Ofsted finds Newham Sixth Form College “inadequate” –but no detail on its recent industrial relations turmoil

Protesters outside the college last summer.

A large sixth form college has been judged “inadequate” by Ofsted, after a sustained period of industrial action against decision-making by its former leadership, but with the inspection report offering few detailed comments on governance and industrial relations.

Newham Sixth Form College, known as NewVIc, in East London, is now reportedly the only sixth form in the country to be in receipt of Ofsted’s lowest judgement. It is facing intervention from the government, with a merger with another local provider in the offing. It is now subject to intervention by the government, through a “Notice to Improve”.

But Ofsted’s report on the provider was notable for saying virtually nothing, explicitly at least, about the controversy around leadership which sparked 42 days of strike action up to last summer.

As Education Uncovered reported last June, the college saw 30 days of strike action that year by the National Education Union over management and leadership under the former principal Mandeep Gill and the former chair of governors Martin Rosner. The union said at the time that it had more than 100 members at the college.

Curriculum cuts, which had come despite the college having large and growing reserves – it had £16 million in “cash balances” as of 2022-23 – contributed to last year’s industrial action. Last April, a petition had been launched against plans by the college to cut courses in performing arts, public services, Spanish, fine arts and philosophy, while proposals to cut engineering and construction followed in the summer.

A protest by NewVIc students was captured in a film, uploaded to YouTube, while two sources told Education Uncovered that some students had even barricaded themselves into the college in protest.

A strike in 2022, totalling 12 days, had centred on previous, eventually abandoned, proposals by Mr Gill to try to turn NewVIc into an academy, workplace culture, workload and relations with the union.

The Ofsted report

While its “inadequate” judgement, which followed a previous judgement of “good” after a visit in December 2018 was, of course, damning, remarkably the inspectorate’s report offered no detail on any of the above, with industrial action not mentioned.

Despite Ofsted’s inspection taking four days and involving six His Majesty’s Inspectors, its substantive conclusions, in its report on this institution for 2,400 students, ran to just 24 paragraphs, over less than four pages.

Governance was not mentioned in detail, with the report stating only that “leaders and governors do not have a suitable skills strategy, and governors do not have a good enough understanding of the skills agenda”. The reference to this lack of a focus on what the report refers to as “local, regional and national skills needs” could be taken as implicit criticism of some of the curriculum cuts, although again there was no explicit mention of this central aspect of the recent controversy around events at the college.

The report also stated, with the inspection team again not going into the specifics of decision-making, that: “Until recently, governors and senior leaders have not done enough to tackle the poor quality of education that learners experience. They presided over a decline in standards resulting in the proportion of learners who achieve their qualifications being low on too many courses.

“They had poor oversight of key functions, such as the administration of examinations, for which they failed to put in place effective or rapid enough improvements. They have not made sure that there are adequate learning resources, such as computers, to meet the needs of learners.”

The mention of exams, above, appears to be a reference to failings in the administration of BTEC qualifications as of last year, which I understand have provoked a looming visit from the exam board Pearson, which could yet see the college lose its ability to offer the courses, which would be devastating for NewVIc.

Otherwise, however, the non-specific nature of Ofsted’s criticisms on governance contrasts with feedback inspectors gave to the college at the end of the inspection, which in turn was passed on to staff.

This included statements that staff and students did not have confidence in the governors, that staff surveys had included multiple comments that governors should go, and findings about the ability of governors to hold leadership to account.

At the time of the inspection, Mr Gill was on sick leave, while Mr Rosner remained in place. However, Mr Rosner then stood down, after the inspection feedback. He is understood to have strongly disputed its findings.

Remarkably, despite the protests last year, the inspectors stated in their report that “leaders and managers have successfully broadened the curriculum offer over recent years…this includes the introduction of T-level courses”.

The report did also say that: “Until recently, leaders and managers have not been considerate enough of staff workload and well-being” adding that “many staff remain highly committed to the college, despite their high workloads”.

Other aspects of the report

The report summarised provision at the college by stating: “Learners are keen to study, but for too many, their time at the college does not match their expectations. They experience disruption to their education due to staffing issues, ineffective teaching and administrative errors regarding their examinations.

“In the previous academic year, this led to a significant proportion of learners not achieving their qualifications and making poor progress relative to their prior knowledge and attainment. However, learners with SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] achieve well. While improvements have been made since September, the prevailing issues are not fully resolved.”

While students benefited from a “calm and positive environment” in which they felt “safe and supported,” and spoke “very positively” about the mental health support they received from staff, their attendance and punctuality was “not good enough”, while “too few” participated in “good work experience or work-related activities”.

The report described teaching as widely variable across subjects. It said: “A characteristic of the quality of learners’ experiences is the wide variability across different subjects, depending on the skill and expertise of teachers and the level of disruption due to staff shortages or changes. Many second-year learners experienced disruption to their studies in their first year. This has left them struggling with some of the content of their current studies.”

Mr Gill went on sick leave last October, and left the college earlier this month. The inspection report stated that the college had been “led by a large number of senior leaders and managers holding interim posts” since October.

The inspection feedback reported that staff surveys had found “lots of comments” that the interim principal, Susanne Davies, needed to stay. The report itself offered tentatively positive comments about Ms Davies and the “interim senior leadership and management team,” including it having “accurately identified” urgent areas for improvement.

What happens now?

It seems that the merger of NewVIc with another college, which had been put on the agenda by the previous leadership – including seemingly as a threat to the union to stop its strike action – is now firmly in prospect, following the Ofsted verdict

Indeed, I understand that staff at nearby Newham College have already been told of the likelihood of the merger.

On March 20^th, NewVIc was also handed a Notice to Improve by the Department for Education. The notice, seen by Education Uncovered, said that the college had “failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in resolving a number of issues related to insufficient governance, oversight and management, including: the quality of provision; enrolment and assessment practices; resource management and utilisation; and engagement in the skills agenda”.

NewVIc will be subjected to a regime of intensive supervision by DfE officials as a result.

The notice also sees the college referred to DfE’s FE Commissioner, Shelagh Legrave, for her own assessment of the college’s capacity to improve. The commissioner, it appears, can be keen on college mergers.

Final note on finances

Finally, it seems worth providing a bit more detail on the improvement of the college’s financial position in the most recently-published accounts, especially since finance does not feature at all in the Ofsted report.

NewVIc reported an operating surplus of £2.5 million for 2022-23, following a surplus of £1.6m the previous year, while its “cash balances” improved from £12.6m in 2021-22 to £15.9 million last year.

These seem especially remarkable figures given the curriculum cuts which had provoked such controversy as of last year.