WYK Group Limited

WYK Group Limited

Address: 204a Cassland Road, London, E9 5AJ Unique reference number (URN): 2761345

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, learners are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect providers for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The provider has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The provider has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have established a highly inclusive culture that proactively embraces diversity and welcomes all learners.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders quickly and accurately identify learners’ support needs and swiftly implement strategies to provide the support learners need. This includes helpful adaptations, such as providing teaching material in advance, transcripts and recordings of classes, quiet working spaces and prayer rooms and prioritised individual support for learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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Inclusion Strong standard

Staff are well trained to recognise, respond to and review learners' support needs. Leaders use data effectively and routinely to check the progress of learners and to shape future interventions, such as enhanced support for learners throughout their probation period at work and guidance for learners with SEND to help them feel confident to disclose support needs to employers.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders’ strategic decisions have a significantly positive impact on learners’ experiences. Leaders timetable teaching to support learners with caring responsibilities. They reduce financial barriers through loaning laptops and providing free transport and lunch to learners on universal credit. Leaders sensitively match learners to mentors and projects that align with their values and beliefs. As a result, they support learners highly effectively to begin and enhance their careers in digital marketing.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders and those responsible for governance have a very clear mission to support learners from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those that face barriers to learning, to develop the skills they need for successful careers in digital marketing. Leaders focus their decision-making intently on the best interests of their learners.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The governance board and advisory panel of industry experts, including alumni, support leaders well. Collectively they challenge leaders effectively to ensure learners study up-to- date relevant content, such as artificial intelligence. They provide insight enabling leaders to prepare learners very well for interviews, increasing their chances of employment in a competitive field.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders and those responsible for governance have a largely accurate understanding of the quality of their provision. Leaders are reflective of their practice and measure the impact of their actions meaningfully. They take timely and effective actions to make improvements and are mindful of staff workloads. For example, they utilise technology to reduce administrative tasks.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders provide staff with varied professional development relevant to the industry and learners’ support needs. They do not consistently plan highly tailored or focused programmes of professional development that supports trainers to continue to develop their teaching skills. They do, however, recruit industry specialist trainers to teach on courses and maintain an oversight of the quality of their teaching through informal lesson visits and learner survey feedback.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders maintain a supportive and collaborative culture and support staff wellbeing. Staff feel valued and are proud to work for WYK.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders design highly effective Skills Bootcamp courses. They consider carefully the content of each course and consult extensively with employers. Leaders ensure that expert trainers teach learners up-to-date and relevant content and the employability skills they need to succeed.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders design innovative curriculums that not only build learners' knowledge and skills sequentially but also expose learners to practical experiences in the industry to develop their confidence and resilience. For example, performance marketing learners work with real clients and budgets to develop marketing campaigns and present these to employers.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Learners are taught by a range of industry specialists and gain valuable insights from guest speakers and visits to employers. Trainers and facilitators teach both in-person and live online sessions, enabling staff and learners to get know each other well, supporting participation in peer discussion and group work.

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Expected standard

Trainers consistently teach high-quality lessons that maintain high levels of learning. They avoid prolonged periods of lecturing and design innovative activities that enable learners to apply their new learning to scenarios and tasks, such as developing client briefs. Facilitators support learners working in groups, and learners take it in turns to practise their leadership skills in teams. Specialist trainers use their expertise very well to explain topics and underpinning theories and draw on their own experiences. For example, professional speakers support learners to develop their presentation skills. Trainers provide pre-session materials to ensure learners reach the same level of knowledge at the start of their sessions and to reduce cognitive overload during taught sessions.

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Achievement Expected standard

Learners achieve well, including those with additional support needs and those often underrepresented in the digital sector. They typically develop new knowledge and skills quickly. Nearly all learners stay and complete their course. Most learners studying the early careers course pass their probation at work and/or gain additional responsibilities. Most performance marketing learners complete applications and gain interviews for jobs, and around a third gain employment in roles, such as campaign manager or programmatic assistant.

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Achievement Expected standard

Performance marketing learners produce work to the standards expected for the industry, including the use of technical language and digital software to develop reports. Learners gain additional certification, demonstrating skills beyond the requirements of entry level roles, supporting competitive applications.

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Achievement Expected standard

Early careers in media learners improve their interpersonal skills and workplace behaviours significantly, enabling them to demonstrate effective leadership of group campaign projects.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Leaders use their extensive network of employer partners to provide learners with impressive opportunities to understand career options. These include masterclasses, guest speakers, visits to employers and a mentoring scheme to support learners to pass probation and develop their careers. Staff also provide job clinics and online employment resources to support job searches, applications and interviews.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Leaders provide wider development opportunities for learners through additional taught content on keeping mentally healthy, resilience and time management. Staff support learners to have a general understanding of topics, such as radicalisation and extremism, but this is not contextualised well to the digital marketing industry or the communities where learners live. Consequently, learners’ recall of these topics is variable.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Trainers ensure that learners have an understanding of fundamental British values and how these relate to their future careers, such as by teaching learners about employment rights and responsibilities regarding equality. Leaders and staff have high expectations of learners and provide supportive, inclusive and respectful learning environments, including online. Staff meticulously monitor learners’ attendance, participation in learning and completion of work. This ensures that they can swiftly intervene and provide additional support when needed, contributing to a large proportion of learners completing their programme.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Learners achieve well and quickly develop the industry-standard knowledge and skills that they need to help them to start and develop careers in digital marketing. They are taught consistently well by industry experts, who give learners innovative opportunities to practise their new skills in real industry settings. This develops learners’ confidence not only in their technical skills but also their communication, teamwork and leadership skills. Leaders support learners to showcase these important employability skills to employers at interview.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Learners gain a very clear understanding of future careers and how to make competitive applications through their exposure to a wide range of employers and industry professionals. This also ensures that learners are taught up-to-date content, such as the use of artificial intelligence, by specialists that understand the fast-paced changing industry.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Learners are very well supported by staff. Learners who are traditionally underrepresented in the industry, and those who have barriers to learning, are proactively welcomed by leaders and staff. Leaders take very effective action to reduce any barriers to learning and provide personalised support to learners to help them to complete their courses and find employment.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Learners are very well motivated, enjoy their learning and are rightly proud of their achievements.

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Next steps

• Leaders should further increase the proportion of learners gaining and sustaining successful employment in the industry. • Leaders should ensure that staff expertly embed the wider curriculum so that learners confidently apply their understanding in lessons, workplaces and community settings. • Leaders should put in place highly tailored professional development to enable trainers to continue to improve their teaching skills and maintain the consistently high standards of teaching.

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Lead inspector:

Lowenna Bradley, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Baz Wren, Ofsted Inspector Matt Hann, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspection activities: Inspectors spoke with leaders, board members, trainers, facilitators, learners and employers during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the provider:

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About this inspection

WYK Group Limited (WYK) is an independent learning provider based in London offering Skills Bootcamps in the digital marketing sector. All learners are aged 19 years or above.

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About this inspection

At the time of the inspection, there were 64 learners enrolled on 2 different courses. Thirty- one learners were studying performance marketing and 33 were studying early careers in media.

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About this inspection

WYK operates mostly in London, with an additional cohort in Surrey at the time of the inspection. They also offer Skills Bootcamps in Cheshire. WYK provides teaching and training online and face to face.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other providers can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The provider reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The provider is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The provider needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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 .

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Urgent improvement

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-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Urgent improvement

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

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