Reigate College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Information about this provider

Since 2017, Reigate College has been part of the Reigate Learning Alliance Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). The college has approximately 2,800 full-time students studying education programmes for young people. There are 840 students studying purely A levels, 420 studying vocational courses and 1540 are studying a mixed programme of A-level and vocational courses.

At the time of the inspection, there were 11 students in receipt of high needs funding. At level 3, courses include A-level and vocational qualifications. At level 2, the college offers GCSEs in biology, mathematics and English language and the level 2 award with 6 options that are the equivalent to one GCSE.

The college... does not offer courses in adult learning, apprenticeships, traineeships or full-time 14 to 16 provision.

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

Students have high expectations that they will succeed in their learning. They are committed to their studies, they enjoy learning, and they attend well as a result.

Students rightly value the extra help they receive to fill any gaps in their understanding. Students, including those with high needs, value the culture of mutual respect and consistently demonstrate highly professional behaviours towards their peers and teachers.

Students are rightly proud of their college.

They feel safe and welcome the support from staff with their well-being. Students speak positively about the inclusive and respectful culture that they feel part of. They value their positive relationships with staff who they feel are supportive and approachable.

Students who represent the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and questioning (LGBTQ+) community enjoy their learning, feel part of the wider community and are comfortable to be themselves. Students with high needs value the way staff carefully alleviated any concerns they had about joining the college and helped them develop confidence and independence.

Students participate enthusiastically in events that have a positive impact on the local community.

They enjoy taking part in a wide range of charity fundraising events and working closely with local organisations, such as local food banks and charities, to raise these organisations' profiles in the local community.

Students develop detailed knowledge and understanding of the subjects they study. In most cases, they can accurately and confidently explain what they have learned.

As a result, most students make very good, and in many cases, outstanding progress in their studies. For example, in A-level mathematics, students review early learning on motion in a straight line before moving on to learn to calculate motion at an angle. In vocational health and social care, students skilfully identify different primary and secondary socialisation factors, and the impact these have on the health and well-being of individuals.

Students with high needs learn about plagiarism and the importance of interpreting information to write assignments in their own words.

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

Governors, leaders and managers have a clear vision of academic excellence at the college. They have a well-considered strategy and rationale for the courses they offer that are informed by the needs of their local community.

They have developed the level 2 programme at the college carefully in order to ensure that students can study a breadth of subjects to enable them to make more informed choices when proceeding to level 3 study. Leaders understand local skills gaps and have used this information to make well-informed changes to the courses they offer. For example, leaders have recently introduced digital media courses in response to the local enterprise partnership priorities.

Leaders, managers and teachers have very high expectations of students and promote the college's values of responsibility, respect and rights through tutorials and lessons very well. They ensure students' attendance rates are high and, in most cases, ensure students make very good progress. Leaders, managers and teachers intervene swiftly if students fall below expected standards.

For example, students attend additional catch-up classes to fill gaps in their understanding and develop their confidence in the topic.

Leaders and managers provide an effective programme for staff to develop their teaching practice, which teachers value highly. Managers and teachers work closely to share and use new teaching ideas and initiatives.

Most teachers use these to make useful improvements in their teaching. For example, teachers now use an interactive online tool skilfully which helps them set more interesting homework tasks for their students. Teachers completed useful training to support students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and now use effective strategies to help improve students' concentration in lessons.

Teachers use a range of assessment methods to understand and monitor students' progress and prepare them for their final examinations. Teachers use information from assessments carefully to plan further teaching and provide useful feedback to students. For example, in A-level mathematics, teachers assess student's knowledge of how to calculate the expected value of random discrete distribution and support students with any gaps in their understanding.

While teachers provide feedback that helps most students understand their current progress, teachers do not consistently check the targets that students produce as result of feedback. Consequently, in the minority of cases, students are unclear on what actions they need to take to improve their work and make more rapid progress.

Teachers plan the order of teaching carefully so that students learn increasingly complex content and skills over time.

For example, in A-level media, staff teach students about theoretical frameworks and terminology, which they then use proficiently to complete more challenging tasks to create music videos. In vocational business, teachers added an additional unit on recruitment and selection as this provided an opportunity for students to research roles they are interested in, such as finance in large and prestigious companies. In vocational sport, teachers teach a professional development unit first which excites students about possible careers in sport.

Teaching staff are highly qualified and experienced in their subjects. They help students to understand key concepts and complex processes. For example, in A-level history, teachers help students analyse sources of evidence effectively so they can understand the context of an extract from Robespierre's diary during the French revolution.

In A-level politics, teachers support students skilfully to write persuasively and so to develop their writing skills and achieve higher marks in their work.

Staff are proud to work at the college. They speak positively about the culture of support and the visibility of leaders, who are considerate of teachers' workloads.

Leaders recognised the increase in safeguarding referrals and mental health issues among students because of the pandemic. They increased the number of appropriately trained safeguarding staff to protect teachers' time in the classroom.

Leaders and managers provide students with a wide range of enjoyable additional activities, including sports clubs, a group for LGBTQ+ students and a Korean pop music group.

Leaders review and change this offer frequently in response to students' feedback. For example, leaders introduced a female only gym session following feedback from female students. While those students who do participate in additional activities value the opportunities, too few students participate.

Leaders and managers enable students to make well-informed decisions about their next steps. They help students to understand opportunities after college, including higher education, apprenticeships and employment. Most students are sufficiently well informed about their next steps.

Most students move on to university, with many securing places at highly competitive institutions.

Leaders and managers recognise the challenges for students to complete work experience due to the pandemic. Since the easing of restrictions, a minority of students have benefited from work experience and leaders have established useful online learning for students to gain work-related experience.

While leaders and managers have realistic and ambitious plans in place to ensure all students benefit from work experience and work-related experience in the future, it is too early to see the impact of this.Students with high needs value the support they receive to help them make progress. As a result of this support, the majority of students need less help over time.

While these students make progress, leaders and managers do not routinely check the support students with high needs receive, and do not consistently involve parents or guardians when reviewing the progress these students are making. As a result, students with high needs do not make the rapid progress of which they are capable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The suitably qualified safeguarding team use appropriate policies and processes to help keep students safe. They monitor safeguarding concerns closely and intervene effectively using external agencies when appropriate.

Students consistently report how they value the visibility of leaders and managers, which creates a safe and welcoming environment.

Leaders ensure that staff and students understand how to keep themselves safe from sexual harassment and peer-on-peer abuse. Leaders ensure that staff are recruited safely and effectively.

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Leaders and managers should ensure that staff review students' education, health care plans annually and include parents and guardians in this process.

Leaders and managers should set these students ambitious and specific targets to ensure they make rapid progress in their learning. ? Leaders, managers and teachers should ensure that students know how to improve their work and make the progress of which they are capable. ? Leaders and managers should ensure that all students benefit from a period of work experience or work-related experience to help prepare them for the world of work and reinforce what they learn at college.