What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Managers should make sure that students’ attendance improves in all courses and in tutorials. Teachers should make sure that students understand the importance of attending all lessons regularly and punctually.
Teachers should set aspirational targets for students earlier in their programmes of study so that all students are clear about what they need to improve and have the time to make such improvements.
Leaders and managers should implement their well-considered strategies to improve the proportion of students achieving their qualifications and closely monitor the impact of their actions.
What does Salford City College need to do to improve further?
Improve success rates on AS-level and Skills for Life courses. Ensure that success rates in all subject areas are consistently high. Improve the progress students make on the minority of advanced-level courses where value-added scores are low.
Improve support and progress review arrangements on employer-responsive provision by the better structuring of literacy and numeracy support, the inclusion of wider welfare issues and better target setting for learners.
Continue to improve the quality of teaching and learning through sharing good practice and moderating the observations of teaching and learning. Extend the observations of employer-responsive provision to include all aspects of learning.
Tackle the variability and underdevelopment of quality assurance arrangements in a few areas, including employer-responsive provision, so that they are consistent across the college.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Provide effective professional development and support to managers and teachers to identify and implement improvements to raise the standard of teaching further, and enable all learners to achieve their full potential.
Provide more opportunities for learners to develop work-related skills through work experience and greater contact with local employers.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Improve the minority of teaching and learning which are not yet good by:
ensuring that all teachers adapt their learning activities to meet the needs of learners; in particular those with learning difficulties and disabilities, those who speak English as an additional language, and the most able learners
identifying existing good practice, and sharing this knowledge, skill and understanding with teachers so that there is improved consistency, and more learners progress well.
Improve the management information systems, so that managers receive timely information about the attendance, retention and progress of current learners to enable them to take prompt action to identify and rectify underperformance by groups of learners.
Further improve the outcomes of learners on mathematics functional skills level 1 courses by continuing the current management strategy of recruiting, training and closely managing the performance of teaching staff in this area.
Broaden and extend learners’ understanding of the dangers of radicalisation and extremism by:
improving the confidence and knowledge of teachers so that they are able to discuss with learners the different aspects of radicalisation and extremism
ensuring that learners have more opportunities to express their understanding of the different forms of extremism as it affects their local community.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Continue to raise the standards of classroom practice so that more students benefit from outstanding teaching and learning that challenges and stretches all of them.
Identify the reasons for the relatively weaker performance on long courses for students and apprentices aged 16 to 18 and take effective actions to help them improve further.
Implement actions to ensure that teachers’ written feedback on students’ marked work is more detailed and constructive, to help students understand how they can improve further.
Develop further links with external partners to support more students on study programmes to improve their employability skills through the provision of work placements or work experience.
Improve the quality of information that governors receive so that governors are able to hold leaders and managers fully to account for addressing weaknesses in the provision and improving the quality of education further.
Improve the recording of actions taken following safeguarding incidents to remove the risk that actions may not be fully implemented. Improve the recording of safeguarding training for staff to avoid the risk that some staff may not receive mandatory training.
Ensure that all learners who do not plan to go to university receive advice and guidance about all the opportunities available to them when they leave college.
Increase the proportion of learners in business, health and social care, and sport who produce high-quality work at the first attempt.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Leaders and managers should ensure that they strengthen further their focus on raising standards at the Yorkshire Coast College campus so that all learners enjoy the same high-quality experience.
Improve the quality of written feedback that learners receive so that it is consistently helpful in enabling learners to improve the quality of their written work.
Despite the fact that the achievement rate for FE FT students continues to be above target and above the sector average, the trend in achievement rates for the past three years is decreasing i.e. from 71.4% in 2015/16 to 70.1% in 2016/17 down to 68.3% in 2017/18.
In 2017-18, SRUC’s official return for care experienced students indicates relatively low numbers i.e. 7 declared at enrolment with 4 being successful. However internal figures suggest the actual rates are higher and that SRUC experienced a significant increase in the number of FE students declaring that they were care experienced i.e. 46, of which, 24 (52%) successfully achieved their qualifications. Unfortunately, a high proportion of these students withdrew from their programmes, which ultimately affected the success rates for the group, which is 5.2pp below the sector outcome (57.2%) for 2016-17. Reasons for the discrepancy in recording (and potentially the high withdrawal rates) warrants further investigation and follow up action.
