MidKent College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Information about this provider

MidKent College is a large general further education college based in Kent.

It has three sites at Medway, Maidstone and the recently opened Medway School of Art in Chatham.

The college has courses across a wide range of vocational subjects from entry level to higher education, including in uniformed public services, hairdressing, visual arts, and animal management. From September 2023, learners have been able to study A levels at the Maidstone site.

Learners also study T levels in science, health, animal care and management, digital support services, design, surveying and planning for construction, and education and childcare. At the time of the inspection, there we...re just under 4,500 learners studying programmes for young people, including 227 learners in receipt of high needs funding. There were also just under 600 adult learners.

Around 550 apprentices were on courses from level 2 to level 6 in a wide range of subjects, including brickwork, engineering and business administration. About half of apprentices were aged 16 to 18 years old and half were over 19 years old. The college works with Canterbury Christchurch University to teach a small number of higher-level apprentices.

This arrangement is coming to an end with the final cohort concluding teaching currently.

What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Learners and apprentices value highly the welcoming, inclusive and friendly place to study that leaders and staff have created. They quickly adopt the respect and kindness that staff promote.

Learners are polite, keen to learn and follow instructions well. They thrive while at college, where they enjoy their studies and make new friends.

Learners and apprentices behave extremely well throughout the college.

In lessons, they are attentive, listening to each other and staff carefully. They work together well and show mutual respect. Learners and apprentices value the calm and orderly learning environments that staff create and that enable them to focus on their studies.

Learners frequently support and encourage each other to complete learning activities and to participate in classroom discussions. For instance, level 2 health and social care learners discuss the risks from terrorism, helping each other to understand its relevance to current affairs. A-level learners at Maidstone encourage their less confident peers to participate in group tasks successfully.

This contributes to learners quickly adopting professional workplace behaviours, such as teamwork and communication.

Learners and apprentices have a positive attitude to their studies. They are motivated and work hard.

Staff know their interests and future aspirations and the challenges they face well. Learners and apprentices value the helpful, well-considered support they receive from staff. This contributes to most learners and apprentices arriving on time for their lessons and being keen to learn.

Learners benefit from well-planned, relevant and interesting experiences of the world of work. These help learners link classroom learning to workplace activities and to understand possible career pathways. Most younger learners relish the opportunity to apply their emerging skills and knowledge while on useful work placements.

For instance, T-level science learners develop their practical skills and grow in confidence while on industry placement. Many learners hear directly about current workplace practices from the wide range of guest speakers who visit the college. Where needed, learners get helpful, specialist careers advice and guidance.

These activities contribute to learners understanding workplace expectations and being well prepared for their next steps in learning or work.

Learners and apprentices feel safe at college and while at work. They appreciate the well-maintained and secure sites that leaders and staff have created.

Learners know who to speak to if they have worries and are confident that any concerns they raise would be taken seriously and responded to promptly. Learners understand the possible risks of studying and working online and know sensible steps to keep safe. Where relevant, learners and apprentices know how to use potentially hazardous equipment safely and with confidence.

Contribution to meeting skills needs

The college makes a strong contribution to meeting skills needs.

Governors, leaders and staff work very closely and productively with a wide range of relevant stakeholders to understand and respond to skills needs highly effectively. Leaders have developed an extensive stakeholder network that provides an in-depth picture of skills needs in the communities that the college serves.

Stakeholders see the college as a trusted partner that is relied upon to offer learning programmes that support economic and social development in the area very well. Leaders collaborate with other further education colleges in Kent to address important skills needs highly effectively. They work with colleagues in other colleges to secure funding collectively to help address skills priorities in the region, such as advanced manufacturing and decarbonisation.

Leaders frequently talk to employers and representative groups, such as Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, to ensure that they teach learners the skills that employers value. Leaders and staff involve stakeholders in the design of the curriculum and its implementation consistently across the programmes they offer. Leaders draw on their extensive knowledge of employers' needs when working with the Department for Work and Pensions to provide sector-based work academy programmes that give adult learners essential skills that are aligned closely to current job vacancies in areas, such as retail, call handling and transport.

Leaders understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the communities they serve in detail. They work alongside community groups and local authorities to provide inclusive and often transformational learning programmes. Local charities use college training kitchens to provide sessions on healthy lifestyles.

Staff work with schools and local authorities to understand the needs of young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and plan programmes that prepare them for their next steps in learning, work and adult life exceptionally well.

What does the provider do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have a deep affinity for the communities they serve. They have developed ambitious, high-quality learning programmes that help learners and apprentices progress and achieve their aspirations.

Leaders have a strong focus on providing inclusive learning programmes that enable those who often face barriers to learning and work to acquire new knowledge and skills and a fresh sense of confidence and purpose.

Leaders offer a suite of high-quality adult learning programmes that have been purposefully chosen to address the needs of local residents exceptionally well. In access to higher education, learners experience high-quality teaching.

Most learners on the access to healthcare course are prepared thoroughly for their next steps to train in national shortage areas, such as nursing. Leaders work closely with employers and other stakeholders to provide short, sector-based work academy programmes that enable many adult learners who have been absent from the workforce to gain useful knowledge, skills and behaviours and secure sustained employment. Leaders took swift and decisive action to provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses at Medway to help those arriving in the area from Ukraine.

