LAMBETH COLLEGE
SELF ASSESSMENT REPORT
2014 – 2015
Principal: Mark Silverman
Lambeth College
45 Clapham Common South Sides
London
SW4 9BL
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. Introduction to the College
1
2. Overall effectiveness
3
3. Key strengths
11
4. Key areas for Improvement
11
5. Overall grade profile 2014 – 2015
12
6. Grade profile by Schools
12
7. Grade profile by Service Areas
13
8. Outcomes for learners
14
9. Teaching, learning and assessment
22
10. Effectiveness of leadership and management
27
11. College data tables, including EDIM data tables
31
12. College Quality Improvement Action Plan
34
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLEGE
Lambeth College is a large General Further Education College based in the London Borough of
Lambeth in South West London. The College has 3 campuses in the borough, based in Clapham,
Brixton and Vauxhall. The College caters for 16,500 enrolments of which a significant majority (76%)
are adult (19+) learners, many of whom study part time. Approximately a quarter of the cohort is 1618 learners. Apprenticeship programmes, workplace-training provision for employers and school link
programmes are also offered in relatively small numbers.
The college works in partnership with the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark to provide education
and training to learners unable to access mainstream education for a variety of reasons, through
each boroughs ‘Virtual Schools’ programme; this is currently a small but growing part of the
provision for the college.
As a borough, Lambeth hosts dynamic and diverse communities from all over the world. At its heart,
Brixton is a centre of African-Caribbean culture, Stockwell is home to a large Portuguese community
and Streatham has attracted people from Somalia and Eastern Europe. The borough is also home to
major international businesses, the important transport gateways of Waterloo and Vauxhall stations
and the teaching hospitals at St Thomas‟ Hospital and King’s College Hospital.
The borough is also home to major international businesses, the important transport gateways of
Waterloo and Vauxhall stations and the teaching hospitals at St Thomas’ Hospital and King’s College
Hospital. Major developments and improvements are underway for Waterloo and Vauxhall Nine
Elms which will drive the transformation of these areas as well as Lambeth’s town centres.
The latest deprivation data is from 2010, which ranks Lambeth as the 8th most deprived borough in
London and 14th most deprived in England. Those living in the most deprived areas are spread
throughout the borough but are particularly concentrated in Coldharbour ward. The most affluent
areas include the Thames-side part of Bishops ward, Crescent Lane and Elms Crescent in Clapham
and the Dulwich border area of Thurlow Park. The deprivation data is scheduled to be updated in
2015.
One in three children attending Lambeth schools is eligible for free school meals (31% for primary
and 31% for secondary). This is comparable with inner London but higher than nationally. Around a
third of children in Lambeth are estimated to live in poverty.
From a socio-economic point of view, Lambeth’s population is typical of London. Over 45% of
Lambeth residents are educated to degree level. Around 14% of residents have no qualifications,
which is about average for London.
Around 40% of Lambeth’s population is white with a UK background. White people make up 59% of
the population. Around 40% of Lambeth residents are White British or Irish, in line with inner
London (43%). 15% of the population are from other White backgrounds – around 47,000 people.
About two thirds of these people are from Europe outside the UK & Ireland, 8% are from central and
south America, 4% from North America and the Caribbean, and 8% from Australasia.
Black people make up a quarter of the population (25%). Lambeth’s largest non-white ethnic group
is black African (11.5%), followed by black Caribbean (9.8%). Lambeth has the second largest
proportion of black Caribbean people in London (9.5%) after Lewisham (11%). Lambeth has a very
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
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small Asian population compared to many places in London. Only 7.8% of Lambeth residents are
from Asian backgrounds (including Chinese), much less than the inner London average (14.5%).
The College provides general vocational education in a range of subjects including Accounting,
Business, ICT, Engineering, Motor Vehicle Technology, Sciences, Creative and Performing Arts,
Hospitality and Catering, Uniformed Public Services, Travel and Tourism.
Specialist provision includes courses in Medicine, Midwifery, Health, Journalism, Dental Technology
and Computer Games Development, which facilitate progression to higher education or
employment.
The Borough has fourteen secondary schools, ten of which currently have sixth forms and there are
five special schools. At the end of key stage 4 in 2013, 66% of young people gained five or more
GCSEs grade A*-C including English and Maths (63% 2012, and 61% 2011). In June 2013 5.5% of
Lambeth’s resident 16-18 year olds were not in education employment or training, and 4.3% of the
cohort were “not known”. The profile of learners studying at the College indicates that all come from
either the lowest or the second lowest quartile of deprivation indices. This manifests itself in many
learners having to deal with many serious social and financial issues that often challenge them to
stay and achieve.
Lambeth’s employment base primarily consists of service sector employment. Lambeth has a very
strong dependence on health sector employment, which employs almost 28,000 people and
accounts for 21% of total employment in Lambeth – twice the London average. Much of this
employment is likely to be linked to the two major London hospitals located in borough (St Thomas’
and Kings). Employment in this sector also accounts for 27% of all knowledge intensive industries
employment in the Borough. The borough has excellent transport links to the rest of the London
economy.
Lambeth has a higher proportion of employment in the Public Administration and Art, Entertainment
& Recreation sectors (which includes a significant component of public sector employment) than the
London average, which suggests that Lambeth’s employment base is more dependent on the public
sector.
Business Administration and Support Services (which includes rental and leasing activities,
employment agencies, and office administration and support activities) is also an important sector
for Lambeth, but has declined in recent years however this may improve as the economic recovery
becomes more robust. Other strongly represented and growing sectors include Information and
Communications and the Food Accommodation Sector.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Grade 3
Page 2
The overall effectiveness of the College has clearly shown further overall improvement since the last
inspection in December 2014 and the introduction of new and innovative practices and procedures
have laid the foundations for sustained improvements.
Whilst the College recognises and appreciates the distance still to be travelled, demonstrable
progress has been made in its response to the issues underpinning the overall learner experience
and outcomes, in particular overall outcomes for adults. The College has continued to operate
effectively in a challenging financial climate introducing new contracts of employment, establishing
strategic alliance with South Thames College and continuing its good partnership work.
Overall success rates, excluding functional skills, improved by a 4% in 14/15 to 77.9%. Success rates
for Adult (19+) learners, which represent the largest cohort within the College, increased by 6% to
80.9%. However success rates (excluding functional skills) for 16-18 learners showed a drop of 2.8%
on the 13/14 results and the College is vigorously addressing the underpinning issues as part of its
overall strategy for improving the quality of outcomes for learners for this particular cohort.
The quality of outcomes in English and mathematics is disappointing; whilst there are elements of
particular high success, notably Functional Skills Mathematics at entry (E2) level (2014/15 success:
92%), Functional Skills English at entry (E2) and level 2 level (2014/15 success: 93% and 90%
respectively) overall success rates for both adult (19+) and 16-18 learners were below national
averages as were GCSE English and Mathematics results for both cohorts for 2014/15.
Overall outcomes for learners on discrete main LLDD programmes are outstanding and have
increased from 89.5% in 2013/14 to 100% in 2014/15. For 16-18 learners on these courses, a three
year trend of improvement has been noted from 89.4% to 87.9% to 100% (14/15) and for adults
(19+) from 87.9% to 100% (14/15).
An overall success rate for Apprenticeships was a modest 4% rise from 56.6% in 2013/14 to 60.6%
2014/15 with a small number of Apprentices. However, there has been an aggressive recruitment
drive for Apprenticeships in sectors which are in line with the College and LEP priorities. Selection
has been robust and with effective use of Initial Assessment ensuring the “right learner on the right
course”. Assessors now have full accountability for their Apprentices to achieve full framework in a
timely manner and with employers informed and supported throughout their programme. Retention
is high and success rates are forecast to be also high.
Teaching, learning and assessment continue to be the key areas of development for the College and
a range of initiatives were introduced and /or further developed to ensure continued improvements
in this area. Developmental and ungraded teaching and learning observations were introduced and
piloted with success during 2014/15 and have subsequently been incorporated into the overall
teaching and learning observation scheme for 2015/16. In addition, learning walks and peer
observations were effective in providing opportunities to share good practice. Graded observations
were used during 2014/15 and these were effective in identifying specific areas for development.
The provision of targeted CPD for teachers was a key strategy in the drive to improve teaching and
learning performance. A revised CPD strategy was introduced and piloted during 2014/15, in
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
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preparation for 2015/16, and the subsequent CPD activities were positively received by teaching
staff involved. The focus on embedding English, Mathematics and ILT, whilst a key focus in relation
to teaching and learning in 2014/15, remain an issue in relation to the consistent and effective
embedding across all lessons.
The College has placed greater emphasis on the use of ILT within teaching and learning as well as the
accessibility of learning resources by learners and stakeholders. The redevelopment of the Moodle
platform as well as the tracking of its use by learners and teaching staff, has been central to
improving the use of ILT. The auditing of resources available on Moodle and their use in teaching
and learning, were evaluated through learning walks, learner voice surveys and focus groups as well
as feedback received from teaching staff. Findings from the various sources of feedback were useful
in further developing the eLearning Platform and identifying the levels of support required to
enhance its use. Furthermore the Career Development Team used Moodle extensively to display
information about Higher Education and UCAS, Interview tips, and jobs pages and this was a
significant improvement on the approach used by the team in 2013/14.
The College’s strive to support all learners continues unabated and the role of the Teaching and
Learning Coaches has evolved and developed into the new Learning Development Coaches (LDCs)
who are now situated with the respective curriculum schools to aid communication, and provide all
round support for learning.
The further development of the current ‘Leaders in Learning’ model has been instrumental in
providing a teaching and learning forum, in which representatives from schools can identify, share
and celebrate good or excellent practice and promote evidence-based ideas and practice and
feedback from participants has been very positive.
Despite the issues faced by the College in 14/15 new curriculum initiatives were successfully