Increase the oversight of the wider curriculum to identify gaps in what students and apprentices know about health and well-being and to increase participation in the wide range of enrichment opportunities available to them.
Ensure that the actions to improve the attendance of students enrolled on education programmes for young people are effective.
Ensure that a greater proportion of students on education programmes for young people benefit from meaningful work placements.
Improve the approach to the management of subcontractors to ensure that the college values are fully reflected in the implementation of the curriculum at all of these providers.
What does the college need to do to improve further?
Increase the success rates on the few underperforming college-based courses and in functional-skills qualifications. Raise the proportion of A* to C grades in GCSE in English and mathematics.
Ensure that all teaching and learning, in all subjects and during review weeks, are of a consistently high standard and challenge all students.
Be more consistent in setting more challenging and aspirational targets for students to ensure that they make even better progress.
Ensure that learning support assistants are deployed to classes where they are most needed and that they are used to maximum effect to benefit students.
Ensure that governors have the skills and knowledge to be able to challenge more rigorously areas of students’ achievement and teaching and learning.
Increase the proportion of students who take part in work experience related to the subjects they study and to their career aims.
Teachers should teach students more about the importance of how British values relate to their lives and living in London.
Teachers should use strategies to check that students are learning and building their knowledge in a subject. Where students are not doing this, teachers should ensure that they adapt their lessons so that all students are learning.
Use all available information about previous learning for students on college-ready programmes, and for adults and apprentices, to develop specific, individual knowledge and skills. Monitor closely the progress that students and apprentices make in developing these knowledge and skills.
Develop the assessment of students’ and apprentices’ knowledge and skills to ensure that young people, including those with education, health and care plans on college-ready programmes, and apprentices, know what progress they have made and what they still need to master.
Improve the usefulness of the feedback that teachers provide to young people and apprentices on their work, so they know what they need to do better.
Develop additional appropriate enrichment opportunities and careers advice and guidance for adults and apprentices, so that they have an improved understanding of their chosen sectors and opportunities for employment and further and higher education in these sectors, or more widely in their communities.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
All staff and governors should maintain the focus and momentum of quality improvement initiatives to consolidate progress and establish higher standards of provision.
Teachers should instil in all students suitable behaviour and attitudes to learning, to enable them to make better progress. In particular they should:
adopt a more consistent approach with students who are absent and late, or arrive to lessons without the required equipment
ensure that students remove any physical barriers that might prevent them engaging fully in lessons, in particular coats, hats, hoods and bags
adopt and enforce a cross-college approach and set of expectations as to how students maintain their folders and/or notebooks, to ensure that they compile an orderly and comprehensive record from which they can revise effectively.
Teachers should ensure that they plan lessons that engage and motivate students more, and cater appropriately for the wide range of abilities, so that all students are able to make good progress.
Managers should significantly increase the opportunities students have to do work experience, to support the development of their work-related skills.
Managers should focus resources in particular on those more poorly performing subject areas, to ensure that the staff teams have the development, guidance and support they need to raise standards in those areas.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Leaders and managers should ensure that they strengthen further their focus on raising standards at the Yorkshire Coast College campus so that all learners enjoy the same high-quality experience.
Improve the quality of written feedback that learners receive so that it is consistently helpful in enabling learners to improve the quality of their written work.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Raise pass rates on courses leading to national qualifications by making sure that learners are on the most appropriate courses and that they receive excellent feedback to help them progress.
Provide additional information and training to staff on how to include more opportunities for learners to develop their skills in English and mathematics.
Identify the resources in information and learning technology best suited to the learners and train staff to use the resources effectively and to share good practice.
Leaders, managers, and governors must improve the oversight of safeguarding by:
ensuring that designated safeguarding leads and officers undertake training to enable them to record and monitor incidents accurately
improving the training for staff to ensure they all use the central system to report and raise concerns consistently.
Leaders and managers should ensure that all teachers and assessors accurately assess learners’ starting points and use this information to inform their teaching Leaders and managers should ensure that teachers and assessors provide sufficient feedback to enable learners to achieve to the level of which they are capable
Leaders and managers should ensure that attendance in a few subjects, including English and mathematics, improves.
Leaders must evaluate fully the reasons why students leave their programme early. Leaders must take remedial action rapidly, so that more students remain on their programme and achieve their qualifications.
Leaders must act swiftly to improve the quality of education in a small number of A-level science subjects, so that students complete their qualifications and achieve the high grades of which they are capable.
