Northcoders Limited

Northcoders Limited Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Helen Whelan, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 February 2024

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address:

Manchester Technology Centre 103 Oxford Road Manchester M1 7ED Monitoring visit: Northcoders Limited, 15 and 16 February 2024

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Context and focus of visit

Ofsted undertakes to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of adult learning provision where the provision offered is in scope for inspection. 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

Northcoders Limited (Northcoders) is an independent learning provider that provides Skills Bootcamps for adults in data engineering, cloud server engineering and software development. Students are based across the United Kingdom. Training is provided online, and students can also access training by attending the head office in Manchester or other training hubs in Birmingham, Leeds, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Bootcamps run for 13 weeks, and students attend lectures, seminar groups and mentoring sessions on a full-time basis. During the visit, Northcoders was running two Skills Bootcamps. One was in software development, with 209 students, and the other in data engineering, with 32 students.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have significant expertise in the digital sector and a compelling rationale for the ambitious curriculums they offer. They are passionate about their mission to close digital skills gaps and create life-changing opportunities for their students.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders employ industry specialists to provide students with extensive training through a series of lectures, seminars, and individual mentoring sessions. Lecturers teach a well-structured and coherent curriculum. Students spend the first six weeks of the course learning the fundamentals of coding and programming so that they gain a sound understanding of key principles. Students then follow their specialist routes. In data engineering, students learn a programming language and more advanced data design. On software development, students learn how to code. Both courses conclude with a three-week project phase.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders provide students with effective careers advice and guidance to support them to achieve their first technology role. A senior careers consultant and team of career coaches provide sessions for students on CV writing and interview skills. They also offer ‘lunch and learns’ on a range of topics including impostor syndrome, resilience and how to undertake proactive job searches. Leaders have created their own jobs Monitoring visit: Northcoders Limited, 15 and 16 February 2024 board platform, where their hiring partners advertise roles exclusively to their students.

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Reasonable progress

Employers report very positively on the training that Northcoders provides. They appreciate that students have the hands-on experience they can readily apply to roles in their businesses. They find their new employees positive, highly motivated and well trained.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have conducted a thorough review of their strengths and areas for improvement. They know what they need to do to improve further. They have recently appointed a quality manager to develop more comprehensive quality assurance and quality improvement systems.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have governance arrangements in place and have well-developed plans to strengthen these further. They have recently engaged an external governor, who brings a wealth of educational experience to the governance board.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders ensure that prospective students understand the demands of, and are well prepared for, the Skills Bootcamps. Students complete an online course to acquire the foundation knowledge they need. They also participate in an entry challenge so lecturers can understand what students know and can do before they start the training.

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Reasonable progress

Lecturers teach effectively using their technical knowledge and passion for their subjects. Through practical demonstrations and seminars, lecturers work through live coding problems and skilfully encourage students to solve problems. Students actively participate in online learning sessions and demonstrate their commitment. Leaders recognise that some students progress at a quicker pace than others. They have introduced progress seminars for those who need more instruction to consolidate concepts and prevent them from falling behind.

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Reasonable progress

Lecturers recognise that students need to develop their communication skills as well as their technical know-how. Students are taught how to translate code into readable formats. They add notations to their work to explain processes and functions. Leaders provide seminars to improve students’ presentation skills, so they can pitch their final projects confidently and represent themselves well at interview.

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Reasonable progress

Lecturers and mentors provide useful feedback to students on their technical skills. However, their feedback does not pay enough attention to the broader competencies that students need to develop. Leaders recognise that they need to develop more Monitoring visit: Northcoders Limited, 15 and 16 February 2024 effective systems for monitoring students’ progress towards their academic and personal goals.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders provide lecturers and mentors with a range of opportunities to keep the curriculum relevant and up to date. They set aside time each week so they can upskill, work on their own projects and develop links with industry. This has resulted in the redesign of elements of the curriculums, as well as the development of new resources and real-life scenarios based on industry practices.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have created a supportive culture where students’ safety and welfare are paramount. They have put in place a suitable range of policies and procedures to help them to support their students. They have appointed an experienced and well- qualified designated safeguarding lead and have trained other members of the management team so that they can deputise. All student-facing staff have appropriate pre-recruitment checks.

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Reasonable progress

Lecturers, seminar leads and mentors ensure that students are aware of online safety, particularly cyber security. Students check their work for gaps that would allow potential hackers to destroy it or steal and distribute personal data. In pairs, students debug each other’s work, as well as offering constructive criticism to help them improve.

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Reasonable progress

Students feel safe. They recall the training they received on fundamental British values and the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. They know who to contact if they have any concerns about their welfare. Monitoring visit: Northcoders Limited, 15 and 16 February 2024 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.

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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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