introduced in response to changes in local, regional and national priorities notably the opening of
the new classroom and sports facilities at the Clapham site, the further development and
establishment of opportunities for learners to undertake business and entrepreneurial activities
within the College along ‘The Street’: a series of spaces made available for learners to engage in
retail and business activities on site. Furthermore, the College has continued to engage in external
activities and events and develop partnerships which enhance the skills and career prospects of its
learners post qualification; examples of these include learner representation at Skills London 2014,
providing catering and hospitality services to some of the largest events in London by learners from
the School of Hospitality and Catering and work experience activities undertaken at Marks and
Spencer by learners from the School of Supported Learning.
The development of employability skills is good and remains a strength in many areas e.g. Health
and Social Care, Early Years, Supported Learning, ESOL, Hair and Beauty, Hospitality and Catering,
some areas of Engineering, Construction, Business and the Creative Industries. However during the
2014/15 academic year the College recognised that this was an area that required further
improvement and focused targeted work of the ‘Skills Exchange’ to increase the work experience
rates of level 1 learners. The focused work began in February 2015 and saw 60% of all 247 level 1
learners complete a work placement. The College actively engages with external employability
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
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opportunities to raise the employability skills and experiences of learners. Events such as the Big
Hospitality Conversation, Skills London, the Hilton Bus, the Vogue Festival, Space Lambeth and guest
speakers (e.g. Kamal Ahmed – BBC Business Editor). In addition to the targeted work of the ‘Skills
Exchange’ and the outstanding range of external employability opportunities the College continues
to actively encourage learners to engage with enterprise projects. The pop-up shop is available to
learners to develop entrepreneurship skills and experience. Learners have actively embraced this
opportunity and between November 2014 and July 2015 all available ‘sessions’ (128) were booked
through Customer Services. Learners were very creative in their use of the pop-up shop and offered
a range of services that included; a smoothie bar, selling handmade merchandise, a brow and lash
bar and selling art work from Brixton market. For the College to able to self-assess the development
of employability skills as outstanding a more systematic and tracked process is required to ensure
the delivery of experience of work provision is sufficiently targeted, differentiated, recorded and
analysed to inform on-going development.
The College provides outstanding opportunities for learners on discrete LLDD programmes to
contribute towards their social and economic well-being. Learners have the opportunity to learn
vital English and Mathematics skills and take part in Enterprise projects. The School of Supported
Learning provides real life experiences for learners including the Healthy Gourmet café, the College
kitchens at the Vauxhall Centre and the Reco shop at the Clapham Centre. For learners on these
programmes, the College has also established and developed strong partners with a range of
organisations including Lambeth Council, local charity shops, Marks and Spencer, McDonalds, Roots
and Shoots, Mosaic, Camden Society, Tate Britain, Age UK, The Southbank and Premier Inn.
The College recognises the competitive environment in which learners completing courses will have
to operate and in order to address this, a new series of standards linked to employability – The
Career Ready Standards - were initially introduced during 2014-15.
These standards detail staff and learner responsibilities in relation to six key principles linked to
employability and professional working and they replace the former College charter.
Attendance and punctuality remained a challenge and areas for development during 2014-15. The
college set a target of 90% and, although there was a 2% improvement against 2013/14 attendance
rate the overall attendance was below the college target by 9%.
Heads developed school based approaches to managing lateness; however, analysis of attendance
and punctuality data together with learning walks found inconsistency in the approach to the
challenging and addressing of attendance and punctuality issues. A more strategic and uniform
approach to lateness and punctuality has emerged as result of the implementation of the new
Career Ready Standards and this process has been further enhanced by the use of attendance
monitors to track attendance and punctuality; data and information would show that further
progress has been made in addressing these key areas. All staff now ensure that learners understand
the importance of regular and punctual attendance and are robustly challenged whenever necessary
and this initiative will form part of the College’s 2015/16 success strategy plan.
The setting, tracking and monitoring of learner targets and progress have been greatly enhanced by
the introduction and piloting of the new e-ILP system – ProMonitor. This system enables staff to
access and report information on learner progress and identifies learners who are at risk.
Correspondingly, learners, parents/carers and employers are able access and respond to information
on progress from a single source. Teachers now ensure that all learners have challenging targets
that help them to improve or develop their knowledge and skills.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
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Support for learners remains a key strength with a wide range of services for social and personal
issues available to help in particular, ‘at risk’ learners to stay in learning. Learners benefit from very
good welfare support within the College and Learner Services have good partnerships and contacts
with community groups, social services and other relevant organisations to ensure learners can be
referred when required. For learners on discrete main LLDD programmes, there is an extensive
range of well-established employability and independence focussed courses with good internal and
external progression rates. The majority of learners on such courses progressed to higher internal
courses, employment and in some cases and to mainstream provision.
The provision of additional learning support (ALS) within the College is a key strength. Managers
continue to have high expectations for learners who are receiving support and this was reflected in
the 2014-15 achievement for learners with high needs [93.3%: 2014-15 vs. 2013-14: awaiting data]
The tracking of learners receiving support is very good within the college and the use of individual
learning plans is very effective in the monitoring of and ensuring that learners make significant
progress. Learners benefit from the timely assessment of their learning needs and they welcome the
high levels of support provided by the college.
The management of learners progression to mainstream courses within the college is good Staff
manage the learners’ transition mainstream college and on to further learning and employment very
well. Learners receiving support make good progress in completing their programmes of learning
with most progressing to higher level vocational courses within the college.
Following a restructure of Learner Services and Learner Recruitment and Customer Services, the
repositioning of the Careers and Progression team as central to the learner experience made an
immediate impact on the quality CEIAG. In July 2015, we re-launched CEIAG and led a development
day which targeted teachers gaining a greater understanding of the Study Programme, in particular
EEP entitlement, an update on our own apprenticeship offer, changes to qualifications, in particular
GCSEs and new generation BTEC specifications, and produced the four qualities Standards CEIAG.
This followed the roll out of the four quality standards adopted in main enrolment period and
focused teachers advice and guidance to learners with a consistency across the college. The
Marketing team and Careers & Progression team have worked to embedded local market
intelligence data aligned to career insights, as seen in our Course Guide 16/17. This informs the next
CEIAG round for the 16/17 cohorts improving their understanding between study and progression
into careers with real job outcomes. This is underpinned by a group of learners who are 'characters'
in the campaign and bring the careers college alive on video, social media and print media. This year,
we have had a soft launch of college first formal Alumni, which brings the Careers college in-action
to the forefront of our marketing and advertising campaign.
Accredited by the Matrix Quality Standards for CEIAG services, the Career Development and
Progression team made significant progress in key services areas such as work experience for 16-18
learners on level 1 programmes (for example) – where 60% of level 1 16 – 18 year olds in the College
engaged in work experience (14/15) in comparison to 33% overall in 13/14. In addition 93% of
learners on Health and Social Care courses and 91% of learners on Child Care courses were placed in
2014/15, which was an increase on 2013/14.
The Career Development and Progression team continued to establish and/or develop partnerships
with range of organisations including MyKindaCrowd, an organisation-offering project based work
experience; Cushman and Wakefield (C&W), a prestigious Trainee Surveyor programme with the aim
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
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of recruiting a more diverse workforce who would traditionally not have had access to the area of
commercial property development. During 2014/15 the College worked in partnership with C&W in
conjunction with Westminster University to promote and recruit suitable candidates on Level 3
courses for degree programmes.
A key development in 2014/15 was the alignment of Career Ready Officers to specific areas of the
curriculum within Schools. This meant that learners (particularly the 16-18 cohort) had direct access
to a designated officer, which was not the case in 2013/14. Overall performance of internal
progression remains a steady three year trend increase. We have seen internal progression numbers
improve by 2% against last year. The 16-18 year old group shows 72% progressing on to a higher
level programme which is 2% above last year. The adult learners have improved by 3% against the
previous year. The internal progressing learners retain a significant share of the overall learner
numbers for 15/16 cohort. In 13/14, we saw 33% of 16-18 year olds internally progress and, in
addition to this group, we saw 5% from the continuing learners from year 1 to year 2 (on a level 3
two year course). In 2015/16 enrolments we saw 34% of our 16-18 year olds internally progress; one
per cent increase against last year. This increase also applied to the 16-18 year olds continuing year
1 to year 2 learners from 5% 14/15 to 6% in 15/16.
We have seen some improved performance in terms of 16-18 internal progression in the schools. In
particular, the School of Health Care and Early Years, 62% in 14/15 to 75% in 15/16 and Science 59%
in 14/15 to 77% in 15/16.
In 2014/15 we saw a 3% rise in learners who applied through UCAS and a 5% rise in learners who
confirmed their places on their degree course. This was an improvement against the 13/14
performance. We also have learners who have gained entrance to Russell Group universities:
Durham, Kings, Southampton, Queen Mary’s College and York. Interestingly, a further 43 learners
successfully progressed on to the top 50 Universities with many choosing London based Colleges
such as Goldsmith.
Our Destination report shows that 10% more learners continued with further study than intended.
Actual destinations into employment have been validated internally and a high proportion of
learners intended to go into employment and a proportion of these learners confirmed their
employment, however many more confirm they were setting up their own business. This has created
