Southport Education Group

Southport Education Group Report following a monitoring visit to a ‘requires improvement’ provider

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Name of lead inspector: Alastair Mollon, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: General further education college

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Address:

Mornington Road Southport Merseyside PR9 0TT Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025

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Context and focus of visit

Southport Education Group was inspected in November 2023 and January 2024. At that time, inspectors judged the overall effectiveness of the provision to require improvement.

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Context and focus of visit

The focus of this monitoring visit was to evaluate the progress that leaders and managers have made in resolving the main areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection.

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Context and focus of visit

Southport Education Group is a medium-sized general further education college located in Southport, Merseyside. The college operates from two campuses. At the Southport College campus, leaders provide a range of vocational and technical courses for young people and adults from pre-entry level to level 4, as well as apprenticeships from levels 2 to 5. At the King George V sixth-form college (KGV) campus, leaders provide level 3 academic and vocational courses for young people.

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Context and focus of visit

At the time of the monitoring visit, there were 1,989 learners on education programmes for young people studying a range of academic and vocational courses, including T levels, BTECs and A levels. There were 829 adult learners, most studying part-time courses across a range of subject areas. Just over 230 apprentices study at levels 2 to 5 in areas, including engineering, team leading, catering, healthcare and construction trades. There were 44 learners with high needs.

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Reasonable progress

Following the previous inspection, leaders carried out a review of the quality of the apprenticeships they offered and the local strategic need with key stakeholders. They made a strategic decision to cease running just over a third of their apprenticeships because of quality concerns or lack of demand. In areas of strategic need, they took steps to improve the quality of provision, for example pausing recruitment to electrical apprenticeships to improve the quality of training for current apprentices.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders reviewed how they worked with employers and introduced new practices in early 2024. They reinforced expectations and responsibilities for employers, setting informal improvement action plans for employers who struggled to meet their expectations. Leaders and coaches observed on-the-job training, and where the quality was not good enough, leaders set employers a notice to improve. Leaders have strengthened the due diligence for new employers. Coaches routinely meet with Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025 staff that work closely with apprentices in their workplace, rather than the head of an organisation. Employers now attend face-to-face induction training, curriculum planning and tripartite progress reviews to gain greater insight into the entire apprenticeship process.

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Reasonable progress

In 2023/24 apprenticeship achievement decreased slightly. In the current academic year, leaders’ improvement actions have ensured that just over half of apprentices, who were due to complete their apprenticeship in 2024/25, have already completed and achieved at the time of the visit. Of these apprentices, a few have achieved merit or distinction grades. Leaders have reduced the proportion of apprentices who have left their apprenticeship early.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have made positive progress to make sure that teachers use information about what adult students already know and can do to plan challenging curriculums. They have improved how they assess the starting points of learners who study counselling skills prior to taking part in their work placements. Teachers share with learners their individual strengths and areas for improvement. They set learners individualised learning plans, including objectives and action steps to be practised in advance and honed on their work placements. For example, learners who struggle with the concept of unconditional positive regard in difficult client situations are set research and role-playing exercises. Teachers then share learners’ starting points and action plans with their clinical supervisor to practise their skills in a clinical setting.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have redesigned how they collect and use apprentices’ starting points. They use apprentices’ previous qualifications, work skills assessments, English and mathematics assessments and apprentices’ self-assessment of their prior knowledge and skills to determine starting points and to set targets. Employers and coaches validate apprentices’ self-assessment to ensure accuracy and reliability for planning learning.

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Reasonable progress

Coaches revisit apprentices’ starting points regularly to review and monitor the progress that apprentices make. For example, carpentry and joinery apprentices complete a skills scan at the beginning of their apprenticeship to identify what they already know and can do. They revisit this information at regular intervals with coaches to track their progress in key skills, such as the safe and effective use of hand and electrical tools. Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025

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Reasonable progress

The actions that leaders have taken to improve attendance have led to steady improvements. Leaders continue to focus on ensuring that attendance improves across all curriculum areas. Attendance to English and mathematics lessons remains stubbornly low, but is improving. Attendance of learners with an education and health care plan is high. Attendance to lessons that inspectors visited at the KGV campus was still too low.

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Reasonable progress

Course leaders and teachers in engineering trades have taken effective steps to improve the attendance of their students. They have high expectations for attendance, linking this to achievement and employability. Staff get to know their students well and make bespoke adaptations to remove barriers to attendance. Consequently, attendance rates in this area are high. This is not consistent across all curriculum areas.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders take a trauma-informed approach to improving attendance, focusing on understanding and removing barriers with a mantra to ‘connect before you correct’, rather than penalising students who do not attend their lessons regularly.

