Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mr R Badcock Principal Milton Keynes College Chaffron Way Centre Woughton Campus West Leadenhall Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire MK6 5LP

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Ofsted survey: good practice in capturing the user voice

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff and students, during my visit on 29 January 2009 to look at work on capturing the user voice.

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Ofsted survey: good practice in capturing the user voice

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions, but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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Ofsted survey: good practice in capturing the user voice

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and students and scrutiny of relevant documentation.

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Features of good practice observed

 Strong leadership of the learner voice within the college. The principal and college staff place a high degree of importance on listening and responding to students’ feedback. The student voice is reflected prominently within the college’s strategic plan and is integrated throughout the college’s self- assessment report.  Imaginative use of information communication and technology to engage and involve learners’ views. For example the college has successfully established a range of social networking opportunities as part of its marketing campaign to enable existing learners to inform prospective learners about college life.  Student feedback and involvement in the marketing and promotion of the college is excellent. For the last three years the college has successfully used learners as a key feature of its marketing campaigns, the aim being that students should be the ‘face and voice’ of the college. The campaigns are

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Features of good practice observed

increasingly learner-focused, popular with students, and have won national recognition.  The promotion of diversity is a key feature of the learner voice. Careful analysis of the views of different groups of students is undertaken and used well to plan improvement. An effective equality access forum enables learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to express their views and ideas openly. These students are represented on the college’s equality committees and related steering groups. Equality and diversity issues are also discussed regularly through the student council forum.  Strong and coherent links exist between the college’s support and curriculum teams to align student feedback and inform the tutorial programme. Very good use is made of the college’s ‘Info-Exchange’, a day dedicated to allow students to find out more about the college and visa versa, through open dialogue with staff and managers from the curriculum and support services. Governors are

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Features of good practice observed

also actively involved in this event.  A wide range of strategies are in place to collate and respond to student views and concerns. These include a significant number of student representatives who report well on the different aspects of provision including across the four main college sites, a wide range of offender learning programmes and community provision. One student representative has recently been successful in achieving a place on the National Learner Panel.

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Areas for development

 Continue to refine and develop ways of measuring the impact of strategies and initiatives relating to learners views and involvement.

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Areas for development

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop the user voice in your college.

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Areas for development

As explained previously, a copy of this letter will be published on Ofsted's website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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