EASTLEIGH COLLEGE

STRATEGIC PLAN 2019 TO 2024

Approved by Board 3 July 2019

EASTLEIGH COLLEGE - STRATEGIC PLAN 2019 TO 2024

1. INTRODUCTION

Eastleigh College equips over twenty thousand students every year with knowledge and skills by providing excellent teaching, learning and assessment delivered by well qualified staff, in industry standard facilities with a clear line of sight of progression to work. The College has a symbiotic relationship with employers locally, regionally and nationally. We train young people, apprentices and adults in partnership with business. Many employers in the region are also dependent on us for their ongoing training, updating, certification and licencing needs and have worked with the College for many years. The College continues to offer opportunities post 16 from entry level to higher education including study programmes for 16-18 year olds, classroom learning, work based learning, leisure and commercial courses for adults and employers and apprenticeships for both young people and adults. Eastleigh College is committed to social mobility and increasing life chances. We actively promote and support our learners in lifelong learning

Eastleigh College was graded Good in the last Ofsted inspection in December 2018 and has mature quality improvement and quality assurance processes. The strategy is based on an underpinning ambition that we will regain outstanding status as quickly as possible. Our planning is focused on creating the conditions where excellence is enabled and expected. The residential provision, College House, is inspected as a residential care home every three to four years and has been Ofsted Outstanding on each inspection since 2008. The last outstanding inspection at College House was in June 2019. The College’s last QAA Inspection for Higher Education was in October 2017. This resulted in the best possible outcome of full confidence in both academic standards and academic experience.

Outcomes for learners have continued to be strong. In 2017/18 the all ages achievement rate for classroom learning was above the national average at 88% and the all ages overall apprenticeship rate was 71.1%, again above the national average.

Employer engagement, responsiveness and the ability to land commercial opportunities is excellent. Staff proactively work with employers to develop programmes that support the growth of their businesses and this work underpins both funded and full cost delivery. The College FE Choices results for 2017/18 were 89% for Learner Satisfaction and 88.2% for Employer Satisfaction; placing the College as one of the best in the region.

The College is financially stable and achieved surpluses between 2014/15 and 2017/18. The impact of changes in the funding regime for apprenticeships and the lack of an increase in the base rate for 16 -18 year olds led to a significant reduction in the College’s income in 2018/19. The anticipated income for 2019/20 is further reduced and the College is realigning its cost base accordingly. Growth opportunities through government funding are currently limited and the policy environment is uncertain in this respect at this moment in time. Implementation of electronic systems for ease of use and to improve business efficiencies remains an important priority through the life of this strategy.

The College’s key strengths are:

• Governance, strategic planning and risk management. • Organisational agility, responsiveness, commercialism and employer engagement. • Mature operational processes and procedures, and a culture of continuous improvement. • Learner attendance and workplace values. • Overall education and training (classroom based) achievement rates that are above national averages. • Overall apprenticeship achievement rates that are above national averages. • High and improving pass rates. • Learner positive destination rates. • Dual profession teaching and assessing staff. • Sub-contractor management. • Excellent industry standard facilities at both the Chestnut Avenue and Winchester campuses. 2. THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

2.1 A period of significant uncertainty

This Strategic Plan is written with the backdrop of significant national uncertainty. Brexit has been postponed until October 2019 and the full implication for the further education sector of the country’s withdrawal from the European Union is difficult to interpret. It is assumed that skills training for both young people and adults will remain a Government priority in line with the Industrial Strategy but there are many other pressures on public spending. There is significant curriculum reform and investment in the introduction of new, more substantial Technical programmes (Tech levels) for young people intended to place technical education on a level with academic pathways. These will be implemented during the life of this plan. There has also been a period of transition in Apprenticeship qualifications to employer led “Standards” with end point assessment rather than the traditional “Frameworks”.

The FE sector is finding it a challenging environment as funding has remained static for many years despite rising costs. The area based reviews have led to a number of college mergers both nationally and in the Solent and M3 LEP regions. As demonstrated in 2018/19, the College remains open to exploring potential opportunities that are in the College’s interest.

The delivery of technical and professional education and training for full time local 16-18 year olds through study programmes remains a priority for Eastleigh College. There is a small demographic uplift in the numbers of learners in the schools during the life of this plan and major housing developments underway leading to a potential rise in numbers from 2020.

The introduction in May 2017 of the Apprenticeship Levy and the Institute of Apprenticeships changed both the funding mechanism and the delivery model of apprenticeships. Eastleigh College has been successful in securing some substantial levy contracts. However non levy has been more difficult, based on employer feedback this is largely due to current policy constraints, the College’s experiences in this area have mirrored the national picture. Prior to May 2017 Eastleigh was the third largest college provider of apprenticeships in with up to 9,000 apprentices in learning at any one time. At the end of 2018/19 this has fallen to an average in learning figure of 3,000 apprentices. The apprenticeship reforms have seen a shift to the limited adult education budget to fund adult classroom based learning delivered both at the College and the workplace. Opportunities for growth in adult training continue in full cost commercial contracts and there is also the potential to exploit digital learning. The College will also continue to work actively to secure new Apprenticeship levy contracts and growth aligned to LEP priorities where matched to the College’s expertise. New levy employers and growth aligned to LEP priorities will be sought through the College’s local and regional employer contacts, and through its connections with the employer base of the sub-contract network.

The transition to devolve part of the adult education budget to the mayoral commissioning authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA) is now underway and the College currently has a contract with the GLA for its London based direct delivery and sub-contracted provision. Discussions are ongoing as to the future of funding for this provision. It now seems unlikely that the remainder of the country will follow devolution to local skills planning during the lifetime of this strategy.

