IN a dramatic fall from grace, Darlington College has plummeted in the Ofsted ratings from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’.

Six years ago staff at the Haughton Road college were celebrating after Ofsted inspectors gave it a grade one rating and said it was one of the most outstanding further education establishments in the country with “very high” success rates.

But following a week-long inspection by a nine-strong team from Ofsted, the verdict was an overall rating of grade four, or “inadequate”.

In fact the college was rated as inadequate in four areas: overall effectiveness, outcomes for learners, quality of teaching, learning and assessment and effectiveness of leadership and management.

The college was also rated as inadequate in relation to its Foundation English course.

Darlington College received an “outstanding” report back in May 2009 despite being in the midst of a major upheaval while the college moved from its old site in Cleveland Avenue to a new £35m campus on Haughton Road.

The impressive new campus, opened by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006 amidst much optimism, now houses more than 400 staff and up to 8,000 learners, including 2,000 full-time students.

A general further education college, it is focused on vocational subjects and does not offer A levels.

Principal Kate Roe has only been at the helm since July 2014 – taking over from previous incumbent Tim Grant, who retired last summer.

Mr Grant became principal in 2009 after his predecessor - the highly-rated Sarah Robinson – had pushed up standards to the extent that the college was named by Ofsted as one of the most outstanding FE colleges in the country.

Ms Roe said: “On the day it was announced it was hugely disappointing but we are absolutely determined to address these weaknesses and get the college back to where it deserves to be.”

She welcomed the extra support which will be provided by Ofsted over the coming months and predicted that by the time of the next inspection in 15 months time the college will be able to show an improved position.

Darlington’s Labour MP, Jenny Chapman said: “Only the best will do when it comes to educating Darlington’s young people. I know our college can do much, much better than this we have a new principal who needs to grip this situation immediately and make sure the improvements that are needed happen quickly.”

Councillor Bill Dixon, leader of Darlington Borough Council, said: “We are very concerned to hear of the Ofsted assessment of Darlington College.

"The college has a key role to play in supporting our young people to gain the vocational qualifications they will need for the world of work.

"We expect to see the college make swift progress in addressing the weaknesses identified by Ofsted and we will offer both rigorous challenge and support in enabling it to do so.”

In a summary of key findings the Ofsted inspectors said the provider is inadequate because:

  • Outcomes for 16 to 18 year olds are poor with low success rates for main qualifications, poor achievement of English and maths and insufficient preparation for work.
  • Overall apprenticeship success rates are low, especially for 16 to 18 year olds.
  • English teaching is inadequate and the development of English skills in vocational lessons is weak.
  • Teachers’ questioning and assessment in lessons are often ineffective.
  • Weaknesses include insufficient variety of teaching methods to engage, motivate and challenge learners.
  • Leadership and management of 16 to 18 study programmes, English and mathematics and apprenticeship are also inadequate.
  • Monitoring and evaluation of current improvement strategies are not sufficiently rigorous.
  • Leaders’ and managers’ expectations of staff and learners “are not high enough” and performance management requires improvement.

However Ofsted said Darlington College did have a number of strengths including: success rates for adults that are above the national rate; good provision for vulnerable learners on specialist courses; effective vocational skills teaching that is enhanced by teachers’ industrial experience; effective development of maths skills in vocational lessons.

In addition, Ofsted said governors and senior leaders have good links with Local Enterprise Partnerships and a good understanding of local and regional skills needs.

* In February staff at Darlington College were warned that it faced significant cuts to its budget because of a funding shortfall due to public spending cuts. Staff were told that savings of around £1.8m must be made within 12 months.

DARLINGTON COLLEGE PRINCIPALS

The Northern Echo:

THE heyday of Darlington College was in 2009 under the leadership of former principal Sarah Robinson, pictured above.

Mrs Robinson, who earned an OBE for services to further education in the same year, saw the college move up from grade two, or ‘good’, to grade one - ‘outstanding’ in 2009.

A few months after Ofsted confirmed her success Mrs Robinson left to take up a similar post at Stoke on Trent College.

In 2009 Ofsted described Darlington as one of the best FE colleges in the country.

The Northern Echo:

Sarah Robinson was a hard act to follow but mid-way through 2009 she was replaced by new principal Tim Grant, pictured above.

During his time as principal at Darlington College he oversaw investment in the college’s facilities, including improved facilities in IT, hospitality, catering, hairdressing and beauty therapy, engineering, construction and student recreation facilities.

Mr Grant left his post as principal in the summer of 2014 after announcing his retirement.
During his four and a half year tenure as principal the college was not inspected by Ofsted.

The Northern Echo:

Current Darlington College principal Kate Roe, pictured above, has only been in the job for eight months.

Ms Roe took up her new appointment in July 2014, replacing Tim Grant, who was retiring after 30 years in further education.

A former senior local government administrator Ms Roe moved into the further education sector because of her interest in developing the skills of young people.

She had been in the job only seven months when a week-long inspection was carried out by a team from Ofsted.

Following the inspection the Ofsted verdict was to demote Darlington College from the previous rating of ‘outstanding’ to a new rating of ‘inadequate.’