Setting

Date of visit: 27 February 2007

This feedback contains brief findings from the annual assessment visit. It focuses on the themes explored during the visit and does not attempt to give a comprehensive overview of the college’s performance.

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Achievement and standards

What does analysis of 2005/6 college performance report (CPR) data show by level, mode of attendance and age?

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Achievement and standards

 The college has grown rapidly in recent years and demand continues to exceed the supply of places. There has been very significant growth in the number of learners aged 16 to 18 on full-time programmes in 2006/7. Enrolments of pre-16 learners have also risen considerably.  The success rates of learners aged 16 to18 and adults on all long courses have risen in 2005/6 and are well above the national averages. For learners aged 16 to 18, both retention and achievement are well above the national average; for adults, retention is around the national average and achievement is well above the national average. On short courses, the college success rates are also above the national averages for both learners aged 16 to 18 and adults.  On level 1 long courses, learners aged 16 to 18 year achieve a 100% success rate and adults achieve a 92% success rate. On level 2 courses, the success rate of learners aged 16 to 18 is well above the national

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Achievement and standards

average, and for adults it is around the national average. On level 3 courses the success rate of learners aged 16 to18 is well above the national average, but for adults it is below the national average.  In 2005/6, there were over 1100 key skill enrolments, retention was very high and achievement was 100%.  In the majority of curriculum areas, success rates are above the national averages often by significant amounts. However, college success rates are poor on several courses delivered by a local university under the college’s quality assurance processes.

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data show by sector and level?

 Success rates on advanced apprenticeship programmes in 2005-06 are low and are below the national framework rate. Success rates on apprenticeship programmes in 2005-06 are satisfactory and are around the national framework rate. The success rate on NVQ only programmes has steadily increased over three years and is now very high at 91 percent, 30 per cent higher than the national average. However success rates of NVQ programmes within frameworks are all slightly below national rates, particularly for advanced apprentices.

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developing learners’ language, literacy and numeracy skills?

 Since the last inspection the college has appointed a cross college key skills co-ordinator which has strengthened management of the area. Retention and achievement of key skills are now good. Key skills are fully integrated into vocational programmes and curriculum managers have responsibility for key skill achievement in their area. All learners undertake a diagnostic assessment of literacy and numeracy and the outcome informs delivery of key skills. The college awards an overarching certificate for each course which requires appropriate key skill achievement in addition to other measures of employability. This ensures that key skills are valued by learners.

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of information learning technology (ILT) to support learning?

 The college has a comprehensive plan in place to increase the use of ILT to support learning. Schemes of work and lesson plans show examples of use of ILT in the classroom including the use of proprietary commercial software and internet research as well as the use of other presentation software. Curriculum managers in their own areas monitor this; however, the impact across the college has not yet been assessed. Significant numbers of staff have been trained in the use of ILT in the curriculum in this academic year and further training is planned. The college workforce development plan proposes all teaching staff to achieve, or be working towards a minimum IT qualification. At the end of 2006 the college was on target with 60% of teaching staff being qualified.

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improvement been brought about?

 The college quality improvement system ensures a high level of responsibility and accountability for quality improvement within each curriculum area. The college self-assessment process is based on strong curriculum area review and evaluation and curriculum area action plans are closely monitored. College wide quality issues are brought together in the annual operating statement and not the self assessment report. There is no formal grading by college managers of college overall effectiveness or of the quality of education and training and achievement and standards for the college as a whole.  Achievement and standards have risen because of improvement initiatives taken in curriculum areas and college wide improvement strategies. For example, on work-based learning programmes in construction a month-long induction has started to address retention problems and problems in key skills achievement have been addressed

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improvement been brought about?

by the earlier delivery of key skills. There has been a recent focus on learners’ attendance across the college impacting positively on learner retention.  College-wide systems are standardised and strong.

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learning across the college?

Work based learning is managed centrally. The delivery of off-the-job training is managed and co-ordinated by curriculum team leaders who receive frequent reports from the work based learning manager on the progress of individual learners. Learners at risk of exceeding their funding date are identified and action plans agreed to accelerate their progress. For instance, arrangements have been made for some learners to attend the college full- time in the final month of their programme. However, timely achievement of apprenticeship frameworks, while being around the national rate, is still low. Timely achievement of advanced apprenticeship frameworks is below the national rate. The completion rate of advanced apprentices has risen to 49% in 2005/6.

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14-19 partnership working with schools?

 The college has strong partnerships with schools and offers provision in its specialisms at all centres. Significant numbers of school pupils aged 14 to 16 follow programmes of study at Moulton College and this is growing annually. In the current year, 550 school pupils from 25 schools are engaged on these programmes. The college offers a wide range of taster programmes and holiday clubs as well as certificated programmes at entry level, level 1 and level 2. The college also works closely with two schools to deliver GCSE applied science. It has developed delivery of the foundation certificate in construction and currently has 77 school pupils on year one of this course and 84 on year two. Staff have received specific training on teaching learners aged 14-16. There is good progression from these programmes to the college, post-16.

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is this impacting in curriculum areas?

 The college is successful in its achievement of equality and diversity impact measures and has a higher proportion of black and minority ethnic learners than in the locality. Most curriculum managers have received staff training in equality and diversity issues and disseminate this to their teams. However, in the college self assessment report managers identify that equality and diversity are not always embedded into the context of the mainstream curriculum. While some managers are monitoring equality and diversity in lessons through the observation system and through audits of lesson plans, the college has yet to draw this together to show impact.

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show?

 The college uses a number of strategies designed to increase employer engagement. Each section of the college has an industrial liaison group with employer representation which meets twice a year. The agenda covers appropriate topics and meetings are well minuted. The college circulates an informative newsletter ‘Scene and Herd’ to a wide range of stakeholders four times yearly as well as subject specific newsletters sent to employers at least twice a year in most curriculum areas. It has consulted employers on new course provision and when deciding on which additional qualifications to offer learners to increase their employability. There is a strong emphasis within the college on learners developing employability skills, accredited through college certification. Learners are generally positive about the industrial relevance of their curriculum.

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show?

information quoted is reproduced verbatim without adaptation, and the source and date of publication are stated. Inspection reports are available on the Ofsted website (www.ofsted.gov.uk).

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