2025 Full Inspection Report

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

Leaders have a very clear vision to provide high-quality training and education across the Tees Valley. They have successfully created a highly inclusive, supportive and welcoming culture in the group. Since the previous inspection, they have continued to make improvements, such as developing high-quality learning environments for learners and apprentices. Leaders worked with a locally based global company to ensure that the science laboratories in which they invested were of industry standard.

Leaders have developed a very ambitious and broad range of vocational and academic courses to meet the needs of the communities that they serve. The largest areas of provision are health and social care, construction, manufacturing and engineering, which respond directly to regional skills gaps. Learners and apprentices complete highly relevant qualifications based on employers’ needs and their personal aspirations of moving into employment or further learning.

Teachers plan teaching exceptionally well. They frequently adapt and refresh the topics that they teach based on market intelligence and feedback from employers and other stakeholders. Learners and apprentices learn up-to-date, industry-relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours, which greatly enhance their career prospects. Learners on the T-level early years educator course develop communication skills early in the programme, which prepares them very well for working with colleagues, parents and children on their placements. Level 6 chartered legal executive apprentices learn theoretical aspects of legal systems, which they later apply to understand the complexities of criminal and family law.

Staff provide an impressive ‘preparing for adulthood’ curriculum for learners with high needs who study on vocational and academic courses. Learners develop their independence skills, explore long-term interests and learn how to maintain healthy lifestyles. Learners with high needs make strong progress in developing the skills that they need for success in adulthood.

Teachers use highly effective teaching strategies in their lessons to teach new concepts and reinforce prior learning. They reflect carefully on their teaching practice and adapt their teaching based on feedback that they receive from learners, apprentices and employers. The quality of teaching that learners and apprentices experience enables them to acquire and apply new learning successfully, thus preparing them well for further study and their future careers.

Teachers use skilful questioning to test theoretical learning and probe for depth and security of knowledge. Teachers in A-level psychology carefully question learners to establish their understanding of the evidence that supports theoretical perspectives of forensic psychology. Teachers skilfully repeat and rephrase key information volunteered by learners to help them to use more technical terms and to emphasise key points.

Teachers use assessment very well to check learning. They use a range of assessment strategies, including written and practical assessments, which replicate final examinations. For example, in ESOL learners attend reading clubs where they read aloud in preparation for examinations. Staff provide constructive feedback on how well learners read. They correct pronunciation errors and encourage learners to repeat unfamiliar words and sentences to reinforce understanding.

Teachers use feedback effectively to help learners and apprentices understand new and complex concepts. Learners and apprentices swiftly improve their ability to produce high-quality written and practical work because they act on the focused feedback and support that they receive from their teachers. Teachers on level 3 performing arts provide feedback that inspires learners to extend their performance skills and achieve the highest possible grades.

Teachers have a sharp focus in developing learners’ and apprentices’ skills in the use of English and mathematics. As a result, learners and apprentices significantly improve their English and mathematical skills and successfully apply these skills to their technical subjects. Adult learners on the rigging, crane banksman and slinger Skills Bootcamp swiftly learn to use trigonometry to find the tension on sling legs. Learners in level 1 motor vehicle correctly label the components of a vehicle using correct spellings, such as monocoque chassis.

Almost all learners, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with high needs, make very good progress, achieve their qualifications and go on to very positive destinations, such as prestigious universities. Learners who study sports qualifications progress to highly competitive sports scholarships, including in the United States. Apprentices who remain on their programme achieve their apprenticeship and almost all continue in sustained, full-time employment.

Leaders and managers have a very clear overview of the quality of education that they provide, including that of subcontractors. They conduct thorough quality assurance activities such as curriculum reviews, lesson observations and close monitoring of learners’ and apprentices’ progress. Through their actions, leaders have made significant improvements to the progress that learners make towards achieving the highest possible grades. This includes targeted professional development for teachers, improved tracking and monitoring of learners’ progress and ensuring that very effective early interventions are put in place if learners fall behind. Learners and apprentices have specific targets to help them continuously aim for their ambitious target grades.

Leaders and managers have taken bold and pragmatic actions to refine their apprenticeships. They recognise when an apprenticeship is not a good fit for the college, such as the apprenticeship in fire emergency and security system, which they transferred to a more specialist provider. Leaders have refined which employers they work with to ensure that apprentices have suitable job roles and the scope within their work to develop skills effectively when at work. They have improved how they support apprentices who are at risk of falling behind to catch up. Consequently, apprentices’ progress and retention have significantly improved, and achievement is now above national rates overall.

