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Self-Assessment Report MidKent College

Academic year 2019 – 20

Author: Executive Director Curriculum and Quality

November 2020

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction Page 3

2. Size and scope of the College

Page 4

3. Kent and Medway school performance Page 5

4. MidKent College Training Services at the Royal School of Military Engineering

Page 6

5. Findings and judgement Page 7

6. Quality of education Page 9

7. Behaviours and Attitudes Page 14

8. Personal Development

Page 16

9. Leadership and management

Page 18

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1. Introduction MidKent College is a large general further education college with two sites serving the communities of Kent, Medway and the surrounding area. The campus in Gillingham serves the towns in the unitary authority of Medway. The campus in Maidstone, the county town of Kent, serves Maidstone and Malling. Both regions include diverse areas of deprivation and prosperity. The number of pupils at schools in both the Medway towns and Kent that achieve a GCSE Grade 4 or above in English and maths is below the national average, this is lower in the non-selective schools that the very significant majority of students who come to the College have attended. Employment in Maidstone is slightly above the national average unlike the Medway towns, which are below both national and regional rates. The College’s key priority is to help students build the skills and confidence for successful future employment or to improve them if they already have employment. This helps contribute to the economic prosperity of Kent and Medway. More than 90% of students finishing courses over the last three years went on to jobs or further study. At the core of this is the ability for our students to transform their lives and opportunities, many of whom have not been given the best chance in life to date. Through a student centred culture balancing high expectation and empathy, but recognising that all staff have a part to play we provide effective advice, guidance, support and with the development of the right skills, attributes, experience and qualifications students transform their lives, our economy and our local communities. In May 2019, Medway Council published its Skills and Employability Plan for Medway 2035. With the prospect of 30,000 new homes and 17,000 new jobs planned by 2035, there is room for all to benefit from the area’s expansion. It is the Council’s vision that by 2035, local people of all ages will have the skills and experience to enable them to take up the job opportunities created through growth and inward investment. Considering this, the learning programmes offered by MidKent College are a pivotal component to the educational reach of the Maidstone and Medway communities and the College will work with the Council and employers to develop a curriculum to meet the expected needs.

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2. Size and scope of the College The College has approximately 7,364 students in 2019/20. Of these, 6,321 were Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funded students. There was an increase in 16-18 student numbers in 2019/20, stopping a trend in reducing numbers over the past five years. The main cohort of students at the College are aged 16-18, with approximately 3,901 enrolled on full time study programmes. A further 1,392 students aged over 19 enrolled at the College last year. The College has 139 students that are in receipt of high needs funding. There are 227 students enrolled on a range of part and full time Higher Education programmes. The College also has 826 apprentices in learning during 2019/20. 215 students aged 14-16 study at the College part time. The vast majority are students on programmes from their local school, as well as a high number of students under 16 from specialist Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools who participate in programmes that help them to make a future transition into mainstream College life. The College works with one local partner on a sub-contracting arrangement. In total, there are 232 students on sub-contracted programmes. The sub-contracting partner is based in the immediate catchment area of the College. Their focus is on the delivery of programmes in the Warehouse & Distribution sector to upskill low-waged and unemployed. The partner is:

• Mainstream Group The College operates across two sites based in two very different communities in Kent and Medway serving the main catchment areas of Medway, Maidstone, Swale and Malling, with a smaller number of students coming from outside of these four key areas. The Medway campus has approximately two-thirds of all College students, and is a vibrant city College representative of the Medway area that it serves. The Medway campus was purpose built in 2009 at a cost of approximately £86 million. The second campus is based in Maidstone, the county town of Kent. The College shares a parkland area, known as Oakwood Park, with two secondary schools and a grammar school, as well as a Kent County Council owned training centre. The Maidstone campus has also been redeveloped at a total cost of £51m. This includes the completion of a higher levels skills centre with a focus on higher technical skills training, along with our professional course offer.

