North Shropshire College branded inadequate by Ofsted

The college has received the worst possible rating from Ofsted following a visit last month.

Bosses at the college, which will now be monitored closely, said they were disappointed by the findings but an action plan had already been put into place for it to improve.

Inspectors criticised the colleges' current financial state as well as the arrangements that are put in place to assure the safety and welfare of students.

But inspectors did praise the college for its partnership working and adult learning programmes.

An inspection report said: "Arrangements to assure the safety and welfare of young people and vulnerable adults are ineffective; procedures to ensure learners are safe are incomplete and they are not implemented consistently.

"Governors, leaders and managers have failed to secure sufficiently rapid improvements for learners in the quality of education that they receive since the two previous inspections; standards vary too much by course, programme type and setting.

"Too few learners aged 16 to 19 who retake GCSE maths or English successfully achieve an A* to C grade.

"Self-assessment does not provide governors and leaders with a sufficiently accurate view of the current standards across the college to enable them to scrutinise and challenge poor performance.

"The college's current financial state is inadequate."

But the report added: "Partnership working is good, particularly with the local enterprise partnership (LEP), which helps to ensure that the curriculum supports local and regional skills needs.

"Adult learning programmes effectively develop learners' skills and confidence and support many to progress into employment.

"Leaders have a good understanding of regional skills needs and work effectively with the local enterprise partnership."

College principal Jackie Doodson said: "Although the results of our recent inspection by Ofsted are disappointing, we have already put into place an action plan to tackle the areas highlighted for improvement.

"The report highlights many strengths and acknowledges the improvements made so far, but our focus now is on strengthening our teaching and learning, which will help us to improve on our above national average success rates.

"The safety and wellbeing of our students is paramount and although two administrative errors were highlighted in safeguarding, no students were ever put at risk. We have already taken steps to tackle this issue.

"We are working hard to continue on our journey of improvement, which is recognised by Ofsted, and we will ensure this process takes place quickly."

The college has campuses in Oswestry, Walford near Baschurch, Shipley near Bridgnorth and the Aspire Centre in Tenbury Wells.