Last Monday (05 Feb 24), Matty Jackman and Kendal College leadership convened to discuss the implications of the November 2023 OFSTED report.
The goal of this meeting was to obtain a better understanding of the inspection outcome and to determine the most effective way to communicate the findings of the report and subsequent college improvement actions to the local community.
As the OFSTED report had raised concerns among locals and business owners, the aim was also to seek assurances regarding the way forward. The College responded quickly to this public request and organised a meeting at the Milnthorpe Campus.
"We explored the issues, received assurances, and identified areas in which we could be helpful,” Matty Jackman concluded. “I want to support The College in articulating the results of the report and to look at ways of helping them to achieve a positive outcome at their next inspection.”
During the course of the meeting, concerns emerged about the monitoring methodologies used by OFSTED. As a result of the report, The College is taking a range of actions to address all the highlighted issues, including additional staffing, a cross-college quality review and the setting up of a new 'Quality and Curriculum working group'.
The meeting highlighted several external issues that affect The College’s ability to effectively operate, such as the inequality of pay and funding between schools and colleges, as well as the effects of qualification reform, the increased frequency of changes in government policy and education ministers. Matty Jackman has undertaken to pass on concerns around monitoring methods, resourcing, funding and reporting in Further Education (FE) to appropriate members of the Government.
Commenting, Matty Jackman said:
“It is right to keep attention focused on FE developments and to continue to offer support to our local college.”
“The Principal and I agreed that one of the key issues is a proper public understanding of inspection results and how they are obtained.”
“Kendal College has committed staff and a plan to help our young people now and in the future. We are eager to collaborate on that journey and to offer our support."
“We asked for assurances and received them. I am excited to share these developments both publicly and on the doorstep, to help highlight the successes of The College and its thorough action plan.”
Commenting, Kelvin Nash said:
“I am pleased that Mr. Jackman and his colleagues now fully understand the reasons, as well as the actions being addressed by The College in relation to our recent OFSTED inspection.”
“The OFSTED report contains a lot of positive statements, and whilst we have dropped a grade to ‘requires improvement’, The College has fully embraced the inspection recommendations and has already made a number of successful internal changes to policy and process.”
“Kendal College has a solid foundation on which to build as we continue to improve the quality of our provision, and at the next inspection we will return to an OFSTED grade of at least ‘good’ and that’s the message that I am giving to our staff, students and stakeholders.”
“The College engages significantly with stakeholders across all aspects of its work, and I am happy to review the offers of support that Mr. Jackman and his team have proposed and will look forward to working with him over the coming months.”
(Image Source: https://universitycompare.com/universities/kendall-college)