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3. Kent and Medway school performance The College covers two main local authority areas. Medway is a unitary authority covering the Medway towns of Rochester, Strood, Gillingham, Rainham and Chatham. Kent County Council is the local authority for the remaining areas with the borough councils of Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling and Swale. The performance of schools has a significant impact on the College. The starting points for the vast majority of students coming to the College are very low. In many cases students have made no or very little progress since Key Stage 2 at primary school and this has an impact on the basic expectations of attendance and attitudes toward learning. Specifically contributing to low ambition, slow progress and poor attitudes to learning amongst many students when they first arrive at College. Kent and Medway has a selective grammar school system with the highest number of grammar schools in the UK. There are a total of 196 secondary schools in Kent, and 22 schools in Medway, 19 of which have a sixth form. The College has just over 50 main feeder schools with more than 65% of 16-18 year old students coming from 20 of these schools. In 2016/17, circa 300 students came to the College from grammar schools, of which only 74 came aged 16, the remaining arrived at age 17 or above. The significant majority of school sixth forms offer A-levels with some general applied BTEC programmes. The Department for Education (DfE) provisional school performance data for 2018/19 shows that the proportion of students in Kent achieving a Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE is 45.4% compared to 43% nationally. In Medway, it is slightly lower at 43.5%. However, when removing grammar school performance from this data, student outcomes are significantly lower. Of the main feeder schools for the County town of Kent, the number of students achieving a Grade 4 or better in both English and maths ranges considerably from 9% - 43% for secondary schools. Value added measures at Key Stage 5 are low across these schools, including the grammar schools. These range from negative value added in the vast majority of secondary schools to only some grammar schools showing a positive value added score.

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4. MidKent College Training Services at the Royal School of Military Engineering

The College delivers artisan, technical and professional training in construction and engineering at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) as part of a 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP). MidKent College Training Services Ltd (MKCTS), a wholly owned subsidiary company of MidKent College, with approximately 200 staff, is responsible for the design, scheduling and delivery of courses at the RSME from level 2 to master's degree level. In 2018/19, the company trained around 1,000 army personnel. Since January 2010, MKCTS has been closely involved with the RSME in the development and rollout of training transformation that blends interactive computer-based resources with practical tasks. This allows soldiers to take greater ownership of their own development, allowing those with natural talent or previous experience to progress more rapidly through the courses. This flexibility enables many soldiers to be released to the field army much earlier than traditional delivery methods. The provision offered at the RSME is not inspected by Ofsted under the MidKent College URN number and is therefore not graded as such in this self-assessment report.

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5. Findings and judgement

5.1. Overall summary grades for MidKent College

Overall effectiveness Good Quality of Education Good Behaviours and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

5.2. Progress against areas for improvement in 2018-19

Areas for improvement 18/19

• Improve outcomes for Apprenticeships both Overall and Timely. The College increased its overall outcomes by 5.3% in 2018/19 to 63.9%, whilst overall national apprenticeship achievement rates declined by 2.6% to 64.7%. However the trend was halted in 2019/20 due to the impact of COVID on apprentices for example them being furloughed or made redundant. The College is supporting students during the process. The College has calculated that without the impact of Covid on apprentices, overall achievement rates would have continued to improve and would have been 66% in 2019/20.

• Attendance remains too low especially in English and maths. This continues to be an area which the College is working to address to ensure all students improve their literacy and numeracy skill development. For 2020/2021 following staff working with other colleges the College has implemented an online learning platform and different approaches to student delivery. The College will continue to review attendance and adapt its approach to both English and maths where needed.

• Student qualification outcomes in Motor Vehicle and Functional Skills

(FS) maths are too low. The process as per awarding body guidelines impeded the awarding of positive centre assessed grades in FS maths which contributed to the low achievement rate. The College has implemented changes in the delivery and assessment in FS maths to ensure we are able to award the qualification if the country faces any further disruption to exam windows. Motor Vehicle (MV) have not made improvements quick enough in student outcomes due to a number of factors including the uncertainty around the adaption of assessment throughout summer. MV have moved to one awarding body and amended their scheme of work to ensure that students gain unit achievement throughout the academic year. Changes in management have also been implemented

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• GCSE English and maths high grades need further improvements to exceed national averages. The College implemented a robust and rigorous process to allocate student grades following Awarding Bodies and Ofqual guidelines for GCSE grades. GCSE maths continues to be above National Average (NA) for high grades and has increased again in 2019/20. GCSE English is still below the NA for 2018/19

Strengths 2019/20: • The College adapted swiftly to the national lockdown to ensure that

students were supported in both their studies and personal welfare. This is evident in the positive responses in student surveys during this time

• The College has a student-centred ethos permeated throughout the College, which focuses on student progress.

