One Cumbria SCITT

One Cumbria SCITT

Address: c/o Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Ullswater Road, Penrith, CA11 7EG Unique reference number (URN): 2783614

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees, including those with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve well. They complete their training programme and qualify as teachers. Where necessary, leaders provide effective support to trainees who are experiencing personal challenges and barriers to learning, ensuring they remain on track to succeed.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees gain the knowledge and skills needed to teach national curriculum subjects to primary-aged pupils. They learn to apply behaviour management skills with increasing confidence to maintain a productive learning environment for pupils. Trainees demonstrate readiness for the demands of the profession. As a result, many quickly gain jobs in the local area, often in their placement schools. Trainees reflect diligently on their ongoing development and generally understand their professional strengths. However, variable mentoring approaches and unclear assessment processes sometimes hinder how well trainees understand their progress through their training. This prevents trainees from maximising opportunities to be as prepared as they could be for their future career.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders ensure that they get to know trainees well. From the recruitment process onwards, they seek to quickly understand each trainee's individual needs and circumstances. Leaders are approachable and highly responsive to any questions or concerns that trainees may have, no matter how big or small. These approaches help leaders to establish trusting relationships with trainees early on. As a result, trainees feel valued and welcome. They also feel confident to seek support, discuss any issues or, where appropriate, share their identified needs.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders are focused on deliberately promoting equality and diversity to ensure their advertising and recruitment approaches help to attract a diverse and representative group of candidates. However, leaders identify that additional refinements could help them to recruit trainees from a greater diversity of backgrounds.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have appropriate processes in place to identify trainees' learning and support needs. They respond swiftly and take effective action once they are aware of any issues or barriers that could impact on individual trainees' wellbeing, learning and overall success. Leaders are particularly effective in supporting trainees with identified needs, including special educational needs and/or disabilities. This support is consistent across both centre- based training sessions and school placements. More broadly, leaders ensure that trainees receive guidance about wider support mechanisms that they can access independently.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders uphold high standards for trainees' professional behaviour from the moment that they are accepted on the programme. They quickly ensure that trainees understand the conduct expected of a teacher, providing bespoke coaching or additional guidance to individual trainees where needed. School-based mentors and school leaders regularly commend trainees for their professionalism and for demonstrating a positive attitude to their own development.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Trainees' attendance is high during both placement and centre-based training. When personal circumstances arise that could cause an absence, leaders intervene swiftly and considerately. Their proactive yet compassionate approach ensures that any potential disruption to trainees' learning is minimised.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Trainees use appropriate strategies to manage their workload. They feel well supported and have a general awareness of other forms of help that they can access independently. Leaders prioritise trainees' mental health and general wellbeing. They act quickly, with care and compassion, once concerns are identified.

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Needs attention

Leaders have created a culture of tolerance and respect for others. They ensure that any concerns about bullying or harassment are responded to quickly and effectively. Leaders also mediate any rare interpersonal issues tactfully. This helps trainees feel secure and able to focus fully on their training programme.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Leaders are rewriting several components of the curriculum due to weaknesses in previous iterations that have taken time to resolve. This is particularly the case for the intensive training and practice (ITAP) modules of the course. Typically, the focus of ITAP is too broad in scope and purpose. This limits trainees' opportunities to hone specific teaching techniques in a meaningful and deliberate manner.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Trainees do not consistently receive high-quality, developmental feedback and guidance to help them to improve their teaching practice. This is partly because the quality and effectiveness of mentoring is inconsistent. Some mentors do not fully understand or use the provider's assessment framework well enough, which leads to unclear evaluations of trainees' progress. Consequently, some trainees are given targets that lack precision or fail to help them to prioritise their most pressing development needs. Some mentors do not have a secure understanding of the provider's curriculum, including ITAP. As a result, they do not consistently help trainees to connect their curriculum learning to their practice during school placements.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Leaders have ensured that the ITE curriculum is underpinned by appropriate research and delivered by teacher educators with clear expertise in the areas that they teach. The curriculum helps trainees to develop their understanding of subject-specific pedagogies and concepts. Trainees are particularly well prepared to help pupils to acquire crucial skills in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Trainees reinforce their awareness of how to meet the needs of pupils that face barriers to their learning as a result of the training they receive. This includes for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For instance, trainees learn different ways to adapt their practice and classrooms resources to make their lessons more accessible to all. Trainees also develop a secure understanding of their statutory duties to keep pupils safe. They know exactly what to do should they recognise any signs of potential harm.

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Leadership Needs attention

Both those with responsibility for oversight and leaders' understanding of the provision's strengths and improvement priorities are imprecise. Consequently, they sometimes underestimate challenges and the scale of work needed to address weaknesses. This limits leaders' capacity to bring about necessary changes in a reasonable timeframe.