other employability opportunities for our current learners by ex-learners showcasing their products
and micro businesses in the College’s Pop-Up-Shop at the Clapham Centre.
The safeguarding of learners continues to be a major priority and the College met and exceeded its
statutory requirements for safeguarding learners in 2014-15. The College continues to have well
established and productive partnership arrangements with external organisations and agencies and
this led to good training and awareness-raising for staff and assistance for those learners most at risk
of not completing their studies because of safeguarding concerns. In addition, extensive use was
made of the College tutorial process to cover a broad range of relevant safeguarding topics with
learners, including sexual abuse, FGM, gun and knife crime, cyber bullying, and mental health.
Awareness raising sessions on extremism and radicalisation were delivered to targeted groups.
Good teamwork with local neighbourhood police teams has reduced crime against learners in the
immediate vicinity of the college. Awareness briefings on female genital mutilation by specialists
have led to self-referrals by learners who have then received support from specialist partner
organisations.
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Support for vulnerable learners is good with all LACs receiving the enhanced bursary amount and
support accredited by BUTTLE UK from TLCs. Regular communications and meetings with social
services and TLCs to review welfare, safeguarding issues and PEPS of this at risk group of learners.
During 2014-15 Prevent training was delivered to the College Governors, College Leadership Group,
Safeguarding Officers as well as Teaching and Learning Coaches (TLCs) and the Learning and Skills
Centre Team and for targeted groups of learners. Following the successful delivery of the Prevent
training it is planned to train all staff of the College in this key area during 2015-16.
Safeguarding at Lambeth College plays a key role in ensuring that staff are trained and understand
the safeguarding agenda. This very much starts at the point of recruitment and at interview and
selection stage. Applications are scrutinised to ensure they are completed correctly and any gaps
explained. The interview and selection process also explores candidates understanding of
safeguarding as well as equality and diversity. This will be expanded to include Prevent and British
values.
All staff are required to hold an enhanced DBS checks, this is also required of any individual engaged
to work at the college.
On appointment all new staff and those working with the college are required to complete a set of
mandatory training sessions covering Data Protection, E&D, Safeguarding and Prevent. There is also
on-going training for all staff through the college CPD days and adhoc training.
Dates of staff training are logged with Learning and Development and lists are reviewed to identify
those who have not had training for two years. When this two-year currency has expired, the
Human Resources department automatically send staff a reminder to renew their training. Special
arrangements are made for staff with visual impairment/blindness who are unable to do the elearning course.
Key developments in 2014/15 led to the following improvements in safeguarding:
(i)A rigorous and sustained campaign on ID passes was implemented involving support and
management teams. There was marked improvement and plans are in place to ensure there is ongoing compliance in this coming academic year 2015/16.
(ii)Restructuring of TLC role to LDC incorporating support and welfare for 19+ learners into tutorials
(iii)E-Learning Policy published Sep 2014 – recommendation from MATRIX Inspection
(iv)Designated Safeguarding Lead and other college managers accredited to deliver WRAP
(Workshop for raising awareness of Prevent) to support services during CPD
(v)Safeguarding email address introduced and wide promotion of support
(vi)E-Safety Policy published in line with recommendation from MATRIX
The newly refreshed College Leadership Group (CLG) have the skills and determination to see the
College through a new and exciting phase of development, ready to grow and respond to the new
challenges within the sector. This is best exemplified by the teams’ response to the financial
constraints impacting on the College, successfully minimising the disruption to learning during the
period of industrial action as well as the successful completion of phase two of the College’s building
programme, both key aspects of the Financial Recovery Plan from 2013. In addition the senior
leadership team have presided over an increase in overall success rates for learners and the
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introduction of the new and innovative Career Ready Standards as a key driver for improving
performance.
Key Changes to leadership and management following the last inspection in December 2014
included the splitting of curriculum delivery and quality to ensure strengthening and embedding of
quality assurance and improvement within the College. The College continues to have strong and
effective strategic planning through the delivery of the recovery plan in the last year, the successful
delivery of the Clapham capital project and the lifting of an SFA notice. More recently, the College
has announces a strategic alliance with South Thames College and continues to work well in
partnership with The London Borough of Lambeth, The London Borough of Southwark, JCP, Schools
and employers
The diverse range of knowledge and experience of the members of the Governing body has been
effective in providing robust challenge to College leaders and managers in order to secure
improvements in the quality of provision. Governors have a good understanding of what the college
needs to do to improve the quality of provision and the governing body has increased its support
challenge to leaders and managers within the College through the Quality and Standards and the
Task and Finish groups. In addition, the PFA re-inspection held in August 2015, found governance to
be effective and lifted the notice of concern.
A re-structure of the Curriculum Management tier followed a consultation in March. The restructure
focused on achieving smaller and more specialist schools so as to reduce the line management span
of Heads of School and to drive rapid and urgent improvement. New schools in; Business,
Accounting and Computing; Art and Media; Sport, UPS and Travel; Hair and Beauty; Hospitality and
Catering; Science; Engineering and Dental were established and successfully recruited to during the
summer term. The Head of School role was also revised to include a teaching commitment so that
the management tier can role model excellence in the classroom.
The College has continued to develop its approach to improving the quality of provision both
strategically and operationally. The College’s detailed post inspection action plan was used as the
driver for the development of the quality improvement strategies. This has led to the
redevelopment of the College’s Quality Assurance Framework, Improvement Policy and operational
procedures. Regular quality assurance meetings were held with Lead Internal Quality Assurers (IQAs)
and curriculum teams to track and ensure compliance with awarding organisations with regard to
the assessment and moderation processes and this was overall productive in ensuring that
requirements of the external bodies were met or exceeded.
In order to better evaluate quality performance, a new and innovative Curriculum Inspection
framework was planned and developed in 2014-15. Modelled on the OFSTED (2015) inspection
framework, the new addition to the quality assurance process would enable timely judgements to
be made on the overall quality of provision within an identified School and an appropriate action
produced, with outcomes tracked and monitored. To further support quality improvements, the
College Quality Team have introduced new initiatives including Notice To Improve, which focuses on
the support for underperforming courses and Beacon Teams, a process by which courses and course
teams with exemplary results are recognised and best practice is shared.
Regular quality review meetings, Quality Performance Reviews (QPRs), and a robust SAR moderation
process all of which involve the Heads of School, Heads of Service, CLG members and the Quality
Team support the quality process. At curriculum level, training and support is provided to course
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teams in the production and development of Course reviews which underpin the self-assessment
process. In addition, training is provided to all Heads and managers in the development of the SAR
and Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) and feedback shows that the training was useful in focussing on
the quality of outcomes.
The Quality team have been instrumental in refocusing efforts on the quality of outcomes and
impact measures in addition to creating a culture of continuous review and improvement.
Leaders and managers have responded proactively to the priorities for improvement set out at the
previous inspection. There has been a continued focus on developing strong, quality improvement
arrangements and these are underpinning successful improvements in the quality of teaching,
learning and assessment.
Managers’ and staff’s understanding and evaluation of the College’s strengths and weaknesses has
improved. In particular, managers are more accurate and evaluative in the judgement of their
schools or service areas and this is evidenced by improvements in the quality of self-assessment
reporting. Actions plans for improvement more clearly relate proposed actions to impact and
progress.
The College has invested significantly in facilities in 2014/15. At Clapham a new building was nearing
completion at the end of the year (this is now complete and operational) which comprises of
classrooms, a sports hall and a nursery. All classrooms are equipped with up to date ILT facilities.
The sale of the Brixton site is complete and plans have been finalised for a new building on the site.
This is a collaborative project with the DFE to provide a new college facility of 20 classrooms,
together with shared facilities of a new Academy and UTC.
A replacement and upgrade cycle has been introduced for IT facilities across all sites.
The College continues to invest in curriculum equipment for learners in line with industry standards
and requirements.
Work commencement on the development of a new college on our Vauxhall site, this is a complete
new build project with an expected completion of August 2018. A bid has been submitted to the LEP
for grant support and the outcome of this is currently awaited.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Grade: 3
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Lambeth College requires improvement because:
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The proportion of learners aged 16 to 18 on study programmes successfully completing their
courses is low
Success rates in Functional Skills English and Mathematics remain below national averages
Attendance and punctuality are an issue for a significant majority of courses The management of teachers’ performance, and their planning and actions to improve
quality of teaching, learning and assessment, are not robustly and consistently implemented
leading to significant variations in learners’ success in different curriculum areas. The completion rates on full framework apprenticeship programmes is low
Key Strengths
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Outcomes on short and very short courses are good
Excellent development and support for teachers which improves the quality of teaching and
learning
Very good safeguarding procedures to ensure learners are safe, including PREVENT agendas
Good support for at risk learners which has led to three year trend of improvements in
retention rates for this cohort of learners (2012/13: 88%; 2013/14: 89%; 2014/15 90%)
Good specialist additional learning support which clearly helps learners to achieve
Good partnerships to ensure learners have access to a wide range of enrichment and work
related opportunities
Industry standard learning facilities
The arrangements for the safeguarding of learners are good.
Good strategic planning and governance
Key Areas for Improvement








