Crosby Aviation Training Limited

Crosby Aviation Training Limited

Address: Cheviot Centre, 12 Padgepool Place, Wooler, NE71 6BL Unique reference number (URN): 2832192

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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 and trainers are very alert to the varied needs of their apprentices. Apprentices are confident to and comfortable with sharing with staff any personal challenges, including medical conditions or barriers to learning, that they experience both at work and during training. Apprentices with specific medical conditions receive additional helpful information from trainers about support networks and charitable organisations to help manage their conditions. With the care and support they receive, apprentices become confident and highly motivated.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Trainers liaise very effectively with apprentices and their employers to ensure that apprentices are given the support they need to achieve and thrive at work. Trainers skilfully adapt support, where needed, so that it remains effective and not burdensome or intrusive. This support ensures apprentices can develop their confidence and master the skills required for work, often taking on extra responsibilities and becoming highly skilled and competent employees.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Trainers are highly attuned to the needs of their apprentices. Where apprentices find the online learning environment challenging, employers and trainers work closely to identify alternative approaches that better suit apprentices’ needs. For example, trainers encourage apprentices to voice record their assignments.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders have created their 2 aviation apprenticeships by working exceptionally closely with leading aviation employers and regulatory bodies. They ensure the high standard they demand is reflective of the current and future skills needs of the aviation industry.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders have very effective oversight of the apprenticeships they offer. They analyse their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and look at evidence from external validation as well as their own internal evidence. They share their self-assessment document with others before developing a well-considered quality improvement plan that clearly identifies areas for improvement. The culture is one of quality and continuous development, ensuring quality is everyone's responsibility.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders recruit experienced staff with a high level of industry knowledge and teaching expertise. They support trainers to develop professionally by supporting their attendance at conferences and training. Trainers use the new knowledge they gain from these events to be the best they can be for the industry and their apprentices.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders carefully ensure that the workload of trainers is manageable. All staff work very well together and are highly considerate of each other’s wellbeing. Leaders and trainers work seamlessly as a team.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Directors are highly skilled, committed, enthusiastic and focused on the quality of the apprenticeships they offer. They support and challenge each other to develop and enhance what they do. They show considerable determination to ensure that the aviation training they offer remains of the highest quality and has a positive impact on the apprentices and the aviation employers they work with.

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Curriculum and teaching Exceptional

Leaders have a wholly comprehensive grasp of their curriculums. Expert staff ensure that curriculums very precisely reflect exacting industry standards. They respond with immediacy to implement emerging considerations into their teaching, such as changes to Civil Aviation Authority regulations and the impact of global conflicts or irregular weather events on apprentices’ job roles.

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Curriculum and teaching Exceptional

Leaders and trainers plan and teach their rich and ambitious curriculums expertly and with precision. They ensure that curriculums are accessible to all apprentices. They make deliberate and informed curriculum choices to teach accurately the knowledge, skills and behaviours that apprentices need. Apprentices first learn air law, the regulations that govern the aviation industry and the skills needed immediately in their role, such as business communication and safety management. Apprentices practise and refine their ability to communicate critical information skilfully during their training.

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Curriculum and teaching Exceptional

Trainers skilfully facilitate opportunities for apprentices to undertake work shadowing and attend visits that are of an exceptional quality. These opportunities deepen apprentices’ knowledge and understanding of the aviation industry and broaden their experience of operations beyond their current job role. Shadowing opportunities include time with air traffic controllers and visits are to other aviation operations, such as military airfields, to understand how passenger flight operations may differ from those for cargo and private aviation. Through these opportunities, apprentices spend time with their peers and enjoy discussing their experiences. Trainers and employers work seamlessly to adjust training plans and apprentices' work duties to maximise the benefits of these very valuable opportunities.

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Curriculum and teaching Exceptional

Trainers use assessment expertly to develop apprentices’ technical prowess and the application of their skills under pressure. They use the outcomes of assessment with agility to accelerate apprentices’ progress. Trainers and employers work seamlessly to design bespoke skills assessments that enable apprentices to frequently practise their skills. They

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Strong standard

bring content forward where they identify that apprentices can access more complex content earlier. They set additional ‘stretch’ assignments that develop apprentices’ initiative and independence through, for example, the ability to decode an aircraft’s emergency ‘squawk’ codes quickly. Apprentices become increasingly proficient and exceed the demands of their job roles.

