Selfassessmentreport1617.Pdf
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1 Contents Pages Summary of Judgements Background and Context Economic and Demographic Context Strategic Approach Provision Quality Improvement and the Self-Assessment Process Key Question One – How good are outcomes? 1.1 Standards 1.2 Wellbeing Key Question Two – How good is provision? 2.1 Learning Experiences 2.2 Teaching 2.3 Care, Support and Guidance 2.4 Learning Environment Key Question Three – How good are leadership and management? 3.1 Leadership 3.2 Improving Quality 3.3 Partnership Working 3.4 Resource Management Appendix one – Progress Report on the previous inspections Appendix two - Learner Outcomes Data – 2016/17 Appendix three – Action Plan 2016/17 with final progress Appendix four – Action Plan 2017/18 2 The provisional summary of judgements for 2016/17 is as follows: Summary Judgements Current Performance Adequate Prospects for Improvement Good How good are outcomes? Adequate Standards Adequate ** Wellbeing Good How good is provision? Good Learning Experiences Good Teaching Good Care support and guidance Good Learning Environment Excellent How good are leadership and management? Good Leadership Good Improving quality Good Partnership working Excellent Resource management Good ** It should be noted that standards in vocational provision have made significant improvements and is now less than 0.54% below the sector comparator. Vocational represents 78% of the total college provision. Coleg y Cymoedd was created as a result of merger of Coleg Morgannwg and the College, Ystrad Mynach on 1 August 2013 and feedback from the Welsh Government official assigned to the merger project was that it was the most effectively planned and executed merger in the sector. The curriculum at each legacy college was managed separately for the first year and then combined for the 2014/15 academic year. This meant that a new curriculum management structure was introduced, with the appointment of thirteen Heads of Schools and four Faculty Directors, managing areas across all campuses. Investment was also made in new systems for student records and tracking systems. This also coincided with changes at the Welsh Government with the introduction of Learning Area Programmes and a new planning and funding regime. 3 In terms of Estyn inspections, the legacy colleges of Coleg y Cymoedd were inspected in October 2010 and November 2011, with both achieving Adequate for current performance and Good prospects for one and Adequate for the other. This has meant a significant quality improvement task in addressing under performance across the newly merged college and in adopting common ways of working, monitoring and tracking. The learner has been placed at the heart of this process and key to the improvement strategies has been talking and listening to learners. The progress against the recommendations in the previous inspections is at Appendix one. The Quality Improvement Plan for 2016/17, arising from the 2015/16 Self-Assessment Report, is at Appendix two and demonstrates that progress was made in the year. It is particularly pleasing that the 5% improvement on main qualifications achieved in 2015/16 has been sustained and improved by a further 3%. Whilst there is still more to do to improve outcomes an 8% increase in successful completion of main qualifications in two years is extremely encouraging. Consolidating the improvements to date and continuing to set and meet improvement targets is key. The Quality Improvement Plan for 2017/18, which was approved by the Corporation Board in September 2017 is at Appendix three and the Board agreed that the strategic risk in relation to outcomes would remain red (high) until all areas of the college are at or above the national comparators. Notwithstanding the statements above and despite a real terms reduction in funding, in the last two years the following has been achieved: • Success rates for main qualifications has improved from 72% to 80%; • All schools in the college have made an improvement in the achievement of main qualifications; • All schools have significantly improved the way that they evaluate their performance and target improvement; • Under-performance is robustly challenged; • Following a fundamental review of the A Level provision, it was decided to change the way the Sixth Form Centre was managed from September 2017; • The opening of a new £22m campus at Aberdare, centres for excellence in motor vehicle training at Ystrad Mynach, railway training at Nantgarw and the commencement of a centre of excellence in construction at Ystrad Mynach; • A £2m asbestos removal and refurbishment at Ystrad Mynach completed in summer 2016. 