College Websites

2024 Full Inspection Report

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

Leaders have a strong vision to promote social mobility through high-quality training, education and support. They actively seek to work with the most disadvantaged individuals and groups to ensure nobody is left behind. They are highly ambitious for their students and apprentices.

Staff use their very secure understanding of the local and regional economic context to make carefully considered decisions in the selection and development of the curriculum. Consequently, learning closely corresponds to the needs of students, apprentices and other stakeholders. For instance, staff align courses in English for speakers of other languages very closely to the varying needs and abilities of adults who have settled here. In so doing, adults rapidly develop the skills to integrate into their communities and to support their next steps.

Staff plan and sequence learning logically and very effectively. This enables students and apprentices to develop knowledge and skills over time and very often with high levels of fluency. For instance, level 2 carpentry apprentices learn about different joints, increasing in complexity, before constructing a frame with the joints in the right order.

Highly qualified and experienced staff use their expertise to plan and teach relevant and interesting lessons and training sessions in which students and apprentices readily participate. Staff model specialist language successfully so students and apprentices become confident and competent in using appropriate terminology. They are adept at explaining key concepts. They use demonstrations with considerable skill to ensure students and apprentices make rapid progress. For instance, in GCSE mathematics, teachers explain theories clearly by breaking down complex equations into step-by-step directions, which enables students to complete work independently.

Teachers focus on activities that ensure students and apprentices quickly develop new knowledge and skills. They use a range of highly effective teaching activities, including role play, demonstrations and scenario-based questions. For instance, in T-level health, teachers use a hypothetical scenario about health assessment to explain clearly how to interact with patients and to reinforce the importance of being positive, friendly and helpful.

Staff understand students’ and apprentices’ needs, interests and aspirations exceptionally well. They identify students’ and apprentices’ starting points and make highly effective adaptations to learning as a result. For instance, specialist teachers make very well-considered use of the education, health and care plan targets of students with high needs. They then tailor personalised strategies that ensure these students make exceptional progress.

Staff use assessment to check, correct and consolidate learning very effectively. When staff identify students’ misconceptions, they intervene quickly and successfully. For instance, in level 3 performing and production arts, students work in a loop of ‘perform, feedback, improve’, which mirrors professional practice and helps them to improve their techniques quickly and securely.

Staff work closely with employers, which contributes to enabling apprentices to make outstanding progress. Employers speak very highly of the positive relationships they enjoy with college staff, which ensure they are well informed about apprentices’ progress. Staff ensure apprentices’ on- and off-the-job training are closely aligned. This contributes substantially to apprentices’ development and mastery of the knowledge and skills they need to become better at their job roles.

Leaders are highly committed to supporting adults back into education and training. They purposefully work with many adults who come from disadvantaged and transient groups and who join the college with few or no qualifications. They are taking very sensible and rapid action to resolve a few concerns they have identified in the adult learning provision. The positive impact of learning on adult students is profound. For instance, adults on the Building Heroes course who have left the armed forces with few prospects gain hugely valuable essential skills in basic construction and health and safety. This enables them to secure employment or higher levels of training.

Leaders understand extremely well the strengths of the college and where further improvement is needed. They have effective oversight of the quality of teaching and the outcomes students and apprentices achieve. They talk to students and apprentices and respond to their views. Leaders use the information they gain to take swift and effective action that further improves the quality of teaching. They provide staff with plentiful high-quality opportunities to refine and hone their teaching. As a result, staff maintain the currency of their skills, enabling them to provide consistently high-quality teaching and support.

Careers leaders ensure students and apprentices, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive very helpful and relevant careers advice and guidance. This enables students and apprentices to make well-informed decisions about their future learning and work choices.

Leaders have implemented a highly effective personal development curriculum for students that prepares them exceptionally well for life in modern Britain. Students demonstrate fundamental British values through their behaviours and attitudes in classrooms and workplaces as well as in their interactions with their staff and peers. Leaders have instilled a culture of tolerance and mutual respect throughout all aspects of college life. However, leaders have not ensured all apprentices are aware of the potential risks in their local communities, and a few younger apprentices do not thoroughly understand of what constitutes healthy relationships.

Leaders have a clear rationale and justification for the work they undertake with their two subcontractors. They conduct appropriate checks to assure themselves of the quality of the training.

Governors have a broad and relevant skill set that they use to support leaders very effectively. They play an active part in many aspects of college life. They work closely with senior leaders to set the college strategy and then monitor its implementation carefully. Governors hold leaders to account and challenge them successfully to continue to improve the quality of education and training.

2022 Full Inspection Report

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Leaders and managers should ensure that students and apprentices attend English and mathematics lessons regularly so that they learn the skills and knowledge that they need to achieve on their courses.
• Leaders and managers must ensure that education, health and care plan targets are broken down thoroughly so that teachers can use them to plan learning activities that develop students’ skills and knowledge, so that students achieve their planned goals.
• Leaders and managers must ensure that students and apprentices receive helpful feedback on their work so that they understand what they need to do to improve, how to make improvements and to prepare themselves for future study.
• Leaders and managers should ensure that all students and apprentices have a good understanding of the careers opportunities available to them when they complete their courses so that they are able to make informed decisions about, and plan for, their future careers.

2010 Full Inspection Report

What does name of West Suffolk College need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that indications of improving retention rates are sustained and consolidated into improving success rates.
• Improve initial assessment practices to enable teachers to plan and assess for learning that meets individual learners’ needs.
• Focus the observation of teaching and learning on learning, and analyse the outcomes to better inform the sharing of good practice and training in teaching and learning strategies.
• Ensure that all relevant targets or success criteria include precise timescales that enable the college to measure the impact of all its actions more effectively; make sure judgments, strengths and areas for improvement in the whole college self-assessment are more precise.

2006 Full Inspection Report

Areas for improvement

The college should address:

• the development of value added measures
• the proportion of high grades on national diploma courses for a few subject areas.

2004 Re-Inspection Report

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2003 Re-Inspection Report

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