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Leadership Needs attention

Leaders, including lead mentors, have not ensured that quality assurance checks are robust. Some checks, such as on mentoring or the ITE curriculum design, are inconsistent

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that the intensive training and practice modules are more purposeful and have a clear focus on specific aspects of teaching to further trainees' practice.

p.4

Next steps

Leaders must ensure that mentors understand and use the assessment framework more effectively to support trainees' continual development.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that their systems for quality assurance are robust and effective at identifying weaknesses, for instance in mentoring and curriculum design, so that improvements can be implemented with greater pace.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to refine their approach to recruiting trainees from a range of different backgrounds to increase the diversity of trainees. or conducted too late to address potential issues in a timely manner. Additionally, checks sometimes fail to spot weaknesses in the provision that the checking process is meant to identify. Issues persist as they go unnoticed for too long.

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Next steps

Leaders collaborate with partners and stakeholders appropriately. They ensure that the provider's vision and values are communicated and understood. Overall, their decisions are made in the best interests of trainees. Leaders are mindful of staff wellbeing and foster an environment where staff are free from harassment. They also ensure that staff and partners access appropriate professional learning opportunities. For instance, mentors receive initial induction training and centre-based staff have protected time to conduct research relevant to their roles.

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Achievement Expected standard

Most trainees complete the programme successfully and gain qualified teacher status. Most trainees secure employment locally and work in schools within the partnership.

p.5

Achievement Expected standard

Trainees with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or other barriers to learning, benefit from support that enables them to complete the programme successfully.

p.5

Achievement Expected standard

Despite some weaknesses in how closely trainees' school-based placements align with the ITE curriculum, trainees are typically equipped with the knowledge and skills to teach their subjects well. In the main, trainees understand and are prepared well for the demands of teaching in a secondary school. Trainees have a secure understanding of how to manage behaviour, such as how to engage pupils in their learning. Trainees understand their statutory duty to safeguard pupils.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees are reflective and they make effective use of the time that they are given to consider their practice. Typically, they know what they are doing well and what they need to develop. This is facilitated by the useful feedback that mentors provide.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Right from the start of recruitment, leaders foster a culture where trainees are encouraged to be open about any needs or barriers to learning that they may face. Leaders ensure that these are thoughtfully considered and, where possible, removed. They ensure that trainees are well supported and that their needs are met. For instance, leaders carefully consider placement locations and signpost trainees to external support for help with their academic assignments. Effective reasonable adjustments, which are often subtle, are implemented to support trainees' emotional and academic requirements.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders reflect on trainees' views, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they have adapted the start of the course to reduce the amount of new information trainees need to learn in a short space of time. Leaders understand that trainees may have changing circumstances. As a result, they regularly review their initial teacher education provision and respond appropriately.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Trainees appreciate that staff check on their wellbeing. They have key members of staff that they can turn to if they have any concerns. Leaders have processes in place for identifying any needs and monitoring support for individuals. Trainees appreciate the warm and caring relationships that they build with staff. They know how to access additional help should they need it.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

From the start of the course, leaders explicitly set out and model the professional behaviour expected of trainees. Trainees rise to these high expectations and conduct themselves in a professional manner. For example, most trainees attend regularly. Leaders make timely

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Needs attention

checks to ensure that trainees uphold these high standards when they start in their placement schools. Leaders are quick to intervene when trainees do not demonstrate the expected professional behaviours.

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Needs attention

Trainees respond positively to the guidance and support that staff provide to help them to complete the programme. For instance, adjustments to placements are made in response to concerns about trainees' wellbeing. Leaders have considered the barriers that some trainees may have to attending training and have mitigated these. For instance, some training is conducted online.

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Needs attention

Leaders have fostered a culture where bullying and discrimination are not tolerated. Regular consultations with trainees ensure that they feel listened to by leaders.

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Needs attention

Leaders prepare trainees well to enter the teaching profession. Trainees have a secure understanding of some of the wider responsibilities that teachers have, such as the role of the form teacher and organising trips.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Leaders have not developed the intensive training and practice (ITAP) modules with sufficient consideration of trainees' needs. The design of ITAP is too broad, meaning trainees do not develop the expertise and understanding to the extent that leaders intend. The planned activities do not allow trainees sufficient opportunity for deliberate practice of a particular area of their teaching.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Assessment is used inconsistently and, at times, assessments are not closely aligned with the curriculum. This means that some gaps in trainees' knowledge or practice are not identified swiftly. Leaders have begun to consider how to align assessment practice with the curriculum, but this work has not been completed.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Leaders have attempted to address inconsistencies in mentoring, yet some of these remain. Some mentors do not have a secure enough understanding of the curriculum to be able to set appropriate targets. Many trainees receive helpful feedback on their teaching that helps them to improve. However, this is not consistently the case. Leaders have not ensured that mentors have the knowledge and skills to identify and address gaps in trainees' practice consistently well.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum that is underpinned by research. Most trainees engage well with research and apply it effectively in their practice. Through the curriculum, leaders focus on preparing trainees to teach pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Trainees are well equipped to consider the needs of pupils with SEND and adapt learning accordingly. The focus on equipping trainees to teach disadvantaged pupils is less well thought through. Leaders have carefully considered the knowledge and skills that trainees need to support pupils who are in the early stages of reading, writing and mathematics. Trainees' understanding of pupils' journey through the education system is enriched with a placement in a different phase. In addition to this, they also have additional experience in different key stages through the ITAP. Furthermore, trainees complete a broader school

