Fir Tree College

Fir Tree College

Address: The Nook, Appley Bridge, Shevington, Wigan, Greater Manchester, WN6 9JB Unique reference number (URN): 146039

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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 Needs attention

Leaders provide an inclusive environment for learners and staff. Learners, who often have significant barriers to learning and poor previous educational experiences, mostly develop independence, confidence and communication skills and reduce their anxieties.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders work with families and wider stakeholders to identify learners’ needs and barriers to learning. From this information, leaders develop suitable programmes of personal development and work experience that meet learners’ individual needs and helps them to manage and, in the majority of cases, overcome their fears and barriers to learning. However, leaders do not use this information sufficiently well to plan suitable and individualised curriculums in English, mathematics and vocational subjects.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Staff support learners with personal care or health needs to attend college. Where appropriate, learners have a phased approach to attendance. This helps them to overcome their barriers and increase their time at college. Many learners have previously been electively home educated or have not attended formal education settings for a considerable period.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Staff receive training on individual learner’s specific needs, such as personal care and suicide prevention training. Teaching staff have not had training on how to graduate the support that they provide based on learners’ individual needs.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders and managers do not have a clear enough oversight of the quality of the provision. Although leaders have the capacity to improve, they do not analyse well enough the progress they are making with the areas for development. Consequently, actions for improvement are not swift enough. For example, the monitoring of learners’ progress across all of their subjects has been an ongoing area for development but is yet to be fully rectified.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Governors bring wide-ranging expertise and experience to their roles. Governors include special educational needs and/or disabilities officers (SEND) for local authorities and managers from further education. Governors are committed to making improvements to the provision. However, their ability to provide effective scrutiny and challenge to leaders is hindered because reports from leaders about the quality of provision have been overly positive.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders place high priority and are considerate of the workload and wellbeing of all staff. Staff receive funds to help pay for gym memberships. They participate in staff social events and individual wellbeing activities. Staff benefit from flexible working arrangements, meditation sessions and art therapy.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Staff are generally qualified for their roles but do not typically have the extensive experience needed to teach learners with more complex needs. They benefit from professional learning, such as positive behaviours and emotional literacy. Staff receive limited SEND specific training to support the diverse needs of learners. Leaders work closely with a range of stakeholders, including employers, who provide learners with work experience placements, where learners can develop the skills they need for their next steps.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Leaders set high expectations for learners’ attendance, behaviour and attitudes. Learners behave appropriately both at college and when on work placement. Learners are considerate and supportive of their peers, such as when supporting each other during teamwork and role-play activities in lessons and when helping each other to plan gardening tasks on work placement.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Leaders and teachers understand learners’ wider development needs. They provide suitable opportunities for learners to participate in a wide range of activities, such as clubs and activities at breaks and lunchtimes. Learners practise meditation techniques and participate in reading club and art club. They benefit from visits from the police and fire brigade and from the canal and river trust, who provide guidance around water safety.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Learners receive tailored careers guidance. The well-qualified careers advisors have expertise in working with learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They use their experience and expertise to help learners to make decisions about their next steps that are ambitious yet realistic. Learners understand what is available to them, for example employment, further training or a supported internship before they leave college.

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Achievement Needs attention

Just over one-third of learners leave their courses early. Those who remain until the end of their course usually achieve their qualifications. Learners who leave their courses early often move into employment, apprenticeships and supported internships or move to an alternative further education provider.

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Achievement Needs attention

Leaders ensure that learners’ individual targets are related closely to their education, health and care plan outcomes. However, personal targets are often too broad to be meaningful. Learners do not receive sufficient information to help them to understand how they are achieving the smaller steps towards their outcomes and where they need further practise.

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Achievement Needs attention

Learners’ work is often of a low standard because teachers do not set high enough expectations for what learners can achieve.