Success rates in some subject areas and levels require further improvement, especially 1618, Functional Skills and Apprenticeships
Implement a programme of training and development events which are linked to emerging
quality improvement and Teaching and learning themes with curriculum areas
Further improve the consistency in the quality of individual learner target setting to include
SMART and challenge grades
Fully embed English and maths delivery through all vocational teaching and learning sessions
Continue to embed the culture of continuous improvement through course quality review
meetings, Quality Performance Reviews, Curriculum Inspections and Notice to improve
initiative.
Continue to develop high quality learning environments and resources through close project
management of current plans
Timely apprenticeship success rates
Further develop all managers skills by continuing the formal management development
programme
Overall grade profile 2014 – 2015
Inspection
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
SAR Grade
SAR Grade
Inspection
SAR Grade
Page 11
Grade
February
2013
2012/
2013
2013/
2014
Grade
December
2014
2014/
2015
Overall Effectiveness
3
3
3
3
3
Outcomes for Learners
4
3
4
4
3
Quality of Teaching, Training and Assessment
3
3
3
3
3
Effectiveness of Leadership and Management
3
3
3
3
3
Grade profile 2014 – 2015 by Schools
School:
Apprenticeships
Enrolments
144*
Overall
Effectiveness
Outcomes for
Learners
Quality of
Teaching,
Training and
Assessment
4
4
4
4
Effectiveness of
Leadership and
Management
Business,
Accounting and
Computing
312
3
3
3
3
Construction
1173
3
3
4
4
Creative, Arts
and Media
599
2
2
2
2
Engineering
785
4
4
3
4
English & Maths
1028
4
4
3
4
ESOL
3873
2
2
2
2
Hair and Beauty
256
3
3
3
3
Health, Care and
Early Years
1222
2
2
2
2
Hospitality
131
2
2
2
2
JCP
2217
2
1
2
2
Science
922
3
3
3
3
SLDD
395
2
1
2
2
Sports, UPS and
Travel
271
3
3
3
3
YPE
274
2
2
3
2
Grade profile 2014 – 2015 by Service Areas
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 12
Overall
Effectiveness of Leadership
and Management
Admissions
2
2
Careers
3
3
Customer Services
2
2
Estates (Health & Safety)
2
3
Finance
3
3
Human Resources
2
2
IT Services
3
3
LDC
3
3
Learning Resources
3
3
Marketing
3
3
MIS/Exams
4
4
Service:
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 13
OUTCOMES FOR LEARNERS
Grade: 3
Comment on the following aspects of the provision:

