Ofsted round-up – This week: A mixture of providers receive their reports

Train to Succeed Limited, Droitwich

Summary of grades awarded:

Effectiveness of provision Outstanding: Grade 1

Capacity to improve Good: Grade 2

Achievement and standards Outstanding: Grade 1

Quality of provision Outstanding: Grade 1

Leadership and management Outstanding: Grade 1

Equality of opportunity Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

Sector subject area:

Health, Public Services and Care Outstanding: Grade 1

Founded in 2002 to provide commercial training in the health and social care sector, Train 2 Succeed Limited (T2S) is based in Droitwich, Worcestershire. T2S started a contract with Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for the provision of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) in care in 2007.

Ofsted found that the overall effectiveness of the provision is outstanding with most aspects of the provision being outstanding also. T2S’s capacity to improve was found to be good and was found to be experienced in the provision of high quality training and development activities in the care sector. Ofsted found that since the start of the Train to Gain programme in 2007 90 per cent of learners have succeeded within their planned timescales.

Key strengths within T2S include their outstanding timely success on Level 3 programmes, particularly good quality teaching and training, excellent workforce development, outstanding programme management, highly effective quality assurance arrangements and good promotion of learners’ rights and responsibilities.

Overall, achievements and standards are high with twenty-two learners recruited to NVQ at level 3 in 2007/08 succeeding in achieving the qualification within the planned timescale. Eighty-four per cent achieved their grade within the planned timescale with only one of the thirty-eight learners on level 2 leaving with no qualification.

Primary Care Training Group, Birmingham

Summary of grades awarded:

Effectiveness of provision Satisfactory: Grade 3

Capacity to improve Satisfactory: Grade 3

Achievement and standards Satisfactory: Grade 3

Quality of provision Satisfactory: Grade 3

Leadership and management Satisfactory: Grade 3

Equality of opportunity Contributory grade: Satisfactory: Grade 3

Sector subject area:

Health, public services and care Satisfactory: Grade 3

Founded in 1999 and acquired by Claimar in 2007 as their training division, Primary Care Group (Primary Care) is a subsidiary of Claimar Care Group plc (Claimar). Primary Care began delivering Government funded training programmes in October 2007. Training in delivered at over 30 claimer sites across England. Primary Care delivers a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in care services at Levels 2 and 3 and a leadership and management in care services NVQ at level 4 through their Train to Gain programme.

Ofsted found the overall effectiveness of the provision is satisfactory with the provision in health, public services and care being satisfactory and achievements and standards, the quality of provision and leadership and management also being satisfactory. Ofsted has found that Primary Care has demonstrated that it has sufficient capacity to make further improvements.

Since Primary Care began delivering training in October 2007 it has reacted promptly to operational challenges and has developed an experienced training and assessment team with success rates improving and current learners making satisfactory progress. Key strengths within Primary Care include the good development of learners’ personal and workplace skills, good support for individual learners and a very good strategy to promote learning and development.

Ofsted found that learners have made slow progress, as is identified in their self-assessment report. In 2007/08, the first year of the Train to Gain programme, no learners achieved their qualification. However, in the first four months of the present year, 42% of the learners have achieved their NVQ. Ofsted has found that nearly all of the current learners are now making satisfactory progress and the timeliness of those who have achieved recently shows a marked improvement.

Keith Cook Training Services, Coalville

Summary of grades awarded:

Effectiveness of provision Satisfactory: Grade 3

Capacity to improve Satisfactory: Grade 3

Achievement and standards Good: Grade 2

Quality of provision Good: Grade 2

Leadership and management Satisfactory: Grade 3

Equality of opportunity Contributory grade: Satisfactory: Grade 3

Sector subject area:

Construction crafts Good: Grade 2

Keith Cook Training Services (KCTS) is a small family business that specialises in training and assessing plant operators for the construction, agricultural and logistics sectors. KCTS gained its first government-funded contract with Leicestershire LSC in June 2006. At the time of the inspection, 72 learners were following Train to Gain National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) programme at Level 2 in plant operations in construction, six in warehousing and five in development.

The overall effectiveness of the provision was found to be satisfactory and KCTS has demonstrated satisfactory capacity to improve. Overall success rates are very high with KCTS having a well-qualified, established and stable workforce that fully understands the requirements of the construction industry. The company produced its first self-assessment report for this inspection and although appropriate use was made of data to reach judgements, the report was found to be insufficiently critical with many of the claimed strengths of the provision being no more than normal practice.

Key strengths within KCTS include very high overall success rates, a wide range of resources to support learning, good monitoring of learners’ progress and productive links with employers to meet their needs. Key areas of improvement include their low timely success rates, insufficient arrangements for meeting learners literacy, numeracy and language support needs, insufficient promotion and reinforcement of equality of opportunity and the arrangements for safeguarding learners.

Overall success rates are very high for all learners. In 2007/08 the success rate was 88%. The provider’s data for the first four months of 2008/09 show the in-year success rate to be 100%. However, timely success rates are low. In 2007/08 only 62% of learners completed within the planned period of study. In 2007/08, learners made slow progress towards completing the NVQ and provisional data for the first four months of 2008/09 showing a decline in timely completions to just 54%.

Natalie Hailes