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Chelmsford College

2017 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve?
  • Strengthen provision for teaching English and mathematics so that learners and apprentices improve the standard of their English skills and more learners achieve well and gain the high grades of which they are capable.
  • Ensure that work-based tutors work effectively with apprentices aged 16 to 18 in order for them to complete their programmes within their expected timescales.
  • Ensure that all learners, particularly adults, have a good understanding of the dangers from extremist groups and possible radicalisation.

2015 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
  • Improve teaching, learning and assessment further, by:
    • ensuring that the quality assurance of lessons and of learners’ work focuses not just on the progress that learners are making but also on the standard of their work
    • training teachers to give feedback on learners’ work that is more critically constructive and pays greater attention to the quality of written work, including the use of English and the accuracy of mathematics
    • raising standards in lessons, and in assessment centres, by insisting that learners are ready to learn and use all of their time productively
    • setting precise targets for learners that are focused explicitly on helping learners to improve their underpinning knowledge, skills and understanding in the specific subject
    • improving teaching in English and mathematics by ensuring that learners’ specific skills gaps are identified and tackled, and that learners do more independent work to reinforce the work they have done in lessons
    • training teachers to maximise learners’ progress by taking greater account of learners’ prior attainment and assessments of their potential.
  • Put in place clearer accountability for managers at all levels, so that all have high expectations, are able to drive rapid improvement and reduce inconsistent performance, by ensuring that:
    • all managers have clear personal appraisal objectives, understand their key priorities for improvement, and are held firmly to account by leaders
    • the current restructure is completed urgently to create clearer lines of responsibility and clearly defined leadership for the provision of English and mathematics
    • all managers set sharply focused, prioritised targets for improvement in their areas of work, with ambitious timescales and meaningful measures
    • managers at all levels relentlessly scrutinise the degree to which their actions are improving learners’ outcomes and learning experience, and the rate of this improvement.
  • Ensure that governors strengthen their oversight of the college’s educational activity by being more forensic in their analysis of learners’ progress and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; they must hold senior leaders and managers to account where the pace of improvement is too slow.
  • Make sure that managers reduce the complexity of the various electronic systems used to monitor learners’ progress and improvements in the quality of provision.
  • Improve the proportion of learners who achieve their qualifications, including those for English and mathematics, by setting them clear and ambitious targets for achievement.

2014 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
  • In order to increase success rates and students’ progress:
    • ensure that students receive detailed and regular feedback on assessment that identifies what they have done well, what they need to do to improve, and how they might do this, particularly for those aged 16 to 18 on courses at level 2, and for adult students on courses at level 3
    • establish challenging and individualised targets for all apprentices to complete their course within the planned time, closely monitoring progress and taking prompt and effective actions to ensure improvements achieve increases in timely success rates.
  • In order to improve teaching, learning and assessment:
    • ensure that teachers make better use of diagnostic information, group profiles and students’ existing starting points to identify and meet individual needs
    • rapidly improve the progress students make in lessons by ensuring that teachers plan activities that are sufficiently ambitious, interesting and encourage all students to work towards their full potential
    • ensure that teachers actively promote and reinforce students’ English and mathematical skills in all lessons at least up to level 2
    • assist all teachers to better promote equality and diversity in lessons
    • ensure that all teachers have high expectations of students including setting high standards for attendance and punctuality and seek to extend students’ higher-level thinking skills.
  • In order to improve leadership and management:
    • ensure that self-assessment is evaluative and link areas for improvement to specific actions in the quality improvement plan, particularly those that relate to better student outcomes and learning experiences
    • ensure more effective use of assessment tracking data to monitor individual student and college progress, to inform senior managers and governors as to how well students are achieving and the progress being made towards achieving ambitious targets.

2009 Full Inspection Report
Areas for improvement

The college should address:

  • inconsistencies in some aspects of teaching
  • uneven response to employers’ needs
  • ineffective curriculum management in independent living and leisure
  • outdated and inflexible accommodation.

2007 Full Inspection Report ?

This is probably the wrong file.


2005 Inspection Report
What should be improved
  • the proportion of good and better teaching and learning, especially for part-time and adult students
  • the impact of self-evaluation on planning improvements
  • the promotion of equal opportunities and celebration of diversity at curriculum level
  • work-based learning provision
  • the use of data to bring about change
  • students' attainment.

2002 Full Inspection Report

n/a


2000 Full Inspection Report

n/a

Report Recommendations