All learners achieve and make progress relative to their starting points and learning goals
e.g. Value added data

Achievement gaps are narrowing between different groups of learners e.g. EDIM data

Learners develop personal, social and employability skills e.g. work experience

Learners progress to courses leading to higher-level qualifications and into jobs that meet
local and national needs e.g. progression data
Outcomes for all learners require improvement. Overall College success for 2014/15 improved by 4%
to 78%, this improvement was despite strike action during the academic year and significant cuts to
adult funding. The improvement in outcomes for all learners is attributed to a 4.5% improvement in
retention as all achievement remained static. However despite this improvement outcomes do
require further improvement as they are not yet good and remain below national benchmarks and
did not meet the post inspection action plan (PIAP) target.
Adult provision continued to be the highest proportion of College activity. Of all 16,706 starts 78%
were adult with 16-18 at 22%. Vocational courses represent 67% of starts with English and maths
qualifications making up the remaining 33% of courses. The proportion of adult learners completing
vocational courses is 86%, this above the all starts proportion by 8%. The proportion of 16-18
learners completing English and maths courses is 39%, and this is above the all starts proportion by
17%. Direct agency funding totalled £22,500K in 2014/15. Of this SFA income represented 63%
(£14,100K) and EFA represented 37% (£8,400K). Therefore whilst the ratio of adults based on
funding is below that of adult starts the most significant proportion of College delivery is to adult
learners.
Outcomes for adult learners require improvement. Compared to 2013/14 the adult success rate
increased by 6% and at 80.9% is in line with the PIAP target of 81%. Adult outcomes continue to
require improvement as they are not yet good as they remain below national benchmarks. The
improvement in adult success is primarily attributed to a 4% improvement in retention and a 2%
improvement in achievement.
16-18 success is inadequate and declined by 2.8% to 67.3% compared to 70.1% in 2013/14. All 16-18
outcomes are significantly below the PIAP target and national benchmarks and require urgent and
immediate improvement. The decline in outcomes is attributed to a significant drop in achievement
of 9% as retention improved by 6.3%. The ‘at-risk’ panel process introduced in May showed that all
learners were not rigorously and consistently tracked throughout 14/15, which led to inconsistent
approaches to tracking learner progress and poor outcomes.
At 85.5% success on courses excluding English and maths improved by over 7% in 2014/15, and
represents two thirds of all delivery. Despite exceeding the PIAP target and being within 0.5% of the
national benchmark these outcomes require improvement due to 16-18 performances being
significantly below national benchmarks. Adult success (excluding Functional Skills) improved by over
8%, represents 57% of all starts and is good. Adult success improved significantly due to a 2.8%
increase in retention and a 6.7% increase in achievement. Despite slight improvement 16-18 success
(excluding Functional Skills) remains inadequate and in addition to the intervention priority outline
above the College needs to improve assessment and feedback processes as too many learners
finished their course after the end of teaching due to assessment plans not being completed as
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 14
planned. This lack of rigour affected the achievement of some learners as they were allowed to drift
through their course without consequences for missing deadlines or for submitting work that did not
demonstrate pride or ambition.
Despite significant improvement at levels 1 and 3 long course outcomes (excluding Functional Skills)
require improvement. Long level 1 outcomes exceeded the PIAP target but remain below the
national benchmark, improvement is needed in retention and in 16-18 provision. Long level 2
outcomes declined in 14/15 and are inadequate. Level 2 outcomes are below PIAP target, national
benchmark and improvement is needed in all outcome measures. All long level 3 provision types
improved and 16-18 outcomes met the PIAP target. Similarly to level 1 retention is the level 3
priority for improvement. Long level 3 16-18 success improved by over 2%, this improvement was
despite a fall in retention of 2% and was due to an increase in achievement of over 4%. When
scrutinising success at level 1 to 3 it is important to consider the College’s decision in 2013/14 to
move to new generation and exam based qualifications in many curriculum areas.
Short and very short course outcomes are good. Short courses represent a quarter of all College
provision and success on all provision types exceeded national benchmarks and PIAP target. At 96%
short course retention is outstanding.
GCSE outcomes (A*-G) and high grades (A*-C) are inadequate. In 2014/15 learner numbers
increased by a third to 286 starts from 211 in 2013/14. Despite retention improving slightly the pass
rate declined significantly by 10% and the number of learners achieving high grades declined
proportionally from 89/211 in 2013/14 to 92/286 in 2014/15. GCSE outcomes remain very small in
the context of all College courses, however the College does need to urgently improve this area of
provision due to the increased importance of GCSE courses in 16-18 study programmes.
Functional Skills outcomes are inadequate and at 33% of all courses represent a growing proportion
of College provision. Retention is above benchmark for all provision types and is good. However
achievement of both 16-18 and adult learners is inadequate. Functional Skills outcomes were
negatively affected by a lack of centralised tracking, monitoring and exam registration processes.
Too many exam registrations were managed by locally by teachers which led to exam processes and
certification issues. 16-18 learners were not sufficiently challenged or sanctioned to require their
attendance at their mandatory and condition of funding English and maths lessons.
The College embraced the need for adults to obtain English and maths qualifications and improve
their career / progression chance; however not all adult learners undertaking these subjects
engaged with the learning process.
Many of these learners were not rigorously tracked; some had low attendance and as a result did
not complete or achieve their qualification. The quality of English and maths teaching, learning and
assessment is too variable. Whilst good practice exists in some maths lessons (e.g. common lesson
plans and resources) this is not the norm, as yet in English. The leadership and management of
English and maths was too focused on course administration, exams and MIS issues which hindered
the ability to focus on performance management and improvements in teaching, learning and
assessment of these subjects. Therefore staff development, tackling underperformance and
ensuring rigorous tracking of learner progress was not consistent.
Apprenticeship outcomes are inadequate as too few apprentices completed frameworks where
outcomes exceeded the national average. The College does have areas of strength in Engineering,
Construction, Accountancy and Supporting Teaching and Learning but too much provision is poorly
planned and tracked. Under performance was due to poor process in selection at recruitment stage
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 15
as Initial assessment and Skills Scans are not consistently in place to ensure ‘Right learner right
course’. Apprenticeship progress was not tracked robustly due to the lack of a central tracking
system. Therefore staff lacked the information they required to monitor and intervene where
needed. Managers also lacked robust information to hold staff accountable for poor performance.
College EDIM outcomes are good as there are no significant success differences exist by gender,
ethnicity, and learning difficulty or disability. The 16-18 success rate for female learners is 2% above
males, whilst an increase from 0.2% in 2013/14 is not a significant difference. Retention of 16-18
male learners is above the rate of females by 2%. However the achievement rate of female learners
is 5% above males. This achievement difference will need to be reflected in relevant 2015/16 school
action plans where this difference is reported. The adult success rate difference by gender has
remained static with female success remaining 3% above male. There is no significant difference
between the success outcomes of learners from different ethnic backgrounds. The success rate of
Asian learners is highest at 88.5% compared to Black and White learners at 86% and Other learners
at 84.2%. Ethnicity will continue to be analysed at school and course level to monitor the outcomes
of different groups and to ensure that strategies are implemented where significant differences
emerge. The outcome data for learners who declared a learning difficulty or disability shows
improved success, retention and achievement rates when compared to 2013/14 outcomes. Learners
with declared learning difficulties or disability are retained and achieve at similar rates to learners
who have no learning difficulty or disability.
EDIM outcomes are not yet outstanding as the College has a significant difference between the
performances of learners based on their age. Too many 16-18 learners are not successful on their
study programmes and success (including Functional Skills) declined in 2014/15 and is 13.6% below
the success rates of adult learners with achievement being the greatest differential between the two
provision types. 16-18 success (excluding Functional Skills) improved slightly in 2014/15 and the
success gap between 16-18 and adult narrows to 7.7% with retention being the greatest differential.
Internal progression rates are good and continue to improve with both 16-18 and adults showing a
positive three year trend. The internal progression of all learners improved by 2% from 2014/15 to
2015/16. Internal progression for 16-18 learners improved by 4% to 72% and adult learners
improved by 3% to 46%. Internally progressing learners represent a significant proportion of the
2015/16 cohorts, progressing 16-18 learners represent 34% of the cohort and progressing adults
represent 38%.
The College took the strategic decision to cease A Level provision in 2012/13. This saw a decline in
HE applications from 537 in 2012/13 to 325 in 2013/14. In 2014/15 the rate of application increased
slightly from 325 to 342 and the rate of acceptance remained static at 54%. Therefore HE
progression rates require improvement and are not yet good due to the rate of acceptance of
applications through UCAS. To improve the acceptance rate of learners whose intention is to study
at University, the College’s priorities are to improve the English language skills of learners, raise
aspirations and awareness of the range of HE opportunities available to learners, to improve the
access to City and Guilds, BTEC and Access entry requirement information and to develop quality
standards that are more rigorously tracked and monitored throughout the year.
Despite recognising the need to introduce the use of target grades in 2014/15 the College was not
successful in implementing a consistent approach to motivate learners to strive beyond their prior
achievement and work towards a stretching and challenging goal. The College is now more
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 16
successful in capturing qualifications on entry but the BKSB target minimum grade calculation did
not produce a valid or reliable measure of prior achievement for adult learners. In addition
qualifications on entry were not systematically used to generate target minimum grades for 16-18
learners. Therefore the College does not have a mechanism to judge the distance travelled by
learners and is not able to make a judgement of progress based on quantitative measures, as a result
more work is needed if the College is to establish an aspirational culture for all learners. In addition
the College has not defined a systematic process to define and record high-grade outcomes. As a
result the College is not able to consistently promote the high-grade outcomes of learners to peers
and applicants. To address these improvement needs College leadership introduced Pro-Monitor
and revised the attendance, behaviour and College charter policies into a single set of Career Ready
Standards during the summer term. This work was completed for the start of teaching in 2015/16
and will ensure that learner tracking will be more consistent and rigorous. The College has seen
improved success in 2014/15, however too many teachers do not actively promote high grade
achievement and do not differentiate their craft based on the aspirational grades agreed with
learners.
S/RI/I
S
Judgement
Improved success rates for courses excluding
Functional Skills that exceed the PIAP target.
Evidence
13/14: 78%
14/15: 85.5% (11,120 starts, representing
67% of all provision)
S
Improved adult outcomes for courses excluding
Functional Skills that exceed the PIAP target.
13/14: 77.9%
14/15: 86.6% (9,529 starts, representing 57%
of all provision)
S
Short course success exceeds national
benchmarks.
13/14: 79%
14/15: 91% (4,183 starts, representing 25%
of all provision)
S
The development of diverse and specialist
employability skills through a wide range of
internal and external opportunities for learners.
100% uptake of pop-up shop opportunities.
Records of events held and participated in by
the College.
S
That previous gaps in performance between
EDIM types have been closed and learner
performance is now more even.
EDIMS data and analysis shows performance
gaps between gender, ethnicity, learning
difficulty or disability EDIM type are less
than 5% and therefore not significant.
S
Improved retention that exceeded the PIAP
target is in line with the national benchmark.
13/14: 86.9%
14/15: 91.5%
RI
That despite improved retention intervention
(particularly 16-18) was neither sufficiently
urgent nor tenacious to support, challenge or
sanction learners to develop positive learning
habits and achieve their qualification.
Declining 16-18 and whole College
achievement rate.
13/14: 84.3% / 85.3%
14/15: 75.3% / 85.2%
RI
That assessment and feedback processes were
Declining 16-18 and whole College
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 17
not sufficiently robust or rigorous which saw too
many learners not complete their qualification at
the end of teaching or fail to achieve.
achievement rate.
13/14: 84.3% / 85.3%
14/15: 75.3% / 85.2%
RI
Improved whole College success but that success
remains below national benchmarks and did not
meet the PIAP target.
13/14: 74%
14/15: 78% (16,706 starts, representing
100% of provision).
RI
The tracking and recording of internal and
external progression does not record all learners
who progress to apprenticeships, HE or
employment.
Internal progress rates tracked well however
records of actual progression for external
destinations and HE require improvement,
are incomplete or intended only.
I
16-18 success rates declined, did not meet the
PIAP target and remain below the national
benchmark.
13/14: 70.1%
14/15: 67.3%
I
GCSE outcome rates (pass and high grades)
declined, did not meet the PIAP target and
remain below the national benchmark.
13/14: 77.7% pass
14/15: 70.3% pass
High grades declined proportionally from
89/211 in 2013-14 to 92/286 in 2014-15.
I
Functional Skills success rates declined, did not
meet the PIAP target and remain below the
national benchmark.
13/14: 65.6%
14/15: 62.8%
I
Too higher a proportion of apprenticeship
success rates are below national benchmarks.
Number of apprenticeship starts are too low.
142 starts in 14/15 (representing less than
1% of all 16,706 starts).
23/142 apprentices on frameworks that
exceeded the national average.
I
Target minimum grade and high grades not
reliably generated or recorded and therefore
value added and high grade data cannot be
reliably recorded, analysed or used to motivate
learners achieve stretching goals.
Lack of value added and high grade either
held at school or whole College level.
Outcomes for Learners: Equality and Diversity Impact Measures (EDIMS)
Learner Data
Data table 1 (appendix 1) shows retention, achievement and success rates of 16-18 and 19+ learners
across all courses.
The data shows that the success rates for 19+ exceed the 16-18 age group by 8% compared to a 1%
difference in 2013/14 and 1% difference in 2012/13.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 18




Retention rates for 19+ learners show a small improvement against previous years.
They are equal to benchmark, 3% higher than 2013/14 and 1% higher than 2012/13
Retention rates for 16-18 learners show no improvement against previous years.
They are 6% below benchmark, equal to last year and 1% above 2012/13.
Achievement rates for 19+ learners show an improving trend against previous years.
They are 1% below benchmark, 6% higher than 2013/14 and 4% higher than 2012/13
Achievement rates for 16-18 learners show no improvement against previous years.
They are 4% below benchmark, equal to last year and 3% below 2012/13.
Data table 2 (appendix 1) shows the retention, achievement and success rates of Long courses for
16-18 and 19+ learners by level. The data shows that the 16-18 age group has under-performed
against the 19+ age group. The success rates for 19+ and 16-18 age groups differed by 1-4% across
the 3 levels. The retention rates differed by a maximum of 2% across the levels and the achievement
rates differed by 2% and 3% across the levels.
Level 1





