Apprentices at a South Holland training centre have a well-planned induction programme but planning of provision beyond the early years courses is not good enough, says a recent Ofsted report.
Riverside Training provides training in the early years, care and business sector and has apprentices from across the East of England but most from South Linconlshire.
Following a recent visit, the company, based in Westlode Street, Spalding, was awarded ‘good’ in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and overall apprentices.
But the leadership and management requires improvement, which is the grade awarded over all.
When the inspection team visited the company there were 124 apprentices, mostly studying early years courses.
A total of 87 were on Level 3 Early Years Education, 17 on Level 2 Early Years Practitioner and a further eight on the Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner. Four apprentices were studying other Level 3 courses. A total of 40 were aged 18 or under.
“Many apprentices are motivated and attend well. Staff set clear expectations and skilfully create a safe and professional learning environment from the first lesson. Apprentices on early years courses actively participate in lessons right from the start of the course,” says the report.
“Staff are enthusiastic and highly supportive. They develop useful support plans for most apprentices to enable them to make swift progress, and they make reasonable adjustments where needed,” the report says.
But the planning of provision beyond the early years courses ‘is not good enough.’
“Leaders do not have quality assurance processes in place that identify areas for improvement accurately or quickly enough. Formal observation records are detailed and contain some helpful feedback, for example about using more positive language in lessons. However, too often the advice and guidance given by the observer are not specific enough. Leaders do not use outcomes from lesson observations to inform individual staff training and to help staff develop their teaching craft,” the report says.
“Substantial improvements have been made to the quality of education for early years courses since the previous inspection.”
Those on the early years courses benefit from experienced staff who use their specialist knowledge to make connections in the work settings. They also share examples of their own backgrounds and practical experiences to help the apprentices become more confident and skilled.
Leaders have made ‘very good’ arrangements for governance and the governors know the provider well and bring a wealth of relevant knowledge and experience.
“They have been instrumental in several positive changes, such as the introduction of the personal development curriculum and the realignment of leadership roles.
“However, they have not yet ensured that new courses are of the same quality,” the report adds.
The early years courses has a carefully thought-out curriculum and Level 5 apprentices cover fundamental topics before carrying out supervision and observation of the staff they lead.
Trainers use a ‘suitable range’ of activities to help students gain a good understanding of key topics.
“Employers provide valuable input about apprentices’ progress at tripartite progress review meetings.
“However, they do not always explore aspects in enough depth. This means targets are not always specific.”
In order to improve, a number of actions are required, including ensuring all apprentices receive enough teaching and that new courses are introduced after careful planning with appropriately qualified and experienced staff.
