reCAPTCHA demo: Simple page

Dearne Valley College


2022 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
  • Ensure that the attendance and punctuality of learners and apprentices continues to improve.
  • Take action swiftly to improve curriculum areas that are not yet at the standard required by leaders.
  • Ensure that information collected about learners and apprentices at the start of their course is used by all teachers to support learners and apprentices to make rapid progress.
2019 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
  • Improve the achievement of apprentices by:
    • accurately measuring their starting points and using this information to develop their training plans
    • improving their induction into the apprenticeship programme so that they can begin to make progress quickly
    • continuing to monitor their progress closely and ensuring that staff intervene quickly if apprentices struggle or fall behind
    • increasing the proportion of apprentices who achieve mathematics and English qualifications for those who need them.
  • Continue to strengthen the quality assurance arrangements across the group so that governors, leaders and managers use accurate information to implement precise improvement actions where performance is not good enough.
  • Quicken the pace of improvement in teaching, learning and assessment on study programmes by:
    • developing teachers’ skills in questioning and assessing students’ knowledge and understanding in lessons
    • ensuring that students complete activities that are matched to their level and ability so that they are challenged to reach their potential and motivated to take pride in their work
    • ensuring that mathematics and English teachers provide teaching and learning activities that enable students to make good progress and achieve the qualifications that they need.

2013 Full Inspection Report
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
  • Improve success rates further and particularly in the small number of areas currently underperforming by:
    • maintaining and accelerating the focus on improving retention
    • continuing to improve attendance
    • ensuring that all apprentices succeed.
  • Share and develop the best practice across the college so that all:
    • students benefit from high quality aspirational teaching and learning
    • staff know and understand the characteristics of innovative, outstanding teaching
    • staff are confident in the use of information learning technology to enhance students’ learning.
  • Further develop a systematic approach to setting and monitoring student targets, so that all students are fully challenged to succeed.
  • Implement a clearer strategy for employer engagement by specifying measurable strategic objectives which link to the overall vision for the college.
  • Accelerate the improvements to apprenticeship programmes by introducing

2010 Full Inspection Report
What does Rotherham College of Arts and Technology need to do to improve further?
  • For students aged 16 to 18 on advanced level courses, increase their success rates, the progress they make, the proportion of high grades they achieve and their success rates on advanced level functional skills courses, by ensuring they are on the correct course and that their progress is rigorously monitored.
  • Ensure that students complete Train to Gain and apprenticeship qualifications within the expected timescales so that success rates increase.
  • Improve the quality of teaching and learning by increasing the focus of the internal lesson observation system on the quality of learning and by ensuring that teachers use a range of activities, including the use of ILT, to challenge and engage all students.
  • Ensure that teachers use effective questioning techniques to carry out frequent checks on learning and that they use challenging and specific targets in individual learning plans in order to analyse students’ progress more closely.
  • Develop the recently introduced tutorial arrangements and their consistent implementation so that support for students is increasingly effective in all areas.
  • Improve the arrangements for gathering the views of employers and students. Also ensure that a larger group of employers has the opportunity to express its views and that managers analyse students’ views more thoroughly.

2008 Full Inspection Report
Areas for improvement
  • Low success rates on advanced construction award
  • Insufficient use of information learning technology to support teaching and learning
  • The weak co-ordination of on- and off-the-job training

2006 Full Inspection Report
Areas for improvement

The college should address

  • the low success rates at levels 2 and 3 for 16-18 year olds on long courses
  • low retention rates
  • low key skills success rates
  • the quality of provision in construction
  • the management arrangements and success rates for work-based learning
  • the limited amount of outstanding teaching

2003 Re-Inspection Report

n/a


2001 Full Inspection Report
What should be improved?
  • unsatisfactory retention rates at level 2 and above
  • pass rates at GCSE and GCE A level
  • tutorial system
  • financial management and forecasting
  • role of governors in decision making and monitoring of the progress of the college.

Report Recommendations