Success rates for 19+ learners has improved by 6% against 2013/14 but is 2% below
benchmark
Success rates for 16-18 learners have decreased by 3% against 2013/14 and is 7% below
benchmark
Retention rates for 19+ learners have remained static against 2013/14 and is 1% below
benchmark
Retention rates for 16-18 learners have decreased by 1% against 2013/14 and is 3% below
benchmark.
Achievement rates for 19+ learners have increased by 10% against 2013/14 and s equal to
benchmark achievement rates for 16-18 learners have decreased by 2% against 2013/14 and
is 4% below benchmark.
Level 2:






Success rates for 19+ learners have decreased by 3% against 2013/14 and are 5% below
benchmark.
Success rates for 16-18 learners shows a declining trend across three years, success rates
have decreased by 3% against 2013/14 and are 7% below 2012/13 rates.
Retention rates for 19+ learners have increased by 1% against 2013/14 and are equal to
benchmark.
Retention rates for 16-18 learners have decreased by 1% against 2013/14 and are 4% below.
Benchmark achievement rates for 19+ learners have decreased by 4% against 2013/14 and
are 6%.
Below benchmark achievement rates for 16-18 learners have decreased by 2% against
2013/14, 8% against 2012/13 and are 9% below benchmark.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 19
Level 3







Success rates for 19+ learners shows an improving three year trend.
Success rates have improved by 7% against 2013/14 and 2% against 2012/13 and are 1%
below benchmark.
Success rates for 16-18 learners’ shows a declining trend.
Success rates are 2% below 2013/14 rate and 5% below 201/.13 and are 6% below
benchmark.
Retention rates for 19+ learners have improved by 2% against 2013/14 and are equal to
benchmark.
Retention rates for 16-18 learners are 1% below 2013/14, equal to 2012/13
rate and 3% below benchmark.
Achievement rates for 19+ learners have improved by 5% against 2013/14
and are 1% below benchmark.
Achievement rates for 16-18 shows a small decline; the achievement rate is at 90% against
91% for 2013/14 and 95% in 2012/13.
Data table 3 shows success, retention achievement results by age group and gender.
The 16-18 data shows the:

Success rate for Females is higher than Males by 2%, compared to 0.2% difference in
2013/14. Retention rate for Males is higher than Females by 2%, compared to 1% difference
in 2013/14





Achievement rate for Females is 5% higher than Males by 5%, compared to 2% difference in
2013/14
The 19+ data shows no significant differences; however:
Success rate for Females is higher than Males by 3%, compared to 3% difference in 2013/14
Retention rate for Females is higher than Males by 1%, compared to 0.7% difference in
2013/14
Achievement rate for Females is higher than Males by 2%, compared to 3% difference in
2013/14
Data table 4 shows success, retention achievement results by ethnicity headline groups.
The data shows:


Asian learner success rate is highest with 89% compared to Black and White learners at 86%
(3% difference) and Other learners at 84% (5% difference).
There is an 8% improvement in success rates compared to 2013/14 rates for Other learners,
a 7% improvement for Asian learners, a 9% increase for Black learners and a 6% increase for
White learners.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 20

Asian learner retention rate is highest with 94% compared to Black learners at 93% (1%
difference), White learners at 92% (2% difference) and Other Learners at 91% (3%
difference). All groups have improved against 2013/14 retention rates.

Asian learner achievement rate is highest with 94% compared to White and Other learners
at 93% (1% difference) and Black learners at 92% (3% difference). All groups have improved
against 2013/14 achievement rates and the achievement gap has decreased from 6% to 3%
between Asian and Other groups.
Data table 5 shows success, retention achievement results by declared Difficulty or Disability groups.
The data shows that learners who have declared a learning difficulty or health disability:


Show an improvement against 2013/14 and 2012/13 success, retention and achievement
data
Are retained and achieve similar rates to learners who have no learning difficulty or health
disability.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 21
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Grade
2012-2013
3
3
Overall Effectiveness
Effectiveness of leadership & management
Grade
2013-2014
2
2
Grade
2014-15
3
3
Key Strengths:




Teaching and learning have improved in the college and reported as good by our learners.
(March 2014-SPOC: 91% of learners said that teaching on their course was good and this
increased to 92% in March 2015)
AP impact is consistently effective at (70% in 12-13, 60% in 13-14 and 77% in 14-15) in
improving OLT grades.
Vocational TLA improvements made in the last year have been sustained and the impact
seen in outcomes which have risen by +8% (2013-14-78% and 2014-15 86%)
Opportunities for sharing good practice in teams and across teams are embedded into the
college quality systems with TLA slots prioritised in school meetings Leaders in Learning in
place (June 2015).
Key Areas for Improvement:




Addressing inadequate practice through rigorous performance management, and tackling
poor expectations in all aspects of TLA.
Leading and effectively managing career focused learning in all schools with rigour and
tenacity through fostering a culture of high expectations and TLA standards in each school.
Ensuring that there are constant opportunities to share practice in schools and across
college.
Increasing the use of interactive eLearning in delivery
Lesson Observations 2012-13 to 2014-15
Academic
Year
14/15
13/14
12/13
Outstanding
25
19%
54%
Requires
Improvement
31
23%
Inadequate
5
4%
Total
129
67%
47
18%
15
6%
259
44%
114
35%
32
10%
325
Good
73
73% good or better
24
9%
173
76% good or better
37
11%
142
55% good or better
Observation of Learning and Teaching: EDIM Data
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 22
Male
Male %
Female
Female %
Grade 1
8
12%
8
14%
Grade 2
40
58%
36
61%
Grade 3
17
25%
13
22%
Grade 4
4
6%
2
3%
Good or better
48
70%
44
75%
White
White %
BME
BME %
Grade 1
5
13%
11
13%
Grade 2
20
50%
56
64%
Grade 3
10
25%
20
23%
Grade 4
5
13%
1
1%
Good or better
25
63%
67
76%
White
BME
40
88
Proportional representation of all teaching staff (%)
31%
69%
Of the 92 good or better lessons the % that are attributed to BME or white are:
27%
73%
Total number of staff observed
Grades
Grade 1
Entry level %
23%
L1 %
13%
L2 %
11%
L3 %
7%
Grade 2
62%
70%
51%
60%
Grade 3
4%
4%
5%
5%
Grade 4
12%
13%
32%
29%
Good or Better
85%
83%
62%
67%
The College’s detailed post inspection action plan was used as the driver for improving teaching and
learning and a re-structure of the Curriculum Management tier included a revised Head of School
role to include a teaching commitment so that the management tier can role model excellence in the
classroom.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 23
Teaching, learning and assessment continue to be key areas of development for the College and a
range of initiatives were introduced and /or further developed to ensure continued improvements;
these included: developmental and ungraded teaching and learning observations, learning walks and
peer observations.
The College has re-structured the teaching and learning team to include an ILT development Coordinator role to support the College’s greater emphasis placed on the use of ILT within teaching and
learning as well as the accessibility of learning resources by learners and stakeholders. The auditing
of resources available on Moodle and their use in teaching and learning, were evaluated through
learning walks, learner voice surveys and focus groups as well as feedback received from teaching
staff and these activities will continue to be used in 2015/16 to target support and set challenging
targets for teams.
The role of the Advanced Practitioner has been reviewed and developed into a 0.5 teaching role
enabling Advanced Practitioners to be available to observe, mentor and coach staff to improve and
develop teaching practices.
The further development of the current ‘Leaders in Learning’ model has been has been well received
and is instrumental in providing a teaching and learning forum, in which representatives from
schools can identify, share and celebrate good or excellent practice and promote evidence-based
ideas.
Key to Judgments:
S = Strength (grade 1 or 2)
RI – Requires Improvement (grade 3)
I = Inadequate (grade 4)
S/RI/I
S
Judgement
In schools where there is clear leadership in
learning vocational outcomes have improved to
good.
Evidence
Creative Arts and Media (SSA9) success rates
have improved by 10% to 86%
Health and Early Years 85% success are +4%
above National Benchmarks
S
Continued focus on teaching and learning which
clearly improved the quality of T&L in some
schools.
All observers, managers and most staff
training on observation process and
expectations.
Continued with good level of moderation of
the observation process and outcomes
(31%).
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 24
Significantly improved support structure for
teachers regarding T&L strategies e.g.
Advanced Practitioners, CPD team slots on
regular basis, Leaders in Learning. 77% of
those receiving AP support improved by at
least one grade.
S
Setting clear standards and expectations in TLA
RI
Planning for Learning
Differentiation/Stretch and Challenge including
Questioning for Learning
RI
Themed Learning Walks
RI
Conducting of Peer Triangles
RI
Embedding English and maths
RI
Quality of assessment feedback
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
100% of new teachers (40) to the college
were given a supportive and developmental
ungraded observation prior to their graded
probationary observation; all new teachers
were given detailed feedback and an
individual action plan within their first 6
weeks of teaching, which included access to
one to one Advanced Practitioner support
prior to their graded probationary
observation.
Whilst written constructive feedback was
given to each teacher and HoS by the quality
team, many schools were unable to secure
the necessary improvements in planning for
learning as seen in OLT reports and by
Ofsted.
Learning Walks are successful in a four
schools and support and secure
improvements. They are however not being
undertaken across the college, and feedback
is not always shared to teachers to share
effective practice and pinpoint areas to
develop
Peer Triangles were completed in 4 schools
primarily to share practice but impact has
yet to be measured. This now needs to be
replicated across all curriculum areas and
impact measured.
Despite improvements made through a
sustained focus on embedding generally for
vocational teachers, staff do not universally
use DA to move learners to develop specific
skills within the career context.
This is too variable across college and now
requires SPaG system to be utilised by all
staff as well as much more constructive
detail given to learners about how to
Page 25
RI
Improving the proportion of outstanding learning
sessions.
improve.
Currently 19% of graded observations were
outstanding. This is also observed in
Learning Walks.
Main priorities for 2015-2016 to ensure further improvement take place:

