Preston College Ofsted: what did the college do well and what does it need to improve according to latest report?

Preston College on St Vincent’s Road, Fulwood was inspected on January 17-20 and was classed as good across all eight categories. The college was also rated ‘Good’ in its last report in 2018, following a ‘Requires Improvements’ rating in 2017.

The college also scored the top assessment of ‘Strong’ for its contribution to meeting Local Skills needs, making Preston College the first in Lancashire to achieve the highest skills judgement within Ofsted’s newly enhanced inspection framework.

What did Ofsted say was particularly good about Preston College?

The report begins: “Learners and apprentices enjoy their experiences at Preston College. They appreciate the positive and welcoming culture and understand the importance of treating each other with respect and behaving responsibly. Most learners and apprentices achieve their qualifications and apprenticeships and progress into higher education, further training or employment.”

Regarding the curriculum, inspectors wrote: “Leaders and managers develop ambitious curriculums to prepare young people, adults and apprentices for their next steps...tutors design programmes that allow learners and apprentices to progress through stages of increasing difficulty.”

High needs learners (those with SEND) are said to be “well supported” by staff, they “demonstrate the same level of skill as their peers”, and “benefit from a supported internship programme that managers develop with the local police force.”

Teachers and work-based tutors are “well qualified and experienced”, “provide helpful feedback to learners” and “are quick to tackle inappropriate behaviour", making learners and apprentices feel safe.

For the ‘Local Skills needs’ category, inspectors summarised: “Leaders have a comprehensive understanding of local and regional skills priorities. They align the curriculum extremely well to the key growth pillars outlined in the local enterprise partnership plan.

“Leaders are highly committed to providing curriculums that meet the needs of learners and local businesses… [and] work with the local authority and the Red Cross to support some of the most disadvantaged groups.”

What does Preston College need to improve on?

Inspectors wrote that the college needs to “ensure that learners rapidly improve their skills in English and mathematics and significantly increase the number of learners who achieve high grades in these subjects.”

In addition, staff need to “plan and track the incremental steps that learners with high needs take towards attaining their EHCP outcomes [education, health and care plans]. Teachers and support staff should help learners to recognise and celebrate the steps they take towards their longer-term goals.”

The college was also told to “improve learners’ attendance, particularly on level 1 courses and in GCSE English and mathematics.”

What does Preston College say about their rating?

Simon Nixon, Interim Principal and Chief Executive said: “College leaders, managers, staff and learners have worked tremendously hard in recent years to continue to improve in all areas of the college, often in spite of the challenges presented by the pandemic. We are pleased that our commitment to learners has been recognised by Ofsted, with this report reflecting the supportive learner-centred culture that we promote every day, as well as recognising the significant impact that we continue to make on our local community. The college values all of the feedback received by Ofsted and we will use this to ensure that we continue to provide excellence in Technical Education and Training.”

John Boydell, Chair of the Board of Governors, said: “This recent result is well deserved following the ongoing hard work and dedication of everyone at the college. Governors are very proud of the positive impact that the college makes on our local community. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all learners, staff and stakeholders for their contribution to this Good outcome.”