These learners develop their understanding and use of English quickly and successfully, enabling them to play an increasingly full and active role in their community. Most adult learners complete their programme, often passing their final assessments at merit and distinction grade, where available, and move on to further learning or work successfully.

Staff ensure that learners and apprentices have a secure understanding of the fundamental concepts essential for their area of study.

Staff then carefully use these firm foundations to introduce learners and apprentices to more complex topics. Level 3 sport science learners at Medway draw on their understanding of the skeleton, cardiovascular and digestive systems when learning about sports injuries. Level 3 maintenance and operations engineering apprentices at Maidstone apply mathematical principles associated with cutting speeds when using lathes.

This helps learners and apprentices remember and apply new knowledge and skills with growing confidence.

Teachers use their extensive subject knowledge to plan interesting and challenging learning activities for learners and apprentices. They explain concepts clearly and use a range of effective teaching methods to help learners and apprentices understand what they are learning well.

For example, A-level sociology teachers use group discussions adeptly to help learners gain a broader perspective of the application of relevant theories, such as functionalism and Marxist views on education. This contributes to most learners and apprentices making rapid and sustained progress and passing their final assessments well.

Staff organise and monitor apprentices' training and learning carefully.

They adapt training plans to reflect what apprentices already know and can do. Where helpful, they include additional qualifications to ensure that apprentices play a full role in their workplace. For instance, carpentry and joinery apprentices at Maidstone complete an additional assessment that enables them to use power tools safely while at work.

Staff check apprentices' progress against defined milestones frequently and provide helpful feedback that enables apprentices to improve the standard of their future work. Staff keep employers well informed about apprentices' progress, enabling employers to provide apprentices with the support they need at work. This enables most apprentices, including the small number with SEND, to pass their final assessments and establish successful careers in their chosen sector.

Learners with high needs benefit greatly from the ambitious learning programmes that staff tailor to reflect learners' individual needs precisely. Staff set learners highly relevant, ambitious and individualised targets that are frequently monitored and adjusted to ensure that learners are constantly challenged and supported. Teachers and support staff work closely to plan teaching and support activities expertly.

Where needed, staff ensure that specialist therapies are integrated into learning programmes seamlessly. Staff use high-quality resources, such as sensory rooms, wheelchair adaptations and assistive technology on laptops, to enable learners with high needs to fully access all parts of the curriculum. Learners with high needs are determined to succeed, and they use the thoughtful feedback provided by staff to produce work to a high standard.

In this way, learners with high needs quickly become more skilled and knowledgeable and, where available, often pass their final assessments at merit and distinction grade. Learners with high needs are well prepared for their next steps and almost all move on to further learning, work or independence in adult life successfully.

Most teachers use assessment well to check learners' and apprentices' understanding and help them commit important information to memory.

Access to HE teachers use online quizzes to help adult learners recall previous learning with ease and confidence. Teachers of level 2 business at Maidstone use quizzes at the start of lessons to check learners' recall of previous learning and close gaps in their understanding. Teachers use assessment skilfully to adapt teaching to address gaps in learners' and apprentices' understanding.

Most teachers provide feedback that enables learners and apprentices to improve the standard of their future work. For instance, motor vehicle teachers support and encourage learners to think about how to improve theoretical and written work. This contributes to most learners and apprentices creating work that is at or above the standard expected and that improves over time.

Leaders have not put in place a suitably ambitious GCSE mathematics curriculum for younger learners. Too often, teachers do not explain mathematical concepts sufficiently clearly and in ways that learners understand. The tasks that teachers set are often too easy and do not challenge learners to deepen and extend their understanding.

Teachers do not make sure that learners know how to improve the standard of their future work. As a result, too many learners do not make the progress that is expected and do not achieve the grades in their final assessments of which they are capable. Too few achieve a good pass at grade 4 or above.

Staff provide learners with a well-planned tutorial programme and wider support services. These help learners appreciate the importance of self-care alongside being aware of the needs of others. Staff ensure that learners know how to keep physically and emotionally healthy.

Where appropriate, staff talk to learners about healthy, relationships and the importance of consent. Staff use their understanding of the local area to talk to learners and apprentices about sensible steps they can take to protect themselves from the risks of radicalisation and extremism.

Many learners, including those with high needs, benefit from participating in trips and activities that are related to their studies.

Catering learners visit Borough Market in London to learn about different food produce and food representing different cultures. Level 2 health and social care learners at Maidstone stay in a care home for service users with learning disabilities and/or difficulties to understand working in a residential care home. Leaders also provide activities to help learners explore and develop their interests and talents beyond their area of study.

These are well planned and highly relevant for learners with high needs and more vulnerable learners. While many other learners are aware of these opportunities, only a relatively small proportion participate.

Leaders and managers know the strengths of the provision and, where improvement is needed, take action that is generally effective.

For instance, leaders' intervention has led to a marked increase in the proportion of apprentices completing and passing their final assessments. Staff benefit from plentiful opportunities to further develop their skills and knowledge. T-level science teachers gain useful insights in current laboratory practices from employers.

Esport teachers at Medway attend national conventions to learn current industry trends. Most staff value the open and supportive culture that leaders have created and hence enjoy working at the college. Highly experienced and knowledgeable governors use their skills to help leaders provide high-quality education and training that serves the communities of MidKent well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning in GCSE mathematics so that learners learn and remember more and make the progress of which they are capable. ? Ensure that opportunities to allow learners to explore their interests and talents closely reflect learners' preferences so that more learners take part.