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Reasonable progress

Students use an online reporting form to let teachers and progress tutors (PTs) know if they are unavoidably absent. PTs routinely check in on their welfare and reasoning for absences when they occur. If students have a prolonged absence, they benefit from individual meetings on their return to discuss barriers to attendance and strategies to help them get back on track.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders rightly recognise that across recent cohorts, too few students achieved the highest grades of which they are capable, based on their prior attainment. It is too early to see the impact of their actions on improvements to increase high grades.

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Reasonable progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders use a range of quality improvement activities, including lessons visits, performance analysis, performance boards and student feedback, to inform their actions to improve high-grade achievement. Leaders have a more realistic oversight of the progress that students make. They now align timed assessments, progress grades and performance boards to report on and instigate actions to improve student performance.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have restructured half-termly progress assessments to include more holistic assessments to track and monitor the progress that students make. Students at risk of not achieving their target grades, benefit from additional supervised study sessions to help them catch up and improve their work. They gain information on Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025 how to use study periods more effectively for preparation, reflection and consolidation tasks to better prepare for assessment.

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Reasonable progress

Teachers use detailed awarding body results analysis to gain a more insightful oversight of their areas for improvement in helping students to achieve high grades. Many A-level teachers are examiners and moderators, gaining additional insight into precisely what students need to do to improve the quality of their work and achieve their potential.

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Significant progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders have put actions in place to make sure that learners and apprentices do not experience disruption to their learning. In A-level physics, where staff changes have taken place, teachers have revisited learning missed previously and provided additional study sessions to make sure that learners catch up swiftly.

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Significant progress

Where previous concerns around turnover in health and social care staffing were raised, leaders now have a full complement of staff. They have plans in place to recruit additional staff to mitigate any potential disruptions and ensure that they have capacity and contingency in place. Learners and apprentices in health and social care speak highly of their teachers and the teaching that they receive. They value the engaging lessons and knowledge that they learn.

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Significant progress

Leaders have a very clear understanding of the pressures that staff face in their roles. They prioritise and allocate work carefully. Heads of division ensure that staff cover, when required, is allocated fairly through a comprehensive cover schedule. They make sure that all lessons are covered equitably for staff welfare, and appropriately, to make sure that learning is not disrupted for learners and apprentices.

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Significant progress

Leaders have appointed an experienced careers lead. Adults and apprentices have access to careers fairs, an online careers hub and the ‘Compete’ mobile app, where they access podcasts about setting up their own business, understanding payslips, basic accounts, mental health and labour market information. Coaches provide effective careers information, advice and guidance. Adults and apprentices benefit from appointments with the careers hub team, where they get support with CV writing, job searches and information on how to become self-employed. Adults and apprentices use of the careers team has increased substantially this academic year. Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025 Leaders and managers have nurtured strong partnerships with staff in local universities who support open days for adults and apprentices to write personal statements and UCAS applications. This helps adults and apprentices progress to the

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Significant progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders have carefully reviewed the personal development curriculum for adult learners and apprentices. They have appointed a dedicated progress coach to ensure that adults and apprentices have the information they need for their personal development. Apprentices routinely complete training on safeguarding, radicalisation and extremism on their induction. They go over this content again in one-to-one sessions to make sure that apprentices remember what they have learned. Adults and apprentices articulate well their understanding of fundamental British values and know how to keep themselves safe from the threats of radicalisation and extremism.

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Significant progress

Adults and apprentices take part in enrichment activities, including British Sign Language, writing competitions, guild of bricklayers’ skills challenge and driving theory tests. Managers have introduced a well-attended apprenticeship conference, where apprentices meet employers and learn about resilience, well-being, far right extremism, radicalisation and mental health.

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Significant progress

Leaders and staff follow robust and comprehensive processes to make sure that learners on work placement or work experience are safe. The Employer Partnerships (EP) team help to match students with potential work placements using a range of well-established processes to check on placement suitability, workplace safety, viability and arrangements for safeguarding. They work with course tutors to identify students with additional vulnerabilities and use this information to plan and adapt work placements to meet learners’ needs while keeping them safe. The EP team liaise directly with potential work placement employers to discuss their setting and make sure that the placement is appropriate for students. They complete health, safety and safeguarding assessments with employers to ensure a safe environment. Staff routinely visit students on extended work placements.

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Significant progress

When concerns are raised around work placement, college safeguarding staff take swift and appropriate action. They record and intervene as necessary to end or adapt work placements to keep students safe, while making sure that they benefit from the work experience that they need. The safeguarding team liaise very effectively with external agencies, including the local authority designated officer, child protection agencies and police, to refer cases for further exploration and/or investigation to look after the best interest of students. Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025 Students who have been on work placement feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe. They know how to use the mobile app that helps them to raise any concerns that they may have when off site and routinely use their online learning platform to contact teachers and their PTs. They are confident that staff would

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Significant progress

respond swiftly should they need help. Monitoring visit: Southport Education Group, 2 and 3 April 2025 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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Significant progress

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Significant progress

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