Application form for the pilot of the Strategic College Improvement Fund Please complete all relevant fields.

Please note that information provided on this application form, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

This form is an application for a grant allocated from the Strategic College Improvement Fund (SCIF). The SCIF is for further education colleges and sixth-form colleges that at their most recent Ofsted inspection were graded ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ for overall effectiveness or for apprenticeship provision.

Applicant colleges will work with a higher-performing partner college as they prepare their application and as they undertake the programme of work that the application describes. This peer-to-peer support will enable the applicant college to deepen its understanding of its quality challenges, develop a rigorous and costed programme of work, and use the experience and know-how of the partner college to put its quality improvement programme in place.

Further information is published in the ‘Guidance for applicants to the pilot of the Strategic College Improvement Fund’ on GOV.UK

1. Applicant and Partner College details Please provide details about your college and your partner college. If this is a joint application from more than one college, please insert additional columns as required.

Applicant College Partner College

College nameUK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN)Name of Chief Executive/PrincipalChief Executive/Principal’s email addressChief Executive/Principal’s telephone number Main contact for the application if not the Chief

Executive/Principal (include role, email address and telephone number)

2. Details of any other partnersIf your programme of work involves partners other than your main partner college, please list those here. Insert additional columns as required.

Other Partner Other Partner

Partner nameUK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) if applicableName of the person at the partner who is the main contact for this application Email address of the person named aboveTelephone number of that person

3. Most recent Ofsted inspection report Please provide the details of the most Ofsted inspection of your college, and of your partner college. If this is a joint application from more than one college, please insert additional columns as required.

Applicant College Partner CollegeDate of most recent Ofsted inspection Ofsted grade for overall effectiveness Ofsted grade for apprenticeship provisionWhat are the key areas where improvement is needed, as identified by the Ofsted inspection? What actions did the inspection recommend that your college take?

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4. Further Education Commissioner (FEC) pilot diagnostic assessment, or other FEC assessment

If your college has had an FEC pilot diagnostic assessment, or has received another recent assessment from the FEC, please provide details below. (Diagnostic assessments are early interventions that are designed to reduce, over time, the number of colleges requiring full FEC intervention). Otherwise please enter ‘N/A’ in the two fields below.

Date of FEC diagnostic assessment or other assessmentWhat are the key areas where improvement is needed, as identified by the FEC assessment? What actions did the assessment recommend that your college take?

5. Partner college diagnostic Please provide details of the outcomes of the diagnostic that your partner college has carried out in collaboration with your college.

Date of partner college diagnostic

What are the key areas where improvement is needed, as identified by your partner college? What actions does the diagnostic recommend that your college take?

6. Quality improvement programme of work In this section, please provide a detailed description of the quality challenges that your proposed progamme of work is intended to address; how that programme of work will be conducted; and what results you expect. Please also include evidence of the capacity and capability of your college, and of your partner college, to undertake this programme of work.

Include reference to any key assumptions, and provide supporting evidence as required.

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6.A. Issue (maximum 3,500 characters)

Which educational quality challenges is your college seeking to address through the programme of work outlined in this application? Why are these challenges a priority for your college? How have these quality challenges arisen, and what factors lie behind them?

Please refer to the findings of Ofsted inspections; of the FEC diagnostic assessment of your college or other visits or assessments from the FEC (where applicable); and of your partner college’s diagnostic of your college. Please also refer to your college’s own internal analysis (as contained, for instance, in your college’s Quality Improvement Plan); and to other sources of information as warranted (e.g. student or employer surveys).

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6.B. Project description

6.B.i Overview (maximum 4,000 characters)

Please provide an overview of your proposed programme of work, being careful to outline the ways in which it will address the quality challenges identified in question 6.A. Who will benefit from the outputs of this programme of work, and what will the nature and scale of these benefits be? How do these benefits align with the needs of the people and communities that your college serves?

In your answer, please highlight the role your partner college played in developing this programme of work, and the role they will play in addressing the identified challenges.

