectors carried out 11 focused reviews with Ambition Institute delivery partners and a focused review of Ambition Institute’s centrally delivered programme. ◼ The inspection team considered 2,859 responses to Ofsted’s online survey for ECTs, 2,733 responses from mentors, 1,000 responses from school leaders and 121 responses from delivery partner leaders.

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better?

Leaders demonstrate a clear and relentless pursuit of excellence. They are highly successful in ensuring that all stakeholders are fully engaged in the programme. Ambition Institute’s values encourage high-quality relationships at all levels. Roles and responsibilities are clearly understood by all. Ambition Institute’s programme builds on ECTs’ individual starting points, enabling them to rapidly develop their expertise. To enable ECTs to develop this expertise, leaders successfully develop their knowledge and habits, which they apply to their subject, phase and setting. Alongside this, the lead provider has created a comprehensive range of exemplification materials. These cover different phases and subjects and enable ECTs and mentors to develop a detailed understanding of what the underlying features of effective practice are and how to apply them flexibly across the breadth of their teaching. In

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better?

addition to this, and most importantly, instructional coaching is then used highly effectively in order to ensure that mentors are able to pitch learning steps meticulously to each ECT’s stage of learning.

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better?

Leaders use a wide range of performance measures to evaluate and further develop programme content. They gauge stakeholder engagement and feedback and gather an impressive range of qualitative and quantitative data to enable them to understand the effectiveness of the programme. They are highly committed to continual improvement and use this to shape delivery and materials.

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better?

There is a robust approach to the appointment of trainers. The lead provider ensures that they recruit high-quality people to these roles. These expert trainers have a deep and consistent understanding of the curriculum. The quality of training is exceptionally high.

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better?

The mentor training programme is extremely well thought of by mentors. They say that the resources are of a very high quality. Mentors have a precise understanding of how to tailor the support and resources to meet the needs of ECTs. They say that the use of technology supports them well with this as it creates a frame for conversations and is highly effective.

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better?

The quality assurance process is extremely strong. Delivery partners report that it is not punitive; it is clear and transparent and a collaborative process. They value the process because it helps them to focus on ‘keep getting better’.

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better?

Trustees have a clear understanding of the strengths of the lead provider and also of the risks when working at such a large scale. As a result of this, they work closely with the lead provider to ensure that they receive the right information at the right time and that they suitably utilise the impressive range of information provided by the Insights team.

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better?

Leaders and managers ensure compliance with all relevant legislation. The lead provider ensures that ECTs know how to raise concerns regarding safeguarding and equalities, or if they have concerns about any aspect of the training programme. All training materials promote, equality, diversity and inclusion. Lead provider details Unique reference number 2679885

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better?

This inspection was carried out by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) in accordance with the early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualification (NPQ) framework and handbook .

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better?

The framework and handbook set out the statutory basis for ECF and NPQ inspections in England.

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better?

Lead provider programmes offered ECF and NPQ Date of previous inspection N/A

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Inspection team

Sue Cox HMI 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 .

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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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

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