A college that recruits hundreds of students from Brighton and Hove has been rated “good” after an inspection by the official education watchdog Ofsted.
East Sussex College principal and chief executive Rebecca Conroy said: “We are absolutely delighted with the latest Ofsted report which confirms that we have achieved a ‘Good’ grade and are good in all that we do.
“This is a huge credit to all staff and students for the high quality of their work and ambition.”
Ms Conroy, 46, who previously worked at the Greater Brighton Metropolitan College, in Brighton, added: ““The report really highlights the high expectations that motivate students and apprentices to achieve their best. We are extremely pleased that our various strengths have been recognised.”
The college, which has campuses in Lewes, Newhaven, Eastbourne and Hastings and which works with the football club charity Albion in the Community, was inspected in late November.
A team of 14 inspectors said that the college was a good provider in all the key categories – from quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management to education programmes for young people, adult learning programmes, apprenticeships and provision for learners with high needs.
The report said that the college had 4,333 students from 16 to 18 years old on academic and vocational programmes as well as 1,702 adult students and 1,634 apprentices.
There were about 110 students in receipt of “high needs” funding and the college was working with 14 main subcontractors, mostly on apprenticeships in niche sectors such as window fitting and agricultural subjects.
Ofsted said: “Students and apprentices benefit from a strong culture of mutual respect and tolerance that leaders, managers and staff have created. They work together well despite their different backgrounds, interests and abilities.
“Students and apprentices respect and support each other in the classroom. They encourage each other during discussions and share ideas. This helps them to learn from each other and build their confidence and resilience.
“Students and apprentices enjoy attending the college. Teachers have high expectations of all students and apprentices, including those with high needs. Teachers’ high expectations motivate students and apprentices to achieve their best.
“Apprentices enjoy their training and work, take pride in what they do and, as a result, take on more responsibility at work.
“Students and apprentices speak very positively of the support they receive from their teachers, who, they say, ‘make you believe in yourself, because they believe in you.’
“Students and apprentices recognise the importance of consistently high rates of attendance and punctuality. Teachers support students effectively in order to catch up if they do miss lessons.
“In the few courses where students’ attendance is lower, leaders, managers and teachers take appropriate action to remedy this. Almost all students and apprentices display good behaviour.
“Leaders have formed strong links with local and regional partners that help them understand and meet the needs of people in Sussex and beyond.
“For example, they worked closely with members of Team East Sussex to develop engineering and construction courses to improve people’s life chances in Newhaven and Hastings.
“Leaders also work with partners, such as Job Centre Plus, and have developed useful courses to counter unemployment in Newhaven, Hastings and Lewes.
“Leaders benefit from strong governance, with highly experienced and knowledgeable governors. After recognising that the executive team needed strengthening, governors sensibly appointed a range of new senior leaders to focus on improving the quality of education that students and apprentices receive.”
One of those senior leaders was Rebecca Conroy, from the GB Met, previously City College, once known as Brighton Technical College.
Ms Conroy, a Sussex University graduate, worked at Brighton University early on in her career before settling in the further education sector.
She has also served as a school governor in Brighton and Hove – at Hove Park and City Academy Whitehawk.
She joined the East Sussex College Group in May 2018, a couple of months after the group was formed from the merger of Sussex Downs College and Sussex Coast College Hastings.
And in February 2020, the month before the first national coronavirus lockdown, she became the acting principal and chief executive of the group. When her predecessor Clive Cooke retired.
She was confirmed in her role in October 2020 and, having received Ofsted’s verdict late last month, she said: “The report continues our positive growth and progressive aspirations into the 2021-22 academic year which have seen us overcome challenges and secure our status as a leading further education (FE) provider for years to come.”
The report praised one of the college’s safeguarding initiatives. It said: “Safeguarding staff have recently surveyed groups of students and apprentices to find out about their concerns regarding sexual harassment and abuse.
“As a result, staff have set up forums with students and apprentices to find out about the most appropriate ways of covering these topics to ensure that students will benefit from increased knowledge of these subjects.”
Every Ofsted report includes the question, “What does the provider need to do to improve?”.
At East Sussex College, the report said: “Leaders should ensure that apprentices studying with subcontractors receive the same high-quality training that those under the direct supervision of college staff benefit from.
“Managers should ensure that apprentices’ employers know what progress their apprentices are making and what training they can provide at work.
“Teachers should ensure that students and apprentices know what specific steps they need to take to improve their work.
“Leaders should ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the impact of the personal development curriculum, and that they make changes where it is not effective.”
The report also said: “Leaders have a carefully considered plan to curtail a small number of subcontracted apprenticeships where apprentices’ training is not good enough.”
And as well as rating the college as good in each of the key areas of assessment, it said that the college overall was good.
To read the report, click here.