• Strategic curriculum planning is good with most areas having progression pathways taking into account individual and local community needs.

• Students make good progress with their studies developing the necessary skills and knowledge required for their progression route.

• A wide range of assessment strategies were seen in the vast majority of lessons observed. Teachers were able to identify gaps in learning and applied intervention to ensure student success.

• The College has a comprehensive Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment which is valued by staff. This was adapted quickly to support staff in remote delivery during lockdown with high attendance by staff.

Areas for improvement 2019/20 • Improve outcomes for Apprenticeships both Overall and Timely.

• Attendance remains too low especially in English and maths.

• Reduce the differential in curriculum areas for student achievement to be

less than 8 percentage points between the highest and the lowest.

• Introduce a minimum standard for all staff in IT skills

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6. Quality of Education

6.1. Intent The selective school system in Kent and Medway impacts on the curriculum offer with a very small number (less than 100) coming directly from Grammar Schools at 16. As a result the significant majority of students start on programmes at Level 2 or below and require study for English and/or maths as well as their chosen vocation. Therefore, as well as progression into work or further training or education, much of the College’s focus is on promoting internal progression of students on appropriate provision.

The curriculum plan produced for the academic year 2019/2020 focused on a number of aspects, including local economic needs and current student needs to reach their full potential. Opportunities to personalise a student’s programme content are in place to allow individual students with or without Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) to access elements of the curriculum to make appropriate progress based on their current personal situation. For example, those with mental health issues, those made homeless through family relationship are able to breakdown the course or aspects of the course may be reduced allowing students to maintain a constant positive in their life.

The College continued to review the curriculum intent following the national lockdown and amended where appropriate for September 2020. For example Travel and Tourism introduced different pathways for students which complemented their previous learning or allowed them to diversify if the industry continues to struggle in the coming months. Decisions to delay Apprenticeship delivery were taken early on to allow for the economy to pick up after lockdown. 16 – 18 year olds were offered study programmes until a suitable vacancy becomes available with 19+ Apprenticeship applicants offered study in English, maths and employability skills development to support them in being successful in any vacancies they apply for. English and maths are a key part of the framework. The robust and rigorous curriculum planning process underpins the curriculum design. Each department identifies a specific curriculum intent and provides the purpose for the education and training that will be provided, and the different pathways being offered to our students. This ensures that progression opportunities in education, training or into employment are accessible for all students.

6.2. Implementation The majority of teachers are experienced in industry and have good subject knowledge, which is valued by students and supports the development of student employability skills. Staff establish strong connections to the world of work, linking theory to practice in industry wherever possible and seeking to create ‘clear lines of sight to work’ for students. Safe working practices are continuously reinforced by both teaching and support staff. Staff create

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strong ethos and expectations of support and challenge in the first term of college, helping students adapt to college life and start shaping their future aspirations. This was particularly evident in the areas that found the first lockdown starting in March, where the relationships that had been formed with students enabling a smooth transition to online learning, an effective support structure within curriculum and support teams and successful achievement of qualification targets set at the early part of the calendar year. During lockdown the staff responded to Ofqual and the Awarding Organisations guidance in the actions required to ensure students achieved their qualification. This robust process ensured that no students were disadvantaged and all were able to progress to their next stage of study in the majority of curriculum areas. For example, the Level 2 Tourism students demonstrated high levels of determination and resilience to complete adapted assessment from March 2020 to July 2020 resulting in an overall achievement rate of 94.7%. In addition students’ studying UAL qualifications were informed early on in the lockdown by the awarding body that they were not required to complete any more work for assessment to achieve their qualification. To fully prepare students for the next stage of their study staff continued to set and assess work and projects. Some staff also completed the project with the students in order to create exemplar demonstration pieces for level 1, where this unit would have been the first true demonstration of independent work. This ensured that students had all the required underpinning knowledge for their next level of study. The range of good and accessible support services (e.g. tutorials, libraries, careers, ProMonitor) available to students demonstrably keeps them on track and improves their learning, ensuring the majority of students make progress and experience success. Those who require it receive additional support in classes. The use of group profiles is effective in supporting session planning as measured within the observation process. Students starting points are accurately assessed noting qualifications on entry along with skills and knowledge already known. This allows students to be placed on the correct level and to make timely progress. Teachers set effective targets for most students that challenge them to improve their knowledge and skills. Timely interventions enable the majority of students to achieve their in-year targets. The regular review process for students at risk of not achieving their targets is good in most areas. However, too few apprentices and a small number of students enrolled on study programmes, do not have aspirational targets set that allow them to make progress and ensure they are being stretched and challenged. Teachers create a collaborative learning environment and provide student courses that are logically sequenced to enable students to build on their previous learning experiences. Assessment of students’ work is frequent which allows staff to know that students are ready for the next sequence in their learning. For example, in level 3 electrical courses, teacher’s

