[O]fsted inspectors have concluded in a report published today that Cumbria County Council’s Community Learning Service is a good provider – judging the service as ‘good’ across the board.
The ‘good’ rating was achieved following an intensive week long inspection of the whole service held at the end of January. As well as being rated as ‘good’ overall, the service was also rated ‘good’ for each of the five categories graded through the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework – Leadership and Management; Outcomes for Learners; Teaching, Learning and Assessment; Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare and Adult Learning programmes.
Councillor Deborah Earl, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Services said: “This improved rating from Ofsted is a significant achievement and it reflects a huge amount of hard work across the County Council, our staff and all of our partners since our last inspection in 2016.
“This ‘good’ rating puts us firmly on track to achieve our ambition of Cumbria’s County Council’s Community Learning Service being one of the best in the Country. Our residents deserve every opportunity to be the very best that they can be and the service provided is key to achieve that.
“I would like to offer my thanks and congratulations to those involved for their efforts and am confident the service will now continue to achieve even more success. It is particularly pleasing to see Ofsted found that our courses are giving our 3,000 learners the self-belief and confidence to progress to further learning, apprenticeships or employment”
In particular the report highlighted that:
- Senior leaders and managers have been relentless in successfully eliminating the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection;
- Many learners develop very effective personal, social and employability skills, including improved confidence and self-belief through good quality teaching, learning and assessment;
- Learners benefit from effective guidance and coaching from skilled tutors that assist them to progress to their next steps;
- The large majority of learners make good progress on their courses, gain new skills and acquire new knowledge, which helps them to realise their personal targets and move to their next steps.
The full report can be found HERE.