Leaders should ensure that the personal coaching sessions that students receive meet students’ individual needs. Coaches need to work with students routinely to identify the broader skills they need to develop. Coaches must support students to develop these skills through better-quality teaching that interests all students.
Leaders must ensure that all students know the full range of options available to them on completion of their studies. Leaders must share information on apprenticeships and employment with all students, so they are better informed about their next steps.
Leaders and managers must ensure that young people studying on the traineeship programmes and apprentices take part in discussions with employers so that they are prepared fully for their work placements.
Leaders and managers must ensure that staff plan and teach mathematics lessons that include sufficient content to challenge learners so that they know and remember more and leads to improved levels of qualification achievement.
Leaders and managers must involve employers more in the planning and implementation of the traineeship programmes and apprenticeships so that employers know how to support learners and apprentices to increase their knowledge and improve their skills at work.
Leaders and managers must monitor closely the quality of education provided for adults so that they identify swiftly areas for improvement and take robust remedial actions to improve the quality of the provision.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Teachers and assessors, particularly in A-level provision and English and mathematics GCSE courses, should improve the quality of teaching learning and assessment by:
using the information from students’ starting points to develop learning that challenges the most able to make the progress of which they are capable
providing clear feedback to all students on what they need to do to improve.
Managers of English and mathematics GCSE courses should improve the progress of students by:
ensuring that teachers record the in-year attainment of all students and that staff and students have a shared and common understanding of the actions for improvement for students who fall behind
ensuring that they have a comprehensive understanding of the progress that students are making online and in the hub, and that these additional forms of study are leading to rapid progress
Leaders and managers should improve pupils’, students’ and apprentices’ attendance on the courses where rates are too low.
Leaders need to appoint expert staff to teach apprentices to ensure that they can make progress and achieve their qualifications in a timely manner.
Leaders need to improve the quality of feedback teachers provide to learners, to ensure that all learners, including apprentices and learners with high needs know how to improve their work.
Leaders need to ensure that staff accurately track the progress that all learners with high needs make on specialist programmes. They need to provide these learners with the advice and guidance they need to plan their next steps in education and work.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Leaders and managers should continue to implement their well-conceived strategies to further improve the proportion of students who achieve their qualifications.
Managers should ensure that more students and apprentices are able to improve their skills in English and mathematics and achieve their GCSE qualifications, in line with their specific targets.
Leaders and managers should further improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in the small minority of lessons where students make insufficiently rapid progress by ensuring that:
teachers provide sufficient challenge to the most able students, so that they make good progress and achieve or exceed their target grades
all students and apprentices are set aspirational targets, taking into account their starting points.
Managers should continue to increase opportunities for external work experience placements for vocational students, particularly for those at level 2, so that they are able to learn about and experience work in their vocational area. This should include increasing the number of supported internships for students in receipt of high-needs funding.
Managers should take effective steps to ensure that students’ attendance improves further, across all subjects, to increase their opportunities to make good progress.
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Managers should identify areas for improvement swiftly and accurately to arrest the decline in learners’ achievement of qualifications.
Teachers should set learners specific, measurable and increasingly challenging targets, and monitor their progress towards achieving these rigorously, to ensure sustained improvements in learners’ achievements over time.
Teachers should make sure that activities enable learners of all abilities to achieve the highest grades of which they are capable, especially in provision for 14- to 16-year-old learners and vocational study programmes.
Teachers should ensure that learners understand the importance of English and mathematics as part of their programme and they should support learners to attend lessons and achieve qualifications in these subjects.
Managers and teachers should ensure that apprentices complete and achieve their functional skills qualifications more quickly. Across the whole of their apprenticeship programme, teachers should set targets for the skills and knowledge apprentices need to develop and closely monitor apprentices’ progress in completing these.
Ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is consistently good across the college so that the proportion of students and apprentices who achieve their qualifications increases significantly.
Make sure that students benefit from effective teaching in their English and mathematics lessons and that they maintain good attendance in these lessons.
Improve the curriculum for students in receipt of high needs funding on the discrete programme to ensure that it is suitably personalised and ambitious and involves work-based experience.
Ensure that students understand the risks of radicalisation and extremism at college, at work and in their everyday lives.
Make sure that students benefit from a well-planned and continuing careers education curriculum that will help them to plan their future pathways.
Promote the planned enrichment activities to ensure that students participate in wider learning that will enable them to broaden their horizons and interests and become active citizens.