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continuous assessment of the students’ knowledge and understanding of all learning to date, supports them in the final synoptic test and ensures they are ready for the next stage of learning. Effective support is put in place where staff or students have identified barriers to learning to aid student progress. The College has a number of support mechanisms which include; 1–1 support including English and maths and meetings with staff who are able to advise across a range of educational needs including mental health issues. This additional support continued throughout lockdown and has enabled more vulnerable students to achieve all or part of their study programme. Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) reviews and interviews continued throughout lockdown, offers were made and accepted by EHCP and High Needs Students (HNS) When asked in the College’s electronic student survey in April 2020 75% of students said they were completing work every other day with 86% saying they felt supported by the College during the lockdown period. The 14% who did not think they were well supported were followed up by either their personal tutor or the welfare team. Some of the reasons stated on how the College could support more, were in some instances out of the Colleges control for example loss of job and not enough money. The follow up calls were used to ensure they were receiving bursary money and aware of other facilities available to them. Students will experience good teaching in the vast majority of their classes. This is underpinned by a robust observation system including learning walks, examination of marked work and the regular solicitation of views from students about their experience. The observation reports are used to provoke professional dialogue between leaders, managers and teaching staff and to action where areas for specific improvement are required. Targeted CPD is used to support staff at individual level or by team. For example, questioning techniques has been previously identified with support offered to staff where necessary. The majority of teachers use a variety of delivery methods to aid student preparation and engagement, enabling students to develop at their own pace whilst ensuring they are well prepared to achieve. Teachers use summative assessment methods during lessons to encourage learning and check students’ learning and understanding. This enables the early identification of misconceptions and subsequent implementation of the support required to ensure that students remain on track to achieve. A broad range of summative assessment methods are written into work-based assignment scenarios. For example, teachers use peer-to-peer assessment effectively during presentations to assess students understanding of the course criteria and further develop presentation and skills essential for employment. Furthermore, this provides alternative assessment strategies for the students whilst allowing teachers to check understanding. To support the transition for vulnerable students from school the College developed two transition booklets so students could familiarise themselves

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with the campuses prior to coming onto campus. Transition days took place in August where individual students were invited into the College to meet both the Transition Officers and vocational teaching staff. This helped alleviate the concerns of both students and parents and has helped students in attending college in September. This approach was welcomed by the relevant schools. In addition virtual tours of the College were developed which students could access. In some sessions, students are not challenged enough and are distracted from learning. This is reflected in some areas by low attendance for example English and maths and Motor Vehicle. The sharing of best practice is encouraged and demonstrates a proactive approach in overcoming the current attendance gap between the highest and lowest performing areas.

6.3. Impact

Students are effectively prepared for the next stage in their journey. This is evidenced by an increase in internal progression, the number of students attending university or entering employment. Despite each awarding body applying a different approach to the award of qualifications for 2019/20, the College has seen 58.1% of its student population of vocational qualifications see improvements in achievement. 9.4% of the student population is located within curriculum areas that have maintained the improvements seen in 2018/19. These improvements include areas that have elements of all three assessment methodologies introduced by Ofqual as a response to the pandemic, for example Hair, Beauty and Engineering. Notwithstanding the challenges brought about by lockdown 16–18 year old achievement rates have seen a slight improvement (0.3pp) and pass rates increased by 2.3pp. Both level 2 and 3 saw an increase of 2.3pp and 5.5pp respectively. This is against a declining profile for retention of 2.0pp. Achievement rates for the age group 19+ saw an increase for level 3 by 12.0pp to 83.6%. Level 2 saw a decline in achievement rates at 88.2% with a significant decrease in the number of leavers from 4,844 to 2,849. The reduction in the 19+ achievement rate is predominantly based on a decline through the Mainstream partnership activity and on-line learning packages.