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Achievement Strong standard

Apprentices make extensive and sustained progress from their starting points. Despite starting their training with limited or no experience in aviation, apprentices develop rapidly the technical knowledge and skills to plan technical flight operations and manage the schedules of aviation personnel.

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Achievement Strong standard

Apprentices produce work of a consistently high standard. They mirror precisely the professionalism and technical prowess that is required of them by sector bodies and their employers. Flight operations apprentices explain with calm assuredness the proactive measures that they would take to ensure their airline is compliant with Civil Aviation Authority regulations in the event that a flight is delayed by unexpected weather conditions.

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Achievement Strong standard

Apprentices develop and deepen their English, mathematical and digital skills so that they become more proficient at work. They communicate professionally with aviation personnel using the precise language of their industry. They use digital flight management systems to calculate accurately flight time limitations, fuel loads and departure times.

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Participation and development Strong standard

Apprentices flourish in a highly inclusive culture, where leaders, trainers and apprentices are allied in their commitment to excellence in aviation. Apprentices represent their employers with professionalism and pride, when networking with fellow professionals on industry visits and events. Apprentices attend their training and additional enrichment sessions routinely. They develop a sense of personal and professional accountability through the precise procedures that staff enforce.

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Participation and development Strong standard

Staff care profoundly about the safety and wellbeing of their apprentices. They teach apprentices explicitly about the importance of rest and self-care and signpost apprentices to support, where they identify that they may need additional help. Where apprentices experience the risk of redundancy at work, they run sessions about their rights and how to manage themselves through these difficult times.

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Participation and development Strong standard

Staff very effectively discuss with apprentices their employment and career aspirations in review meetings. They encourage apprentices to consider possible future roles in the aviation industry and recognise the vast number of transferable skills they develop as well as developing their career with their current employer. Of those apprentices who have achieved their apprenticeship, all have remained in employment, taken on extra responsibilities or have been promoted.

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

Apprentices flourish in a highly inclusive culture, where all are connected by their passion and commitment to aviation. The enthusiasm of their expert trainers is infectious and inspires apprentices to be the very best that they can. They find leaders incredibly supportive of their development and continued wellbeing at work.

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

Apprentices strive to meet the high standards set by their expert leaders and trainers. They are proud to represent their employers and their trainers, when attending site visits to alternative employers and meeting their peers. They relish sharing their expertise about their role and their organisation to others and equally enjoy learning about the experience and work of their peers.

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

Apprentices develop a love of learning and rapidly develop the skills and techniques to fulfil and often exceed the demands of their job roles. They demonstrate a thirst for knowledge and are eager to put into practise their new skills in live environments. Staff work proactively and seamlessly with employers to ensure these opportunities to practise and refine their skills throughout their training are available in abundance.

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

Apprentices thrive in their work and training. They proudly embody the high expectations demanded by their job roles. They are confident and assured to fulfil the demands of their critical roles because of the high-quality training that they receive.

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

Apprentices attend taught sessions routinely and access all additional opportunities made available to them, including visits to airfields and sessions about emerging issues in the aviation industry. Staff ensure every opportunity is accessible to all apprentices so that they can attend around their often irregular shift patterns.

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

Apprentices achieve very well and become highly valued and respected staff at work. All gain promotion at work or take on extra responsibilities at the end of their apprenticeship.

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that the personal development curriculum is individualised in order to have a transformational impact for all apprentices.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 5 August 2026

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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 apprentices, their employers, trainers and directors during the inspection.

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About this inspection

Crosby Aviation Training Limited provides apprenticeships to the aviation industry. At the time of the inspection, there were 8 apprentices enrolled on one of 2 level 3 programmes. Four were on the aviation flight operations co-ordinator and the remaining 4 were on the transport scheduler apprenticeship. All apprentices were over the age of 19.

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About this inspection

Chief Executive Officer: Gemma Aiuto - Turner

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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

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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