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Achievement Needs attention

Learners develop their personal, social and communication skills and behaviours during their time at college. Learners are prepared for their next steps and most move to positive destinations when they leave college.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have designed a curriculum offer that meets the needs of the local area. They work specifically with learners who need specialist provision that other local further education providers are unable to offer. Leaders have developed strong partnerships with the local authority and employers to provide learners with experiences of community services, such as gardening for local elderly residents.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders do not have a fully accurate understanding of the quality of the curriculums, teaching and training. They do not identify or make improvements, particularly in English and mathematics, quickly enough. Actions for improvement lack specificity, which limits the impact on the quality of teaching and learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have designed curriculums to include core modules that are generally well sequenced to help learners to understand everyday encounters. For example, they discuss the need to manage their money and the impact that taking out loans, particularly those with high interest rates, may have on their finances.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Learners mostly participate enthusiastically and actively in lessons. However, teachers do not consistently plan or teach lessons that meet learners’ individual learning needs. This results in curriculums that are not fully accessible for all learners. In a few instances, teachers use inappropriate teaching strategies and resources, such as using age- inappropriate scenarios about toy shops when discussing shopping tasks.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Teachers routinely share their planning with learning support assistants (LSAs) so that LSAs know which learners they will be supporting and how they will need to support learners’ individual needs. On a few occasions, LSAs do not provide learners with sufficient processing time to think of the correct answer or choose the right resource independently.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Teachers’ feedback to learners on their written work does not consistently provide learners with sufficient detail about what they have done well and how they can improve the quality of their work. Learners typically receive feedback that is congratulatory rather than constructive.

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

Learners complete a range of assessments at the start of their course. This helps teachers to identify learners’ starting points. However, teachers do not use this information well enough to plan individualised programmes for learners. Consequently, the curriculums are not ambitious for all learners.

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

Learners mostly complete the same activities in classes regardless of their ability or the gaps in their knowledge. This is because teachers do not have high enough expectations of what learners can achieve, which means that some learners do not make the progress that they should.

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

Learners are taught in in safe and welcoming environments. Learners, many of whom have not attended formal education or ventured outside their homes for significant periods of time, enjoy their time at college. They develop social and communication skills, confidence, resilience and independence, make new friends and attend work placements.

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

Learners feel safe. They understand risks when on work placement and know how to report any concerns, if they feel unsafe or are becoming dysregulated.

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

Learners behave respectfully. They are polite to everyone they meet. Staff help learners to develop appropriate social skills, for example learners say good morning to everyone at the start of their lessons. They state that they can be themselves at college.

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

Leaders and staff know their learners extremely well, which helps learners to integrate into society and their communities. They provide learners, who could not previously leave their homes, with strategies to help them to attend college and gradually participate in learning, work experience and social activities.

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Next steps

Leaders should improve their oversight so that they understand the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and put in place timely actions for improvement. Leaders should plan a specialist programme of training in special educational needs and/or disabilities for staff so that they can provide learners with high-quality teaching and the graduated support that learners need. Leaders should monitor the smaller steps of progress that learners make towards their targets and education, health and care plan outcomes. Leaders should use the results of assessments of learners’ starting points to plan suitable and ambitious individualised curriculums that enable learners to make the progress of which they are capable.

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Lead inspector:

Anita Pyrkotsch-Jones, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Suzanne Wainwright, His Majesty's Inspector Jane Young, Ofsted 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

Inspectors spoke with leaders, governors, staff, employers, parents and learners.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the provider: Fir Tree Fishery (Fir Tree College) was established as an independent specialist college in September 2018. It provides education and training for young people aged 16 to 25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The college is located in Shevington, near Wigan in Greater Manchester. It has an accessible angling lake, a sensory garden and horticultural resources.

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About this inspection

At the time of the inspection, 49 learners attended the college. The majority of learners have autism spectrum disorder or receive support for social, emotional and/or mental health needs. Learners follow programmes comprised of English and mathematics, vocational studies and the development of personal and social skills and skills for work. As part of their studies, most learners attend work experience placement for 2 days per week.

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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 .

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Urgent improvement

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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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