Overall achievement rates excluding Partnerships has remained static at 80.1%, where the partnership provision has seen a reduction of 5.0pp in achievement.

Six out of 10 curriculum areas saw an increase in outcomes, a further two retained the improvements secured in the previous academic year. Despite the increase in student outcomes in curriculum areas, the gap between the highest and lowest performing areas remains too wide at 25pp, with the lowest area being Construction where it was difficult to re-engage students with the delayed assessment process. Health, Social Care, Business and IT

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have also seen a decline in achievement rates, due to poor initial advice and guidance at the beginning of the year and ineffective management of the department. Engineering secured an improvement in outcomes of 20.0pp. ESOL and Foundation Education have also seen improvements in achievement rates of 11.8pp and 4.7pp respectively. Apprenticeships have seen a decline in both overall and timely predominately due to the impact of apprentices’ employment during Covid 19. Overall at 60% with timely 40.8% compared to 48.9% in 2018/19 declining by 8.1pp. The decline was attributed in the main to students being unable to complete work based assessments in subjects such as Construction, Engineering and Plumbing, and completing functional skills within the expected original timescales. Nonetheless the College continued to support apprentices who were either furloughed, made redundant, or whose job roles were impacted or affected by the impact of the pandemic. However, the College has calculated that without the impact of Covid on apprentices, overall achievement rates would have continued to improve and would have been 66% in 2019/20.

Students develop good vocational skills in practical sessions which enables them effectively to progress to the next level and prepares them for employment after completing the course. This is enhanced by work placement opportunities where students can demonstrate to employers their skills in a work place setting. However, not all students were able to successfully complete their placements.

The current school performance tables published in March 2020 identify that our students have a higher than national average entrance in to Apprenticeships (15% compared to 10%) and Employment (36% compared to 25%).

English and maths GCSE achievement rates saw an improvement of 3.6pp and 5.0pp. Students achieved high grades in English and maths GCSE in line with the national average, although too few still do not achieve grade 4 or above.

Out of 19 ethnic groups, six have performed lower than the College average of 82.0%. The largest of those groups is African, with 306 leavers (enrolments) and achievement rate of 78.8% which is 3.2pp below the College average. Students who declare a learning difficulty of autism (588) achieve well across the College with an achievement rate of 85.5%. Students with dyslexia are supported well and achieve well above the College at 86.3% with 805 leavers.

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7. Behaviours and Attitudes

The significant majority of students display very good attitudes to learning throughout their time with the College both on campus and during national lockdown. For many college is the first opportunity to demonstrate the professional attitudes that will help them in their future lives. Students are purposeful, courteous and productive when moving around the College outside of the classroom and also within the local community. This was clearly evident in their approach to learning whilst in lockdown with 94.2% stating they completed work during this period. This was despite some awarding bodies stating no work after certain dates would be used for the purpose of awarding achievement. Staff reiterated the need and benefit to continue learning and how it will support their next progression destination.

The College nurtures a positive and innovative learning environment and staff have high expectations of students. Students benefit from the focus the College gives to instilling expected behaviours linking these strongly to employability right from the beginning of the students time at the College. Well-established expectations around learner behaviour are clearly communicated to students and collectively managed by staff to ensure that behaviour is at least good across all areas of the College. This helps students develop the confidence and attributes that help them in their future lives, creating a culture of tolerance and inclusiveness for all types of individuals and this is seen by the purposeful and productive nature that students move about the College campuses and within the local community.

The vast majority of staff set high expectations and challenge behaviours that are not acceptable including clearly displayed lanyards, removal of headwear and the use of inappropriate language. This creates a positive culture that reflects the student centred culture at the College and the professional relationships between staff and students. The move to online delivery required students to participate in remote lessons and develop, overnight, the skills required to access the lessons and the self-discipline to remain focused on their learning and development in an environment which was not always conducive to learning. The students’ positive attitude toward their education and training resulted in very good attendance to online lessons and significantly reduced any potential gaps in learning and disengagement for education. This is evident in the positive responses in both electronic surveys carried out between March and June. Students who were required to return to college to complete their qualification after lockdown, due to either adaptation or delay, were mindful and respectful of the processes the College had implemented to reduce the risk of spreading COVID.

