Ofsted awards The Cornwall College Group highest judgement – significant progress – following monitoring visit 

Ofsted has awarded the highest possible outcome for The Cornwall College Group (TCCG), following a successful monitoring inspection in February.   

The college group, which has been setting high expectations and heavily investing in its student experiences, facilities and teaching, was given the rare accolade of “significant progress” in the recently published report compiled by Her Majesty’s Inspectors.  

TCCG’s principal and chief executive, John Evans, welcomed the report, and said it was testament to the hard work carried out by the college’s staff over the last 12 months.  

He commented: “We are delighted that Ofsted has witnessed first-hand the incredible results stemming from the effort by staff to provide a quality education and experience to every single learner, especially with the unprecedented challenge of doing this in the last 12 months.  

“And I am pleased that their report recognised our success in reviewing the college curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of our learners and the local employment opportunities.”  

The report stated: “A new leadership team was appointed in October 2019. They have made significant progress in remedying the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection.  

“Leaders have systematically reviewed the college curriculum, checking with partners that it now meets the needs of learners and local employment opportunities. Each subject lead has assessed their curricular objectives and carefully considered how best to sequence learning and assessment.” 

John continued: “Our dedicated leadership team has worked tirelessly with staff over the last year to transform the Group. 

 “We have done this with a clear direction, underpinned by a value shared across our entire organisation – the learner experience is at the heart of everything we do. This has resulted in the highest learner outcomes last year that the college has ever had!” 

“This latest report from Ofsted demonstrates that our steadfast commitment to this transformation is proving to be a regional success story. These are truly exciting times for our college and therefore the communities we serve. I urge people to look at our websites to discover the incredible opportunities to learn and train on their doorstep.”  

The education watchdog commended the Group’s leadership team for “significantly” investing in improving staff skills, with the report adding: “Staff value their professional development and recognise the positive impact it has had on their teaching.”  

During the recent visit, inspectors also highlighted the “innovative” changes which were put into place to continue delivering lessons during lockdown.  

The report said: “Leaders decided to change the planned curriculum to teach practical skills face-to-face before lockdown came into place.   

“This ensured learners developed relationships with staff and their peers before they moved to remote learning.   

“Staff have developed innovative approaches to teach practical sessions online. (An example of this would be) tutors in agricultural engineering have used multiple cameras in online lessons to provide learners with a more realistic learning experience. They have introduced live demonstrations, which even include dismantling a hydraulic ram.”  

The high expectations that the leadership team have on professionals within the college were also noted, with inspectors adding that a staff restructuring had provided a “clear line of site” from senior leaders to the learner.  

The college is continuing to invest heavily in its campuses, student experiences and staff training and has huge plans for a £30 million state-of-the-art campus on the existing John Keay House site in St Austell.  

The Cornwall College Group is one of the largest education providers in the south west with campuses in St Austell, Camborne and Newquay as well as two Duchy College campuses, Falmouth Marine School, Eden Project Learning, Sisna Park in Plymouth and Devon-based Bicton College.