College Websites

2025 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders and managers are very ambitious for their learners and apprentices. They provide a very broad range of vocational courses to meet the needs of learners and apprentices in the many different areas the college serves in Cornwall and Devon. Because of this, the college powerfully tackles the social, economic and geographical disadvantages of its learners and apprentices. For example, the college provides accessible learning opportunities to adult learners on Skills Bootcamps in construction to address the local skills shortage for the reopening of South Crofty Tin Mine. Learners with high needs study a supported internship course to build their employability skills at high-quality work placements with employers that are local to them.

Teachers use stakeholder feedback very effectively. They use this information to sequence curriculums to enable learners and apprentices to build new knowledge, skills and behaviours consistently well. For example, in response to employer feedback, bricklaying apprentices extend their skills by learning how to install fire stops in cavity walls.

Teachers are subject specialists with relevant and substantial industry knowledge and expertise. They use their experience very well to enrich learning. For example, young learners studying arboriculture, adult learners studying horticulture and apprentices studying ecology all benefit from lessons teachers relate to real-world scenarios. Teachers are well supported by managers so they can visit employers to learn about changes in their vocations. Because of this, teachers ensure that learners and apprentices learn the most up-to-date techniques for their future careers.

Teachers provide high-quality teaching and training to learners and apprentices. They use their specialist knowledge to revisit topics and identify misconceptions so that they can provide helpful explanations and useful feedback. For example, learners with high needs studying a personal independence course use the knowledge that they have previously learned to complete tasks more independently such as accurately weighing ingredients to cook meals.

Leaders have taken very effective actions to create a productive developmental culture where teachers take responsibility for their own professional development. Teachers select aspects of their teaching that they seek to develop and use expert support from teaching and learning coaches to improve their weaknesses or develop their strengths further. Leaders ensure that when teachers’ lessons are visited as part of quality assurance activities, their progress towards their chosen area of development is revisited. Teaching and learning coaches provide newly appointed teachers with a thorough induction programme. For example, teachers receive comprehensive training in planning impactful lessons, including for learners and apprentices with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders use their assessment of the quality of education to identify the overarching professional development themes that will have the most impact and reflect the curriculum and skills priorities.

Teachers use assessment very effectively to deepen their learners’ and apprentices’ understanding and to make adjustments for those with SEND. For example, teachers complete a rigorous skills-related assessment so they know what their apprentices can already do. Teaching staff use this information to provide apprentices with individualised training plans, including making adjustments for those with SEND.

Teachers use questioning techniques skilfully to expand learners’ understanding and encourage deeper critical thinking. This helps young learners develop problemsolving skills and confidence in articulating the reasoning behind their answers. For example, teachers ask young learners studying a sports coaching course to analyse complex physiological concepts in multiple sports examples such as the impact of creatine-phosphate on elite performers.

Teachers ensure that learners and apprentices develop substantial new knowledge and skills from their identified starting points and produce work to a very high standard. Teachers prepare learners and apprentices extremely well for their next stage of education or employment. They ensure that most learners and apprentices, including those studying at subcontractors, achieve their qualifications. However, learners with high needs studying English and mathematics qualifications do not achieve as well as their peers.

Leaders ensure that the apprenticeships they provide are closely aligned with the local skills improvement plan. For example, around half of apprentices study a construction or engineering course and over one-fifth study an agriculture or animal care course. These courses include highly specialised subjects such as marine engineering and veterinary nursing. Leaders are tackling social disadvantage in the areas they serve because the niche subjects they provide would not otherwise be available to apprentices. Leaders have taken on apprentices who transferred from another training provider, and this, combined with the legacy of COVID-19 on a few longer apprenticeships, has adversely impacted achievement rates. Apprentices receive very high-quality training and support, which is leading to a steady increase in the proportion who achieve their qualifications.

Governors are highly ambitious for learners and apprentices at the college. They are committed to and passionate about the contribution the college makes to the economy and the communities it serves. They use their skills and experience in education, strategy and finance to make well-considered decisions with leaders about the shape and content of the college’s curriculum.

Governors have sensibly supported leaders to focus on improving and assuring the quality of education. They ensure that there is a secure basis for the development and implementation of strategic curriculum decisions. Governors use their expertise to work with leaders, managers and other staff to swiftly improve weaker areas. For example, governors chair a group of staff to focus on improvements identified in the college’s provision for learners with high needs. Governors are kept well-informed by leaders and gain assurance that these weaknesses are rapidly improving and are having a positive impact.

2022 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Leaders need to improve the quality of teaching in literacy and numeracy lessons so that students make better progress from their starting points, attend in higher numbers and achieve their qualifications.
• Senior leaders must swiftly implement the new adult learning strategy and engage more hard-to-reach learners, including adults needing to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.
• Managers must further develop the few teachers who are not yet sufficiently skilled in teaching theory topics to students, so that students understand the link between theory and practice.

2019 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Governors must enhance the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by challenging leaders and managers to secure the required improvements in teaching, learning and assessment and in the outcomes for learners.
• Leaders and managers must ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is consistently good or better across all subject areas and provision types, including for students who have high needs.
• Leaders, managers and teachers must ensure that a greater proportion of students achieve their qualifications and make progress according to their potential.
• Leaders and managers should support teachers to identify accurately the academic starting points for students who have high needs. They should ensure that teachers use this information to plan learning and assessment that effectively meet students’ needs.
• Teachers must raise their expectations of their students and apprentices. They should provide them with detailed and helpful feedback so that they know how to improve the quality of their work.
• Teachers and trainers must ensure that a higher proportion of students and apprentices achieve good GCSE grades or functional skills qualifications in English and mathematics.
• Leaders and managers should improve students’ and apprentices’ attendance at lessons.

2015 Full Inspection Report

What does the college need to do to improve further?

• Set high standards for teachers when formulating action plans following lesson observations, especially focusing on challenging more-capable students to fulfil their potential, and ensure that improvement actions identified are completed quickly.
• Implement the well-considered college strategies to ensure that all students fully develop their English and mathematics skills and gain their qualifications in these subjects.
• Through a programme of staff development, ensure that teachers and assessors have the confidence to promote discussion about equality and diversity in their lessons and progress reviews.

2010 Full Inspection Report

What does Cornwall College need to do to improve further?

• Improve success rates for adult learners on intermediate and advanced-level college-based courses by ensuring that each learner’s progress is consistently and rigorously monitored across all the college sites, and that clear and achievable targets are set for each course.
• Improve further the quality of teaching and learning by ensuring that internal lesson observation procedures identify and record truly outstanding practice, and develop strategies for disseminating and sharing such practice across the college.
• Develop more effective ways of measuring the impact of college strategies to improve aspects of provision so that inconsistencies between, and within, college sites can be identified effectively and remedied swiftly.
• Ensure that course and curriculum level self-assessment uses data analysis more effectively to provide a sharper focus on specific areas requiring improvement. Improve the impact of all forms of written self-assessment by focusing on brief critical evaluation rather than lengthy description.

2006 Full Inspection Report

Areas for improvement

The college should address:

• retention and achievement particularly for adult learners at levels 1 and 2
• links between quality assurance and quality improvement
• lesson planning
• ILT in teaching
• target setting for learners
• timeliness of completions for work-based learners
• promotion of cultural awareness and diversity in the curriculum.

2005 Re-Inspection Report

n/a

2003 Full Inspection Report

What should be improved

• the overall standard of teaching
• students' attainment in many curriculum areas
• quality of literacy and numeracy provision
• quality of most work-based learning provision
• retention rates on some courses, particularly at level 1
• sharing of good practice across college sites.