The majority of curriculum areas have a uniform for their area which aims to reflect industry standards and expectations found in the work place. This also creates identity and ownership with the students. For example, ICT have polo shirts and Travel and Tourism have their uniform, which they wear

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proudly at all times of study. The College’s expectations regarding the wearing of uniforms helps students prepare for rules and regulations in the workplace when attending work or industry placement. Students gain valuable skills and experience in their work placements. For example, Media students are often called to complete live briefs for local companies, Public Service students have a unique and real industry placement with Kent Police, which involves the students going through all of the rigorous checks and tests as if to a permanent position. The majority of students are polite and respectful to each other, staff and visitors, who often comment on their positive behaviour. Inappropriate behaviour is consistently challenged and staff work with those to improve their attitude to try to ensure they are ready for employment by the time they leave the College. The College has a number of staff who can support a variety of student needs. Students feel safe and there is a culture of mutual respect between all. Students receive training on safeguarding, Prevent and British Values that informs them how to report concerns and they are confident that any issues raised will be effectively addressed. The College offers a wide range of support to both student studies and their wellbeing. The tutorial programme covers a wide range of topics that link into areas that highlight ways to improve their wellbeing. Staying safe on line was covered by staff with appropriate protocols and expectations implemented during national lockdown. Attendance was a focus for the College and it continues to work with those students whose attendance is weak. In Public Services, Sport, Travel and Tourism and Hospitality, students attend well. In English and maths, attendance continues to be too low and managers have reviewed the curriculum design to try to address the issues in the coming academic year. More work is needed to ensure students understand the importance of developing literacy and numeracy skills for their future careers.

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8. Personal Development

Students gain in confidence and resilience during their time at College and develop a range of personal and social skills. They develop positive professional relationships with their teachers. This was evident during the national lockdown when a large number (94%) of students responded when asked that they had been regularly completing work from home. More academically oriented level 3 students in particular develop independent learning skills which prepare them for further study including Higher Education. The majority of curriculum areas have extensive involvement with local employers who offer a wide variety of activities for students to develop their employability skills. Travel and Tourism students continued to receive input from employers during lockdown from EasyJet and British Airways crew on work ready interviews for unit 206 in April 2020 with some “Why Me” progression panels. Throughout the year, students next steps are regularly discussed with actions identified to allow them to achieve, be it further study or employment. All students have access to an independent careers advisor throughout the year to support them in achieving their next step. This continued through lockdown with careers advisors holding interviews for those students who requested it or were directed by their tutors

A wide variety of enrichment activities are offered across the curriculum for example:-

• The Health Social Care team have good links with the Doctors,

Paramedics and staff of Medway Hospital. This strong relationship provides work experience opportunities for students, work related visits and in class online employer related enhancement of lessons. The Medway Hospital have also assisted in the generation of simulated work experience for students of the college supplying personal protective equipment for each student. This is continuing over ZOOM when the hospital have the capacity.

• Sport and Public Services students focus on the development of the students with yearly visits to the House of Commons. This gives focus and context to their studies and allows then to meet influential politicians. Due to the Covid restrictions the team have adapted this activity by enabling Tracy Crouch a local MP to undertake a conference call with the departments’ students.

• Media has extensive links with a range of employers across the curriculum area that include Photography, Games Design; Media and the Film industry. All students benefitted from a talk, discussion, work critique, and/or trip to help develop their skills and understanding of their futures.

• Sport have a working arrangement with Medway Park leisure centre. This has the immediate benefit of making some outstanding facilities available to the College’s students. The close relationship with Medway Park also affords the students a large volume of work

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experience opportunities with the staff at Medway Park who ask students to help with a large variety of in centre and external projects and events.

• Public services have strong links with the Kent Police which involves the students supporting in youth related events and in some instances sit on interview panels.

A number of students from all curriculum areas take part in skills competitions both locally and nationally. These events help support and develop students’ confidence and resilience in operating outside the comfort of their college environment. For example, Catering host the Young Kent Cooking competition, Hair and Beauty hold their own internal competitions judged by external professionals. A large number of students also participate in the annual Kent Further Education Colleges Skills Competition, providing many with their first experience of competing against their peers from other colleges across the region.

