Tresham

Tresham is a Good College with Outstanding Features

15 Dec 2009

Tresham College of Further and Higher Education is delighted with the Government's Ofsted Inspection report published on Monday 14^th December 2009 which judged Tresham's overall effectiveness to be ‘Good' following an inspection which took place from 16^th till 20^th October 2009.

The report grades the college as an overall Grade 2 (Good) and a summary of the grades awarded are:

• Overall Effectiveness - Grade 2 (Good)
• Capacity to Improve - Grade 2 (Good)
• Outcomes for Learners - Grade 2 (Good)
• Quality of Provision - Grade 2 (Good)
• Leadership and Management - Grade 2 (Good)

Inspectors were particularly pleased with Tresham's performance over the past four years and recognised the progress the college has made since it was last inspected in 2006 for learners of all ages and at all levels and teaching and learning was judged as good. As well as being recognised for success rates for full and part time learners, Tresham was commended for its levels of achievements for Apprenticeships and Train to Gain.

The report states:
"The college's overall effectiveness is good. It demonstrates good capacity to improve and has made good progress since the last inspection in tackling specific weaknesses whilst bringing about significant overall improvements to outcomes for learners, the quality of provision, and leadership and management, all of which have improved from satisfactory to good."

Since the last inspection Tresham has appointed a new College Leadership Group and management structure which was judged by inspectors as good and the college was given further approval for setting clear and ambitious targets as part of its five year strategic plan.

Tresham is one of the first further education college in the UK to have been inspected under the new Ofsted Inspection framework which was introduced in September and saw a number of new focuses.

As part of the new inspection framework the Learner Voice has increased in importance and inspectors held a number of focus groups and impromptu interviews with learners across the college to find out more about the learners experience throughout the year. Learners stated that they enjoy their experience at Tresham and feel safe whilst at College. Tresham was seen to demonstrate good care, guidance and support including tutorials and progress review for all of its students.

Ofsted also judged that the college was responsive to the needs of the local labour market and praised Tresham's partnership work with local schools and employers to encourage more people to gain the skills they need to improve their employability and career development. Tresham was judged to have taken very effective actions to improve the quality of external partnerships and was seen to be well regarded by schools, local authorities and employers.

Mark Silverman, Principal of Tresham commented:

"I am extremely pleased with the judgements made by Ofsted inspectors when they came to visit us in October. The report is a credit to the hard work of Tresham's staff and learners and upholds our vision to become an outstanding college in north Northamptonshire. Tresham has seen significant changes over the past two years and Ofsted has identified that we are moving in the right direction.

In July Tresham unveiled its new strategic plan for the next five years and I am confident that the college, together with the exciting new campus in Corby to accompany our existing new campus in Kettering is on its way to achieving our ambition of being an outstanding college."

Read the full Ofsted report at the Ofsted website.

Ofsted inspectors use the following scale to summarise their judgements:

Grade 1 - Outstanding

Grade 2 - Good

Grade 3 - Satisfactory

Grade 4 -  Inadequate

- Ends -

For further information contact:

Olivia Morton, Press & Communications Officer

01536 413151

0781 037 8292

omorton@tresham.ac.uk

www.tresham.ac.uk

Note to Editors:

Inspection:

• Ofsted is the government's inspection body to inspect full and part time programmes, apprenticeships and work based training.
• The inspection carried out between Monday 16^th and Friday 20^th October 2009 and focussed on the following aspects:
• Overall Effectiveness
• Capacity to Improve
• Outcomes for Learners
• Quality of Provision
• Leadership and Management
• Five Curriculum areas were inspected:
• § Health, Social Care, Early Years and Public Services
• § Business, Admin and Law
• § Engineering, Motor Vehicle and Motorsport
• § Construction
• § Foundation Learning Numeracy/ Literacy Key Skills Level 1

Tresham College of Further and Higher Education:

• Tresham is a college of further and higher education and has campuses based in four towns; Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby and Oakham.
• Tresham opened a brand new campus in Kettering in September 2007 and has been granted funding for a new campus in Corby which is due to be opened 2011.
• Tresham Institute has approximately 10,000 students on full time. part time courses as well as apprenticeships and business related courses.
• Tresham Institute is an Associate College of University of Northampton, De Montfort University, University of Bedfordshire and Thames Valley University.
• Tresham's mission is:

"working in partnership to provide high quality and responsive learning."