4 Background and Context Coleg y Cymoedd is a medium sized college with a turnover of around £40m and it serves the communities of two local authorities in the South Wales central valleys. The college was created in August 2013, following a merger of two neighbouring colleges. The map below shows the geographical areas of Caerphilly (on the right of the shaded area) and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) (on the left). The area stretches from the heads of the valleys region (Rhymney, Aberdare and Rhondda) into the Gwent valleys (Ystrad Mynach and surrounding areas) and at the southern-most point of RCT and just north of Cardiff (Nantgarw). The college provides courses from entry level to level 6 at four campuses located in Aberdare, Nantgarw, Rhondda and Ystrad Mynach and has approximately 5200 full time and 4,415 part time learners. In addition, the college offers community education in partnership with the two local authorities and two other franchise relationships with Valleys Kids and St David’s Catholic College in Cardiff. The franchise with St. David’s ceased at the end of 2016/17. The college has a significant work-based learning contract with apprenticeship provision from level 2 to level 7 and a commercial department was created in 2014, providing a range of provision to complement that offered through mainstream FE and work-based learning, with a particular focus on employers. It has to be acknowledged that the different approaches of the legacy colleges presented a significant challenge to the leadership team. In many areas of the college, there has been the need to “go back to basics” in order to establish a sustainable foundation on which to build capacity, confidence and sustainable improvement. However, whilst merger has delivered many challenges it has also delivered benefits. This has included the investment in new systems, efficiency savings, the joining of employer networks and sharing of good practice – leading to benefits for learners across both local authorities. The creation of a Partnerships Faculty covering work-based learning and commercial work has also enabled the college to grow its work-based learning provision from £1.2m on merger to just over £3m, and to significantly improve opportunities for progression and employer engagement, and ultimately the learners. In addition, the commercial income in the college has grown from less than £200k in 2014/15 to over £700k in 2016/17. 5 In terms of outcomes and following a period of significant change in terms of realigning strategy, reviewing the curriculum and revising structures and systems, the college has seen an improvement in outcomes in 2015/16 and 2016/17. This has been a result of a complete overhaul of financial and curriculum planning, significant investment in the physical estate and a real focus on CPD, performance management and clear target setting. There has also been a refinement of the management structures at SLT level and the introduction of a College Management Team, which enables all managers to be aware of and participate in management discussions and decisions in all key aspects of the college. There is now a clear learner focus on all campuses and decision making takes place with the impact on the learners in mind. This approach is supported by effective systems providing accurate data, progress tracking of learners and the ability to assess learners at risk of not completing using a risk profiling tool. The outcomes for 2014/15 were disappointing and the Principal challenged the curriculum leadership to develop an effective improvement plan. The formulation of that plan involved consulting with staff, evaluating learner feedback and assessing the suitability of systems and processes. Managers and staff were also encouraged to visit other colleges to see best practice in action and, where appropriate, to adopt these at Coleg y Cymoedd. The plan has resulted in a significant improvement of 8% over two years which provides a solid platform on which to build future success. Also as a result of the plan, systems to improve the availability of reliable data and to monitor and track learner progress have been embedded and have provided effective tools to enable staff to concentrate on supporting learners to achieve successful outcomes. The leadership and governors are confident of achieving further improvement over the next two years but do not under- estimate the size of this task. The college has been extremely effective at gaining funding for capital developments and delivering projects on time, within budget and ensuring facilities are industry standard. Since its inception the college has completed two centres of excellence in engineering – motor vehicle in Ystrad Mynach and railway engineering in Nantgarw and has opened a new campus in Aberdare in 2017. A Welsh Government contribution of 50% has also been secured for an extension and refurbishment of the construction facilities at Ystrad Mynach and the purchase of additional land at Nantgarw, both of which will be delivered by the end of 2017/18. The college will have invested over £70m in improving facilities for learners by the end of 2017. Economic and Demographic Context The college serves two areas of high deprivation with 34% of the learners coming from the most deprived and a further 29% of the learners coming from the second most deprived areas of Wales.