Ofsted in Hampshire: City of Portsmouth College makes 'progress' in its monitoring visit from Ofsted

The City of Portsmouth College has had a monitoring visit from Ofsted inspectors to determine the level of progress that has been made since the merge of Highbury College and Portsmouth College in 2021.

The college has previously received a ‘requires improvement’ rating in its 2018 report and since then, there have been monitoring visits to see how the setting is making progress – and each visit has outlined that the college has made improvements.

The inspection, which took place on November 8 and 9, 2023, found that leaders and governors ‘carefully monitor the resultant whole college quality improvement plan and review progress carefully’.

The monitoring visit said: “Senior leaders and governors have very successfully transformed the culture at the college. Managers and staff across all campuses refer to an open and transparent culture.

"Almost all staff embrace the challenges and are proud of their role within the post-merger improvement journey. Senior leaders and governors recognised the importance of investing in their management and staff team.

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"Most teachers plan and teach their lessons effectively and in a logical order so that students and apprentices build on basic knowledge before moving to more complex and difficult topics.”

The report also found that ‘staff continue to assess students’ and apprentices’ prior skills through the initial weeks of their courses. They identify gaps in knowledge or skills and take steps to help students address these gaps promptly.’

The college is formed up of four campuses across the Hampshire area and at the time of the monitoring visit, there were approximately 3,166 students aged 16 to 19, 516 apprentices and 2,530 adult students.

The report added: “Teachers use a range of strategies to ensure they gather appropriate and detailed information. For example, at the sixth-form campus, students complete useful ‘flying start’ tasks at the start of their courses. These help teachers identify students’ prior subject knowledge and help students to understand the demands of the subject. Teachers use students’ responses to these tasks effectively to assess any gaps in knowledge and plan carefully to fill these gaps in subsequent lessons.”

To read the monitoring Ofsted report, visit the website. Click here for more.