Students across all levels benefit from good quality careers guidance that helps them to make informed choices about their next steps, so that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education, employment, self-employment or training. Highly qualified careers advisors provide an impartial service to all students through group work in class and one to one meetings. Careers advisors continued providing advice during lockdown following up with all students who had indicated at their progression meeting that they were unsure of their next step. Apprentices who did not have an employer were also provided with advice and guidance and support in accessing the Apprenticeship vacancy website.

Student Welfare, counselling and safeguarding services continued a full service of support for over 450 vulnerable students utilising the technology of Skype and Zoom throughout the lockdown. These students were contacted on a weekly or fortnightly basis depending on individual need. Additional Learning Support (ALS) staff continued to support students’ development by utilising breakout rooms in Zoom when sessions were being delivered remotely. ALS staff continued to support the same students virtually as they had done in College. They also phoned students at least once a week to check mental health and well-being with any concerns reported to and dealt with by the safeguarding team A detailed tutorial programme provides all students with an understanding of British Values and to know how to identify extremist views and any changes in behaviour, which could lead to radicalisation in themselves or others.

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9. Leadership and management In early January in response to the potential impact of Covid-19 the College executive set up Business Continuity Group which met daily with key staff with plans in place to address any cases that may have occurred. It also ensured that the curriculum was adapted effectively where possible to start assessing practical areas e.g. Engineering in anticipation of a potential extended Easter break. These meetings have continued throughout the pandemic and the following are examples of agenda items; staff wellbeing, and students welfare, any changes to government guidelines, Ofqual changes to assessment, ICT equipment for those students who did not have devices and as we came out of lockdown ensuring that all campuses were prepared for both staff and students return. A governor attends these meetings once a week to reassure the corporation that the College is effectively managing the current college operation during the pandemic. At the end of lockdown videos and regular updates were sent to all college staff of the changes made to site so they were prepared for their return. Staff were all encouraged to return for at least one day to understand the changes implemented prior to the start of the new academic year. During the lockdown period, leaders and managers at the College made it a priority to ensure that all teaching staff had the necessary skills to continue delivering high quality education and training to the students. Training sessions were designed and delivered to specifically provide all staff with the confidence and skills to be able to successfully make the transition to remote delivery ensuring any potential gaps in student learning and progress were significantly reduced. Training sessions attended by staff included:

o Delivering lessons on ZOOM o Planning for a blended delivery o Assessment online o Marking and feedback online

Attendance on the above was high with 950 participants attending and benefiting from the training sessions delivered by the Advanced Practitioner Team during the lock down period. The majority of staff valued the sessions as it supported their continuing delivery to students. In some curriculum areas staff found it challenging to deliver online to whole groups due their own personal ICT skills during the national lockdown and lack of knowledge of the many platforms available. To address this the College identified and set up ZOOM as its platform for all curriculum delivery in the new academic year. Following this clear expectations on staff attendance to training for the New Year were set with focussed CPD to support the planned and any future requirement due to COVID for remote delivery in the new academic year. Leaders and managers have developed a wide range of effective strategies to check the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the College, and to identify priorities for improvement. For example, the quality cycle includes termly curriculum performance reviews with teaching staff and termly department reviews with Heads