The College recognises that there is potential for growth in higher education particularly by working in close partnership with a local university with similar values, ambition and provision. Such a partnership has the potential to improve the progression pathways for learners adding substantial value to their careers and to the regional economy. The College has recently signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Portsmouth University and this relationship is set to develop during the life of this strategy.

In Eastleigh and the Solent, Eastleigh College is renowned for its high quality, technical and professional training in industrial standard facilities with expert professional staff. This service remains in high demand despite the uncertain climate as there are excellent job opportunities and potential for business expansion for those with the right skills.

2.2 The Solent

Eastleigh College is in an area of economic growth where there is an expansion of businesses and significant house building. The Solent LEP’s Transforming Solent Strategic Economic Plan and its growth ambitions highlights the following sectors as being of strategic importance: marine and maritime; aerospace and defence; specialist IT and digital, advanced manufacturing; engineering; transport and logistics; low carbon; the visitor economy and creative businesses. There are plans for improvements in the transport infrastructure across the Solent and to the Midlands and London and ambitions for Eastleigh to grow as an economic hub. The Solent Skills Strategy identifies that the Solent has relatively high employment rates with low levels of unemployment but there are more people in low level jobs than average with lower than average earnings. The growth in jobs in the next decade will outstrip the growth in working population and over half the job openings will require higher skills, particularly in business management and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Businesses are reporting skills shortages and recruitment difficulties but higher education participation rates are below average in the region. The LMI from both the Solent LEP and County Council demonstrates high demand for skills.

The College is committed to work in line with the broad principles outlined in the Solent Local Area Review (2015) final report on what is needed over the coming years to satisfy local market forces:

• a broad and accessible provision across the area to reduce the need for learners to make difficult and lengthy journeys • increased opportunities at Levels 3, 4 and 5 across all Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) related subjects, in direct response to economic and business need • improved collaboration between institutions to ensure quality is maintained alongside institutional sustainability • robust collaborative models that will allow institutions to sustain and develop a responsive and flexible offer, with clear progression routes particularly in growth sectors and at higher level skills, in direct response to employer need • high quality accessible careers information, advice and guidance to enable and support future skills participation and development.

The prospects for our learners is excellent and the demand for training for apprentices and adults remains buoyant given the College’s connection to the industries and the track record of being responsive to their needs.

2.3 Our markets

There are no proposed changes in this plan to the markets we currently serve although there is potential growth in commercial training, full time 16-18 study programmes, special needs provision specifically in supported internships and supported apprenticeships, higher education and higher apprenticeships and full cost provision for employers.

The markets served by the College are as follows:

• 16-18, 19+ full time learning • Special educational needs 16-25 • Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training • Adult technical training • Adult education local priority learning for the underemployed and unemployed • Work based training • Higher education, higher apprenticeship and degree apprenticeships • Adult leisure

3. MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

Mission The mission of Eastleigh College is to

Create life changing opportunities that lead to strong careers and enable businesses to prosper

Values Eastleigh College staff and governors believe our learners should be career ready and that the behaviours for the workplace flow through everything we do, including what we expect of our staff and students whilst they are on-site with us, or out representing us. The College seeks to embed workplace values and expects its staff and learners to be:

Respectful - polite, tolerant, honest, friendly, supportive Professional - punctual, prepared, to lead by example Ambitious - aim high, be your best, exceed targets, be inquisitive Resilient - committed, determined, keep going however hard it gets

Supported by a digital platform, the six principles of Eastleigh College are

Growth

Sustainable Responsive to financial Continuous our position improvement communities

Investment in Safe learning staff and facilities environment

Vision

As we are a College with a local, regional and national footprint, our vision is based on each of these with our values at the core. They are all underpinned by being • Trusted, respected and renowned • Proactive, responsive and agile • Aspirational, innovative and aligned The alignment is different in each layer

The Eastleigh Vision Realising the potential of individuals and our community through high quality professional and technical education and training by proactively working with schools, councils and local employers.

The Solent Vision Developing talent through high quality professional and technical education and training by proactively working with Solent and M3 LEPs, the , SUN, councils and regional employers.

The National Vision Developing talent through high quality professional and technical education and training whilst providing a single education, training and skills solution for employers who operate in the College’s areas of specialism. Our national work will be wholly aligned to regional LEPs and councils as relevant.

4. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

4.1 Our strategic objectives for 2019 to 2024 are

• To have continuous improvement and sustained excellence. • Deliver the digital strategy and its ambitions. • Achieve and celebrate the superb destinations of all learners • Be sector leading in learner satisfaction. • For employer satisfaction to continuously improved through direct employer partnership and reciprocal benefit. • Increase proportion of direct delivery using the College’s reputation, staff contacts, and sub-contractor network. • Maintain excellent customer service and expert staff. • Be financially sustainable and invest to ensure industry standard facilities and equipment • Focus on culture and workplace values

The College’s Strategic Plan is underpinned by a robust set of financial objectives against which the College’s financial plans and annual outturns can be measured. In the interests of being consistent with the way that the Government assess college’s financial performance, the College has set targets similar to those used within the ESFA’s new Financial Health Assessment model. The following targets are therefore proposed:

• Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) >/= 6%

• Adjusted current ratio >/= 1.2

• Borrowing as a % of income

These targets will ensure the College has strong financial foundations, which alongside agreed cash KPI will meet the ‘Good’ criteria for the ESFA’s current financial health assessment model, whilst proactively ensuring readiness for more cash and liquidity focused measures expected during this strategy.

5. LINKED STRATEGIES

The following College strategy documents link directly to the delivery of this Strategic Plan:

Curriculum Teaching and Learning Property Marketing Employer Engagement Digital Sub-contractor