Please refer to the findings of Ofsted inspections; of the FEC diagnostic assessment of your college or other visits or assessments from the FEC (where applicable); and of your partner college’s diagnostic of your college. Please also refer to your college’s own internal analysis (as contained, for instance, in your college’s Quality Improvement Plan); and to other sources of information as warranted (e.g. student or employer surveys).

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6.B.ii Break-down of your programme of work

Please break down the programme of work into a list of specific activities/project. Please:

1. describe each individual activity/project2. indicate how it will improve quality and contribute to your overall programme of work3. indicate who will be responsible for the delivery of the activity/project (at your college, at your partner college as relevant, and at any

other partner as relevant)4. identify the concrete output(s) or product(s) you expect this activity/project to generate5. specify how you will measure how successful the activity/project has been in achieving its goals6. indicate approximately how much time the activity/project will take7. provide an estimated cost for the activity/project8. indicate on what basis this is calculated.

There are two tables below. These two tables, combined, will allow you to answer all of the above questions for each of the component activities/projects in your programme of work.

Table A allows you to answer questions 1-4 for each activity/project that you identify. Table B allows you to answer questions 5-8 for each activity/project.

The column on the far left side of Table B should contain exactly the same text as the same column in Table A, and in exactly the same order. Item #1 in Table B should be exactly the same as Item #1 in Table A, and so forth.

Please insert additional rows in these tables as required.

Table A

Description of activity/project How will it improve quality?Who is responsible for delivery of this

activity?Outputs / products

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

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Table B

Description of activity/project (same

text as in Table A)Success measures Timescale Estimated cost Basis for calculation of

this cost

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8

Description of activity/project (same

text as in Table A)Success measures Timescale Estimated cost Basis for calculation of

this cost

8.

9.

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6.B.iii Value-for-money (maximum 2,000 characters)

How will you ensure that the identified activities/projects make effective use of public resources and demonstrate value for money?

6.C. Capacity and capability of your partner college and any other partners (maximum 2,500 characters)

What makes your partner college well-suited to help you deliver this programme of work? Please detail the relevant knowledge, expertise and experience that your partner college will bring to your quality improvement programme.

If you are also intending to use the services of other partners, please outline what relevant knowledge, expertise and experience each will bring.

6.D. Capacity and capability of your college to deliver the quality improvement programme (maximum 2,500 characters)

How does the programme of work outlined in this application align with your institution’s broader quality improvement strategy? What quality improvement successes can you point to in the recent past, and what do these suggest about your college’s capacity and capability to deliver the programme of work outlined in this application?

Does your college have the financial resources, human resources, and other resources needed to successfully implement the quality improvement programme? Does this programme of work have the support of your teaching staff and of any other key stakeholders?

6.E. Sustainability over time (maximum 2,500 characters)How will the improvements and benefits that flow from this programme of work be sustained over time (that is to say, once they are no longer supported by SCIF funding)? What financial resources, human resources and other resources will be required for sustained improvement, and how will your college meet these demands?

Have you included any activities in your programme of work that presuppose ongoing funding, but for which you have not identified a funding source?

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6.F. Risks to success (maximum 2,500 characters)What are the greatest risks to the success of your programme of work, and how will you mitigate these?

6.G. Monitoring and evaluation (maximum 3,500 characters)How will you monitor in an ongoing way the progress of your programme of work?

How do you propose to evaluate whether your programme of work has been effective, efficient and timely in delivering the outputs and outcomes that you expect? What approaches and what sources of evidence do you propose to use?

7. Eligible costs For guidance on eligible costs, please refer to the ‘Guidance for applicants to the pilot of the Strategic College Improvement Fund’ document.

What is your estimate of the full costs of the programme of work outlined in this application?

What is the amount of the SCIF grant that you are

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seeking?

How much funding will your college contribute towards this programme of work?