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of Departments and Curriculum Managers. These allow leaders to satisfy themselves that the education across the College is student focussed delivering provision that raises student outcomes. Student outcomes across all vocational areas bar one saw an improvement with an increase in internal progression. CPD for teaching staff at the start of the academic year was personalised based on an individualised Teaching, Learning and Assessment profile questionnaire based on the Professional Teaching Standards as highlighted by the Education Training Foundation. Based on their profile, staff are assigned a developmental strand for the year. The themed strands included Assessment, (53 staff) Differentiation, (44 staff) Feedback, (46 staff) and Lasting Learning, (43 staff). These are designed to address individual pedagogical areas for improvement and develop strengths in a team environment. Staff have access to the CPD on offer in the other strands and are encouraged to share best practice to develop a community network. Leaders successfully promote a culture of continuous improvement among staff. As a result, staff are enthusiastic and willing to engage in professional development. Staff attend training events when new syllabuses are introduced or speakers attend College to update staff knowledge. English and maths staff continue to be involved in a number of national projects around the delivery of GCSEs. Following peer work with other colleges last year new software has been implemented to support bit classroom and personalised learning of English and maths. Attendance in the College continues to be a key area for improvement especially in English and maths. The College is planning the introduction of T-Levels in September 2021 within Health and Care and Science, staff are attending relevant workshops as further information is rolled out. The College held an employer event for the T level which was attended by a number of employers. The self-assessment process is accurate, honest and robust resulting in clear areas for development being recognised in a timely fashion. A process of formative, reflective self-assessment reviews by Heads of Department allows a college-wide approach to self-assessment. Staff hold parents evenings to inform on student progress including for English and maths. To support some students, where appropriate, regular contact is held with parents to enable students to develop their behaviours or improve timely completion of assignments, with the aim of progression to a positive destination. The Executive and Senior Leadership Team lead a comprehensive approach to curriculum planning and a dedicated Management Information System (MIS) team supply key curriculum performance data, which informs the decision-making process. This has resulted in a curriculum that meets the needs of students and employers and allows students to progress onto higher study or employment. Employers in a significant number of curriculum areas are involved in the curriculum design. For example, Health and Social Care work closely with Medway Hospital, where in the current academic year students receive part of their course delivery at the hospital and when able receive input via ZOOM.

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The Principal represents the College on a number of local boards and community committees:

• Kent and Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP) • Kent and Medway Skills Commission • South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) Skills Advisory Group • Chair of The Medway Place Board

This supports the curriculum development in a number of ways, for example, generating work/industry placement opportunities, identifying skills needed by employers and students gaining employer exposure. It also helps to raise the importance of the work that the College does for its community and how the aspirations of young people make a difference to the communities of Medway and Maidstone. Attendance continues to be an area of concern for the College with English and maths continuing to be lower than vocational. The College continues to review the impact of strategies implemented to raise attendance regularly throughout the year and amend accordingly. Whilst leaders and managers have continued to work in improving long standing poor outcomes for apprentices, timely outcomes in Apprenticeships have declined due to COVID and are still too low. The College has a clear plan to support those students who have exceeded their end date and improve both timely and overall achievement working both with the apprentice and employer where appropriate. Leaders aim to accommodate staff requests for flexible working, including part-time work or reduced hours, where possible. Slots for meetings and CPD are agreed prior to the start of term, which enables staff to manage their own time effectively. To respond to the current global pandemic the College has agreed to a number of staff requests for changes in their working pattern. Governors and leaders work together effectively to raise standards within the College receiving regular progress against all of the College’s agreed Minimum Levels of Performance (MLPs) including Finance, HR as well as student and curriculum focused ones. The Quality, Teaching and Learning (QTL) Committee meet termly and hold monthly QTL calls. All Governors are invited to join the monthly calls and ask challenging questions of senior curriculum staff in relation to student progress and College MLPs. Regular Governor meetings were implemented to ensure the Governing body were abreast of the situation and progress made by the College in adjusting to lockdown and throughout the current situation by the Principal and the senior team. Governors attend staff meetings and other events via ZOOM throughout lockdown to maintain the regular link visits to the College. Governors have a wide range of skills and knowledge, and visit the College regularly outside of meetings (a number of Governors being formally linked to Curriculum areas or departments) to enhance their understanding of the workings of the College. This enables them to monitor both financial progress and student progress.

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Senior leaders are resolute in addressing areas where there is underperformance and create the drive and support for managers and teachers to implement and embed change. For example, this has led to much improved vocational outcomes in specific curriculum courses particularly Electrical and Engineering where significant improvements have been made. In contrast Motor Vehicle has not made enough progress this academic year. Safeguarding is effective with the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) a representative on both the local safeguarding boards. Safeguarding officers follow up any issues comprehensively and professionally with all safeguarding referral investigations being thorough and documented diligently. During lockdown all vulnerable students were contacted by the welfare team as a minimum once a week or fortnightly throughout to ensure that there had been no change to their circumstances. Each student had a designated member of staff to ensure consistency for the student. All staff receive annual safeguarding updates so they understand their responsibility in keeping all students safe and know how to report a safeguarding incident internally. All new staff are checked prior to working alone and complete an online safeguarding module. The DSL and officers know who to contact in the case of the need to involve external agencies to make sure students receive prompt intervention. Tutorials inform students of how to report or request support regarding any concern linked to safeguarding.