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

experience in a specialist settings, such as alternative provisions. This widens their understanding of the educational landscape.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Needs attention

Woven through the curriculum, there are plentiful opportunities for trainees to hone their expertise in safeguarding. This enables them to confidently articulate and enact the steps that they take to keep pupils safe.

p.7

Leadership Needs attention

Those responsible for strategic oversight of the provider do not hold leaders to account with sufficient rigour. For instance, they have not challenged leaders to improve the intensive training and practice element of the curriculum. Nevertheless, they ensure that statutory duties are met and carried out effectively.

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Leadership Needs attention

Leaders' processes and systems for checking the quality of the curriculum and mentoring are underdeveloped. As a result, leaders' strategic oversight is not as comprehensive as it could be. This leads to some inconsistency and also hinders leaders from knowing, in a timely way, where improvement is needed.

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Leadership Needs attention

Leaders are clear in their vision for trainees to 'train locally and teach locally'. They have established a programme that thoughtfully balances trainees' wellbeing with a course that prepares them effectively for the teaching profession.

p.7

Leadership Needs attention

Leaders work with a range of partners who have suitable expertise. This helps to contribute to trainees' positive achievement. However, there is variability in the knowledge of mentors, especially around intensive training and practice and the use of assessment. This is because leaders have not ensured that mentors understand the curriculum well enough.

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Leadership Needs attention

Leaders have rigorous recruitment and selection processes that ensure that trainees are suitable for the programme and have the relevant experience.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that the intensive training and practice modules are purposeful and have a clear focus on specific aspects of teaching to further trainees' teaching practices.

p.8

Next steps

Leaders must ensure mentors understand and use the assessment framework effectively to support trainees' continual development.

p.8

Next steps

Leaders should ensure that their systems for quality assurance are robust and effective at identifying weaknesses, for instance in mentoring and curriculum design, so that they can be addressed.

p.8

Next steps

Leaders should continue to refine their approach to recruiting trainees from a range of different backgrounds to increase the diversity of trainees.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Provider staff know trainees well and create a nurturing culture. Trainees benefit from warm relationships with staff. Trainees feel a sense of belonging to the provider. For example, trainees from across the partnership very much enjoyed coming together to take part in a bake-off competition. Leaders have cultivated an atmosphere of openness and care. Most trainees feel comfortable to report any concerns or needs that they have. They are assured that leaders act responsively and with trainees' best interests at heart. For example, trainees with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from careful adaptations, both in centre- and school-based learning, to support their progress through the course.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Trainees profit from working cross-phase with other trainees. Alongside this, they immerse themselves in a different phase or setting during the course. This helps trainees to understand a pupil's journey from primary through to secondary school.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Trainees take pride in their professionalism, which prepares them well for working as a teacher. They have secure safeguarding knowledge, including how to safeguard themselves. The course equips them with the skills to manage behaviour effectively. Trainees achieve well. Nevertheless, at times, opportunities for intensive training and practice do not align closely with the curriculum and do not offer trainees the opportunity to practise and refine specific areas of teaching.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

The provider's vision of 'train local, teach local' is realised. Trainees are successful in gaining employment in local schools. On the whole, they are equipped well to understand the context of the schools in which they work. However, due to some inconsistencies in mentoring, some gaps in trainees' knowledge and practice are not identified quickly enough.

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Team inspectors:

David Robinson, His Majesty's Inspector Sally Rix, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This 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

In the primary phase, the school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) offers postgraduate and assessment-only pathways into teaching. Trainees specialise in primary 5 to 11 age ranges. All routes lead to qualified teacher status (QTS) and the postgraduate route leads to a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) through Sheffield Hallam University.

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About this inspection

In the secondary phase, trainees study a postgraduate qualification which leads to QTS and PGCE in their specialist subject, or assessment-only route, which leads to QTS. Trainees can study from a choice of 12 subject areas. Trainees specialise in the 11 to 16 age range.

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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

Inspectors spoke with the chief executive officer of the trust, director of SCITT and director of the teaching school hub and the delivery lead partner. They also met with those responsible for compliance, partnerships and members of the board.

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About this inspection

Throughout the inspection, inspectors also spoke with a range of staff, trainees, lead mentors and school mentors.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke to early career teachers who had completed the course last year.

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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 training. 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 training. 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

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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