Continue with the good support from Advanced Practitioners and developmental
opportunities for individual teachers.

Implement the work of Leaders in Learning and sustain good and the development of
outstanding practice.

Ensure structured support for HoS to take full autonomy and monitor across the curriculum
through Assessment Review Meetings (ARM) by fully embedding systems such as:

Learning Walks and summative feedback to teaching teams and ensuring improvement on
AFI

Conduct weekly CPD in the meeting slot that follow Leaders in Learning themes and other
specific AFI

Managing the quality of the TLA daily experience of learners to ensure improved outcomes
through Learning Walks, Learner Feedback forums and through performance management
of teachers.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 26
C. EFFECTIVENESS OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Grade 3
Strengths







Increase in overall outcomes (+4% increase on 2013-14 data)
Increase in success rates for 19+ learners by 9%
Key implementation of capital projects which have a demonstrable capacity to improve the
quality of the learner experience
Very effective strategic planning leading to a successful PFA audit and strategic alliance with
South Thames College
Successful implementation of a robust financial recovery plan which has led to the very
effective management and alignment of significant cuts in funding
Highly effective partnerships with London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, JCP, King’s
College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,
Good governance – effective challenge, support and strategic engagement, evidenced at PFA
re-inspection and lifting of NTCs
Areas for Improvement





Success rates for 16-18 learners on study programmes as well as those on Apprenticeship
programmes
Functional Skills English and mathematics success rates
Consistently good curriculum management
Full and consistent embedding of quality assurance and improvement strategies
Provision of timely, accurate and accessible management and performance data
Governors and the senior leadership team have continued to work proactively on securing the longterm sustainability of the college. The major capital projects have significantly improved facilities
and resources for learners and have enabled a curriculum more able to respond to employers and
career opportunities. The introduction of new industry norm contracts in 2015, has started to
improve the efficiency of the college. In May 2015, the college responded positively to an invitation
to explore collaboration with South Thames College. In September 2015 a strategic alliance
between the two colleges was announced with an intention to develop a detailed merger proposal.
Following the last Ofsted inspection, in December 2014, key changes were made to the College
Leadership Group (CLG) and the development of a Post Inspection Action Plan included the splitting
of curriculum delivery and quality to ensure focus on strengthening and embedding of quality
assurance and improvement within the College. Key drivers for performance improvement include a
redevelopment of the College’s Quality Assurance Framework, Improvement Policy and operational
procedures and the new Career Ready Standards which clearly states staff and learner
responsibilities in relation to six key principles linked to employability and professional working and
they replace the former College charter, attendance and behaviour policy documentation.
The Curriculum Management tier re-structure was designed to drive rapid and urgent improvement
and the Head of School role was revised to include a teaching commitment so that the management
tier can role model excellence in the classroom and further evidence the College’s commitment to
raising the standards of teaching and learning..
Leaders and managers have responded proactively to the priorities for improvement set out in the
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 27
College’s Post Inspection Plan and there has been a continued focus on developing strong, quality
improvement arrangements. Managers’ and staff’s understanding and evaluation of the College’s
strengths and weaknesses has improved and managers are more accurate and evaluative in the
judgement of their schools or service areas; this is evidenced by improvements in the quality of selfassessment reporting. Actions plans for improvement more clearly relate proposed actions to
impact and progress.
During the 2014/15 academic year there were issues around examination registrations particularly
for Maths and English Functional Skills. It was identified that:





The processes in place were not robust and the examinations team were not receiving
timely information regarding withdrawals or level changes.
The registration process did not take the level that the learner was enrolled on as the level
to enter them at.
The examinations system that would alleviate these issues was not used, therefore manual
entries had to be made rather than using EDI.
The method of enrolment was such that the enrolment learning aim was changed rather
than transferring the learner which led to incorrect levels of results not matching the
reported enrolment.
The area was being restructure and consisted of mainly temporary staff that were not
adequately trained and did not have appropriate levels of examinations experience
Actions taken to resolve the identified issues included recruiting a new team of experienced exams
officers and ensuring:



The enrolment process has a specific enrolment per learning aim
EDI is used where possible for both registration and booking
Exam registrations are made via the exams system and are linked back to enrolments
Leadership and Management is judged to require improvement because although overall College
success for 2014/15 improved by 4% to 78%, despite strike action during the academic year and
significant cuts to adult funding, they are not yet good and remain below benchmarks.
Despite issues faced by the College in 14/15 the College has invested significantly in facilities in
2014/15. At Clapham a new building was nearing completion at the end of the year (this is now
complete and operational) and the sale of the Brixton site is complete and plans have been finalised
for a new building on the site. The College continues to invest in curriculum equipment for learners
in line with industry standards and requirements.
The college’s leadership team has overseen many areas of improvement and recognises key
strengths that benefit learners, these include:



Strong and effective Governance who challenge and support the senior team to ensure the
change agenda is realised. The Governors take a proactive role in raising standards and have
introduced a quality & standards task & finish group to scrutinise quality improvement.
The development of employability skills remains a strength in many areas.
External employability opportunities to raise the employability skills and experiences of
learners. The pop-up shop is available to learners to develop entrepreneurship skills and
experience.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 28

Outstanding opportunities for learners on discrete LLDD programmes to contribute towards
their social and economic well-being. The School of Supported Learning provides real life
experiences for learners including the Healthy Gourmet café, the College kitchens at the
Vauxhall Centre and the Reco shop at the Clapham Centre.

Support for learners remains a key strength with a wide range of services for social and
personal issues available to help in particular, ‘at risk’ learners to stay in learning
The provision of additional learning support (ALS) within the College is a key strength.
A key development in 2014/15 was the alignment of Career Ready Officers to specific areas
of the curriculum within Schools. This meant that learners (particularly the 16-18 cohort)
had direct access to a designated officer, which was not the case in 2013/14.
In 2014/15 we saw a 3% rise in learners who applied through UCAS and a 5% rise in learners
who confirmed their places on their degree course. This was an improvement against the
13/14 performance. We also have learners who have gained entrance to Russell Group
universities: Durham, Kings, Southampton, Queen Mary’s College and York
Destination report data shows that 10% more learners continued with further study than
intended. Actual destinations into employment have been validated internally and a high
proportion of learners intended to go into employment and a proportion of these learners
confirmed their employment, however many more confirm they were setting up their own
business.
The College continues to have well established and productive partnership arrangements
with external organisations and agencies and this led to good training and awareness-raising
for staff and assistance for those learners most at risk of not completing their studies
because of safeguarding concerns.
Awareness raising sessions on extremism and radicalisation were delivered to targeted
groups. Good teamwork with local neighbourhood police teams has reduced crime against
learners in the immediate vicinity of the college.
Support for vulnerable learners is good
Safeguarding is a key priority for the College and is good. The College has very robust
systems to ensure all relevant checks are made on both staff and learners where required. It
works very closely with community groups to ensure intelligence regarding social issues
external to the college are picked up and dealt with appropriately. It has a zero tolerance to
bullying and antisocial behaviour and works hard to ensure its buildings and learning
environments are safe for all who use them. Incidents are rare but when they do occur they
are dealt with quickly and efficiently. Nearly all learners and visitors who use the College say
they feel safe here. Staff undertake regular updating activities to ensure they continue to
deal with issues that arise in an appropriate way.
The college has used support and college procedures well to manage issues of
underperformance over the last year in particular.
Procedures for hearing and acting upon the learner voice are firmly embedded into the
College. There is a clear framework in place and links between learner services, quality the E
& D group and the curriculum to respond to the issues being raised by learners within the
College.
Equality & diversity are promoted well through cross College events such as the E&D
conference for learners, Black History Month, tutorials and wider activities to promote a
range of themes. The learner and staff profile is diverse across the College and it is
recognised that all groups work well together in a calm atmosphere of respect. There is
ongoing improvement with the promotion of E&D in all curriculum areas and there is now
some evidence that teams are beginning to build their confidence to raise issues in a
relevant vocational context with their learners.











Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 29
The College’s leaders and managers recognises there are key improvements to make and the
College’s Quality Improvement Action Plan clearly details measurable actions to be taken to meet
improvement targets developed in response to issues underpinning the overall learner experience
and outcomes.
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 30
Appendix 1: Data Tables
Data Table 1 – All Courses (excl FS) by age
Age
Level
End Yr.
Starts
% Succ
16-18
All
12/13
2160
80.7
Nat.Av
85.9
19+
All
12/13
12831
81.8
All ages
All
12/13
14991
16-18
All
13/14
19+
All ages
All
All
16-18
%Ret
88.1
Nat.Av
92.1
87.1
92.2
81.7
86.4
1883
78.5
13/14
13/14
9024
10907
All
14/15
19+
All
All ages
All
%Ach
91.6
Nat.Av
93.3
92.7
88.8
93.9
91.6
92.4
89.2
93.6
85.9
88.5
92.1
88.7
93.3
77.9
78.0
87.1
86.4
90.0
89.7
92.7
92.4
86.6
86.9
93.9
93.6
1591
78.9
85.9
88.5
92.1
89.2
93.3
14/15
9529
86.6
87.1
92.8
92.7
93.3
93.9
14/15
11120
85.5
86.4
92.2
92.4
92.8
93.6
Data2 Tables: Long Courses by level (Excluding FS)
Age
Level
End Yr
Starts
%Succ
16-18
1
12/13
411
84.7
86.5
90.3
91.1
93.8
94.9
19+
1
12/13
1,410
75.5
85.5
85.4
91.1
88.5
93.9
All Ages
1
12/13
1,821
77.6
86.1
86.5
91.1
89.7
94.5
16-18
1
13/14
488
83.4
86.5
89.3
91.1
93.3
94.9
19+
1
13/14
1,890
73.2
85.5
87.0
91.1
84.2
93.9
All Ages
1
13/14
2,378
75.3
86.1
87.5
91.1
86.1
94.5
16-18
1
14/15
309
80.3
86.5
88.3
91.1
90.8
94.9
19+
1
14/15
2,206
84.0
85.5
89.6
91.1
93.8
93.9
All Ages
1
14/15
2,515
83.5
86.1
89.4
91.1
93.4
94.5
Age
Level
End Yr
Starts
%Succ
16-18
2
12/13
380
79.7
84.0
85.8
89.8
92.9
93.6
19+
2
12/13
2426
81.7
81.4
91.2
87.0
89.6
93.6
All Ages
2
12/13
2,806
81.5
83.1
90.5
88.8
90.0
93.6
16-18
2
13/14
448
75.7
84.0
87.1
89.8
86.9
93.6
19+
2
13/14
1613
78.7
81.4
85.9
87.0
91.6
93.6
All Ages
2
13/14
2,061
78.1
83.1
86.2
88.8
90.6
93.6
16-18
2
14/15
455
72.7
84.0
85.5
89.8
85.1
93.6
19+
2
14/15
1069
76.3
81.4
86.7
87.0
88.0
All Ages
2
14/15
1,524
75.3
83.1
86.4
88.8
87.2
93.6
93.6
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
%Ret
%Ret
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
%Ach
%Ach
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
Page 31
Age
Level
End Yr
Starts
% Succ
16-18
3
12/13
572
81.6
82.3
84.3
90.2
96.9
91.3
19+
3
12/13
1446
79.0
79.5
89.8
86.5
88.1
91.9
All Ages
3
12/13
2,018
79.8
81.7
88.2
89.3
90.4
91.4
16-18
3
13/14
359
78.6
82.3
88.6
90.2
88.7
91.3
19+
3
13/14
793
70.4
79.5
82.3
86.5
85.5
91.9
All Ages
3
13/14
1,152
72.9
81.7
84.3
89.3
86.5
91.4
16-18
3
14/15
528
80.7
82.3
86.7
90.2
93.0
91.3
19+
3
14/15
852
78.8
79.5
86.7
86.5
90.8
91.9
All Ages
3
14/15
1,380
79.5
81.7
86.7
89.3
91.6
91.4
Level
End Yr
Starts
% Succ
16-18
All
12/13
1,417
82.6
83.8
86.9
90.3
95.0
92.8
19+
All
12/13
5,648
78.8
82.0
89.1
88.3
88.4
92.9
All ages
All
12/13
7,065
79.5
83.2
88.6
89.7
89.7
92.9
16-18
All
13/14
1,408
80.2
83.8
88.4
90.3
90.7
92.8
19+
All
13/14
4,376
74.3
82.0
85.6
88.3
86.9
92.9
All ages
All
13/14
5,784
75.7
83.2
86.3
89.7
87.8
92.9
16-18
All
14/15
1,293
77.7
83.8
86.7
90.3
89.7
92.8
19+
All
14/15
4,179
80.6
82.0
88.1
88.3
91.5
92.9
All ages
All
14/15
5,472
79.9
83.2
87.8
89.7
91.0
92.9
Age
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
%Ret
%Ret
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
%Ach
%Ach
Nat.Av
Nat.Av
Page 32
2014-15 Data Table 3: Age group and Sex (All qualifications inc FS)
Under 19
End Year
12/13
13/14
14/15
Data
F
N/A
M
Under 19 Total
N/A
1206
TOT
N/A
2160
19 +
F
N/A
M
N/A
N/A
954
Success (%)
81.9
86.4
79.9
85.5
80.7
85.9
83.6
86.9
78.5
87.3
81.8
87.1
Retention (%)
88.8
92.0
87.6
92.2
88.1
92.1
93.9
92.4
88.9
93.2
92.2
92.7
Achieve (%)
92.2
93.9
91.2
92.7
91.6
93.3
89.0
94.1
88.3
93.7
88.8
93.9
Starts
884
Success (%)
78.6
86.4
78.4
85.5
78.5
85.9
79.0
86.9
76.4
87.3
77.9
87.1
Retention (%)
87.8
92.0
89.2
92.2
88.5
92.1
90.3
92.4
89.6
93.2
90.0
92.7
Achieve (%)
89.6
93.9
87.9
92.7
88.7
93.3
87.5
94.1
85.3
93.7
86.6
93.9
Starts
745
Success (%)
80.3
86.4
77.8
85.5
78.9
85.9
87.8
86.9
84.8
87.3
86.6
87.1
Retention (%)
87.1
92.0
89.7
92.2
88.5
92.1
93.3
92.4
91.9
93.2
92.8
92.7
Achieve (%)
92.1
93.9
86.7
92.7
89.2
93.3
94.0
94.1
92.2
93.7
93.3
93.9
1883
846
4397
TOT
Starts
999
8434
19 + Total
5245
1591
12831
3779
5807
9024
3722
9529
2014-15 Data Table 4: Ethnicity (Excl FS)
Exp End
Year
12/13
13/14
14/15
Data
Other
Asian
Black
White
Starts
2141
870
5088
6892
Success (%)
78.0
84.3
78.0
85.1
Retention (%)
88.1
93.6
88.7
94.5
Achieve (%)
88.6
90.0
87.9
90.1
Starts
2506
586
3909
3906
Success (%)
75.6
82.4
76.6
80.4
Retention %)
90.3
91.8
88.7
90.1
Achieve (%)
83.7
89.8
86.4
89.2
Starts
2777
723
3733
3887
Success (%)
84.2
88.5
85.9
85.5
Retention (%)
90.9
94.3
93.3
91.6
Achieve (%)
92.6
93.8
92.0
93.4
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
Page 33
2014-15 Data Table 5: Difficulty or Disability (Excl FS)
Difficulty or Disability
Exp End
Year
Data
Starts
12/13
13/14
14/15
has
difficult
y/
disabilit
y/healt
1359
N/A
no
difficul
ty/
disabili
ty/heal
10251
N/A
N/A
Success (%)
80.6
87.1
81.8
86.3
85.9
Retention (%)
89.7
92.6
92.1
92.3
92.2
Achieve (%)
89.8
94.1
88.9
93.5
93.2
Starts
1498
Success (%)
77.9
87.1
78.5
86.3
85.9
Retention (%)
88.7
92.6
90.1
92.3
92.2
Achieve (%)
87.8
94.1
87.2
93.5
93.2
Starts
1551
Success (%)
87.2
87.1
86.5
86.3
85.9
Retention (%)
93.7
92.6
92.6
92.3
92.2
Achieve (%)
93.1
94.1
93.4
93.5
93.2
Lambeth College SAR – 14-15
8409
7245
Page 34