Staff provide high-quality careers advice and guidance that prepare learners and apprentices well for their next steps. Teachers offer careers advice through the curriculum, and specialist careers staff and visiting speakers provide further advice and guidance. Staff from the local authority help learners on T-level courses to prepare for interviews in early years settings. Scaffolding apprentices know that, once they are qualified and experienced, they can work on offshore oil rigs or on nuclear power plants.

Governance is exceptionally strong. Governors have extensive experience across a range of roles, including in education, finance and business. They provide helpful advice to leaders regarding areas such as the development of the curriculum, the quality of education and safeguarding. Governors receive useful and comprehensive reports covering all aspects of the college. They provide rigorous scrutiny, and they challenge and support leaders well. Governors have a very clear overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the group, including the improvements that were required in apprenticeships and in ensuring that a larger proportion of younger learners achieved the highest possible grades.

2014 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Continue the sustained improvements that have already been made to the success rates for functional skills English and mathematics qualifications.
• Analyse data in greater depth to identify where learners should be achieving better grades and intervene swiftly to improve performance.
• Increase the thoroughness of progress monitoring for learners to ensure that targets are challenging and that learners know what they need to do to succeed and are supported to achieve their full potential.
• Ensure that all managers identify and are familiar with key headline data and targets relevant to the provision that they manage.
• Provide more support to enable teachers to challenge poor behaviour or inappropriate use of language. Ensure that the diversity within the community is celebrated more routinely and consistently well in teaching sessions.

2012 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider need to do to improve further?

• Improve success rates, focusing on underperforming areas, by consolidating the quality assurance processes in these areas.
• Make sure best practice is shared more effectively across the college by giving the better teachers the opportunity to showcase their talents, to support the improvement of all teaching.
• Ensure all teachers pay closer attention to how individuals learn most effectively and that they use this information to plan activities to stretch and challenge all learners.
• Help learners make better progress through improving individual learning plans so that they have clear and focused targets to measure progress and key points for development.
• Raise the profile of functional skills in English and mathematics across the whole college and place a much stronger emphasis on its management and development for all learners, so that they can apply these skills more effectively in their subjects and vocational areas.
• Governors, leaders and managers should ensure the strategic direction remains focused on improving teaching, learning and assessment, and learners’ outcomes, so that the college improves at a sufficiently fast pace.

2010 Full Inspection Report

What does Stockton Riverside College need to do to improve further?

• Analyse, evaluate and improve further the current developments in recording recruitment and vetting checks and for staff training, drawing on national guidance and best practice.
• Continue to improve the quality of reports to governors to ensure that they can rigorously challenge the performance of senior managers. Implement plans to improve computer software to provide more widely available management information. Improve the format, content and use of exception reports at all levels of the college.
• Ensure that all new staff receive safeguarding training as a priority early in their induction to the college.

2010 Full Inspection Report

What does Stockton Riverside College need to do to improve further?

• Develop and implement appropriate actions to ensure that success rates continue to improve, particularly on Skills for Life courses. Monitor and evaluate the impact of current strategies to improve retention.
• Encourage more learners to participate in enrichment activities.
• Maintain the momentum in improvements to tutorial provision by ensuring that the revised code of practice is implemented consistently.
• Develop and implement a systematic approach to collecting and using employers’ views about the quality of the provision.
• Provide governors with reports on the implementation of the college’s arrangements for safeguarding so that they are able to fulfil their statutory duties. These should include the analysis and evaluation of exception reports so that governors can challenge senior managers and monitor performance robustly.
• Revise policies and procedures and codes of practice to ensure that the college achieves its objective that all staff required to hold Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks do so from the start of their employment at the college. Ensure that all staff receive appropriate training and that accurate records are kept to ensure that the college can monitor compliance in this area.
• Improve arrangements for quality assurance to ensure that the underlying causes of lower performance are clearly identified and addressed.
• Ensure that all observations of teaching and learning result in an action plan that supports teachers to continue to improve.
• Take action to improve the college’s financial position. Control expenditure rather than relying on future assumed income streams.

2006 Full Inspection Report

The college should address

• weak monitoring retention in key skills
• insufficient use of teaching observations to inform staff appraisal and to disseminate good practice
• low recruitment to provision in work-based learning
• ineffective arrangements for identifying the additional learning support needs and learner progress of adult learners
• the need to increase staff training in child protection.

2001 Full Inspection Report

What should be improved?

• rigour of course reviews and self-assessment reports
• teachers' questioning techniques during lessons
• management of engineering provision
• amount of work experience provided for students
• teaching of key skills.