The Coventry SCITT

The Coventry SCITT 1 Primrose Hill Street, Coventry CV1 5LY

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Inspection judgements

Primary and secondary age-phase combined

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education and training Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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

Trainees receive highly personalised training, support and guidance to enable them to develop into highly skilled teachers of the future. Trainees are exceptionally well prepared to teach across a range of school settings. This is because the provider and partnership schools work together as a seamless, coherent partnership.

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

Trainees have a deep understanding of how pupils learn, how to safeguard pupils and how to manage behaviour effectively. These elements are skilfully interwoven throughout the curriculum in a wide range of contexts. Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion is the hallmark of this provider. As a result, trainees have a clear grasp of how to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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

Primary trainees are fully prepared to teach the full range of national curriculum subjects, including systematic synthetic phonics. Secondary trainees have strong subject and pedagogical knowledge. This is due to high-quality, centre-based training and excellent communication between the provider, mentors and trainees.

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

Leaders are rightly proud to be a teacher training provider for the city of Coventry, which supports the needs of the local area. Partnership schools embrace the culture of ‘growing your own teachers’ and are fully invested in the partnership.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ The Coventry SCITT is a school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) provider. ◼ The provider offers a range of postgraduate routes into teaching for primary and secondary trainees to achieve qualified teacher status. These include a school direct (fee paying) route, an assessment only route and an opt-in qualified teacher status route. ◼ Postgraduate trainees study full time over one year. However, the provider also offers a part-time option to train over two years. Trainees study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education with Coventry University. ◼ The provider currently has 21 trainees. There are seven trainees following the primary route who are trained to teach the five to 11 age-phase. There are 14 trainees following the secondary route. They are training to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 years or aged 14 to 19 years, depending on individual trainee’s subject specialism. ◼ The provider works with a range of primary and secondary schools of different sizes

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Information about this ITE provider

and varying contexts that are located across Coventry and Warwickshire local authorities. ◼ There is one school in the partnership that is rated as requires improvement by Ofsted. All other schools in the partnership are graded as either good or outstanding.

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Information about this inspection

◼ Inspectors met with the director of the SCITT and other members of the leadership team, including the primary and secondary programme leaders. The lead inspector met with representatives of the SCITT’s strategic steering group, including the chief executive officer. He also met with members of the quality assurance group. ◼ Inspectors reviewed a broad range of evidence relating to the ITE curriculum. This included an ITE compliance criteria document, a self-evaluation form, improvement plans, training materials, course handbooks, curriculum plans, the online trainee portal and documents relating to the assessment of trainees. ◼ Inspectors spoke with 20 trainees and eight former trainees from both the primary and secondary phases. ◼ Inspectors carried out focused reviews in English, mathematics and biology in the secondary phase, and early reading and geography in the primary phase. ◼ Inspectors visited eight schools to meet with trainees, mentors, professional

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Information about this inspection

mentors, early careers teachers and headteachers. These visits included short observations of trainees’ teaching. ◼ Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s staff and trainee surveys.

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better?

The provider relentlessly pursues a vision of excellence. It continues to focus on developing even further what is already an exceptional ITE programme. The provider has carefully considered the content and order of the curriculum in both the primary and secondary phases. The curriculum is meticulously mapped against the core content framework and goes beyond this, including the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. The spiral nature of the curriculum means that trainees revisit areas of learning in different contexts, which deepens their understanding. The centre-based training explores generic themes, such as planning a sequence of learning or behaviour management, which are then skilfully explored through a subject-specific lens. The subject and generic elements of the curriculum are taught by highly skilled phase and subject specialists, many of whom work in partnership schools. This supports the joined-up

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better?

approach that underpins the partnership.

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better?

Mentors are the provider’s ‘eyes and ears’ when trainees are in school. They are carefully selected and very well trained. Mentors have a clear understanding of the centre-based curriculum. This enables them to help trainees put their training into practice. Mentors support trainees by celebrating what they are doing well and working alongside them on any areas that need to improve. Leaders closely monitor trainees’ progress during their school placements. They are quick to step in and work alongside mentors if a trainee needs extra support. Mentors appreciate this level of support and collaboration.

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better?

For primary trainees, the provider has prioritised how to teach early reading, including systematic synthetic phonics. The spiral nature of the curriculum means that trainees revisit and contextualise their understanding of early reading in different contexts. As a result, they are extremely well prepared to work with a range of phonics schemes.

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better?

Trainees benefit from two contrasting school placements, which broadens their experience of different types of schools. In addition, primary trainees experience a day’s placement in a secondary school and vice versa for secondary trainees. All trainees have a day’s placement in a special school, which reflects the provider’s relentless focus on promoting inclusion through adaptive teaching.

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better?

The provider has established rigorous systems to monitor and track the progress of trainees through the ITE curriculum. This is punctuated by five progress review meetings across the year. These are informed by a wide range of evidence and involve input from trainees, mentors and centre-based leaders. The close monitoring of trainees enables the provider to celebrate success and address any areas of concern swiftly. Due to this level of rigour, nothing slips through the net.

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better?

The provider supports trainees to manage their workload in a range of ways, such as being flexible with deadlines and minimising travel time to school placements. The provider listens to and acts on feedback from trainees and partnership schools. For example, they streamlined some of the tasks that trainees complete in the online trainee portal. The provider balances supporting trainees effectively, while at the same time preparing them for the realities of the teaching profession.

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better?

Trainees are exceptionally well supported to find and secure their first teaching post, which is reflected in high employment rates. Partnership schools are quick to snap trainees up due to their high levels of expertise. In fact, many trainees have already secured their first teaching post, which they are thrilled about.

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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

This inspection was carried out in accordance with the initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook , which 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 14 May and 19 November 2018

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Annex: Placement schools

Inspectors visited the following schools as part of this inspection:

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Name URN ITE phases

Little Heath Primary School 103647 Primary Henley Green 133476 Primary St Laurence’s CofE Primary School 139383 Primary Barrs Hill School 142339 Secondary Ernesford Grange Academy 140366 Secondary Grace Academy 135335 Secondary Rugby Free School 141936 Secondary North Leamington School 142202 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 phases

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 looked after children, 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 phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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

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