Note that your college’s contribution must be at least 25% of total programme of work costs, unless you are requesting an exception due to financial strictures. In the latter case, please use this section to justify your request.

Please provide a breakdown of proposed expenditures (refer to the section ‘Successful Applicants’ of the ‘Guidance for applicants to the pilot of the Strategic College Improvement Fund’ document as you complete this):

for the period to 31 March 2018

1 April 2018 through 31 July 2018

1 August 2018 through 31 December 2018 (during this period, you may only make use of the funding your college contributes to the programme of work)

For each of the colleges, person(s) or other providers that will contribute to your quality improvement programme (including partner college):

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provide a summary description of the services they will provide

Indicate how much funding they will receive, and how this amount has been calculated

8. Governance

Does your college’s governing body support the quality improvement programme outlined in this application (subject to the grant being awarded)?

If there is a diocese, trust, or other body that appoints governors in your college, then does that diocese, trust or other body support the quality improvement programme outlined in this application (subject to the grant being awarded)?

Please include the relevant extract from your governing body minutes (or equivalent statement of support), and from any other relevant body, with your application. If these statements are not available at the time of your application, they must be provided to the ESFA before any grant payment can take place

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9. Declaration of the Chief Executive/Principal and the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Applicant College(s)

(If this is a joint application from more than one college, please insert an additional signature box).

By submitting this application, you confirm:

all the information included is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge you have read the published ‘Guidance for applicants to the pilot of the Strategic

College Improvement Fund’ and understand that conditions therein will be conditions of funding

your quality improvement partner college supports this application, and is committed to work with your college throughout the full SCIF-funded programme of work

your college will only request a single pilot SCIF grant you will provide the ESFA with any requested reports, using templates published on

GOV.UK, about the use of the SCIF grant funds that your college is awarded. A final report will be submitted to the ESFA within 30 days of the final amount of the grant being spent, but no later than 31 August 2018

you understand that the grant will become repayable if the agreed proportion of grant funding is not spent by 31 March 2018, or if the remainder of grant funding is not spent by 31 July 2018; if the grant funding is not spent on eligible activities outlined in your application (or variants thereof agreed with the ESFA); if your college does not provide its required contribution; or if your college does not submit the required reports on expenditures and outcomes

you will ensure value for money, seeking competitive costs for all activities and complying with the procurement governance as set out by your governing body

you accept that total eligible costs may include irrecoverable VAT. However, no SCIF payment in excess of the agreed amount of the grant will be provided in relation to any VAT

you accept that the ESFA may ask for any additional information as it sees fit to assess your application and that, as a condition of funding, you shall provide such information

you agree that, should any information presented in this application be revealed to be false or misleading, your application may be rejected. If grant monies have already been paid, they must be returned to the ESFA

Chief Executive/Principal’s name

Chief Executive/Principal’s signature

Name of Chair of Governing Body

Signature of the Chair

Date when form was completed

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10. Declaration of the Chief Executive/Principal and the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Partner College

By signing this application, you confirm:

all the information included is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge you have read the published ‘Guidance for applicants to the pilot of the Strategic

College Improvement Fund’ and understand that conditions therein will be conditions of funding

your college (including its governing board) supports this application, and is committed to work with the applicant college throughout the full SCIF-funded programme of work (subject to the grant being awarded)

if there is a diocese, trust, or other body that appoints governors at your college, then that diocese, trust or other body has affirmed its commitment to support the partnership outlined in this application (subject to the grant being awarded)

you accept that the ESFA may ask for any additional information as it sees fit to assess this application

you will ensure value for money in all services that you provide to the applicant college

Chief Executive/Principal’s name

Chief Executive/Principal’s signature

Name of Chair of Governing Body

Signature of the Chair

Date when form was completed

Please submit the completed application form (in Word format) via the ‘Contact ESFA’ contact form. We will acknowledge receipt of your application within three working days, and in most cases, applicants will receive notice of whether their application is successful within 30 days of the application deadline.

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