Sir George Monoux College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Information about this provider

Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College is based on one site in Waltham Forest in London. The college offers education programmes for around 1,900 young people, mostly at level 3. These include vocational qualifications and A levels in a wide range of subjects.

Around half of the students study level 3 vocational subjects, with the largest numbers in health and social care and business. Around a third of students study A-level courses, with the largest subjects being sociology, mathematics and law. The college also offers a small provision of level 1 and 2 courses.

Leaders introduced T-levels in health (adult nursing) and digital production design and development in September 2...024. A large minority of students take English and/or mathematics GCSE alongside their other subjects.

Nine students are in receipt of high needs funding.

Approximately 50 students aged 14 to 16 study English for speakers of other languages and GCSE subjects in a discrete part of the college, Monoux High School (MHS).

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

During their time at the college, students develop their wider interests exceptionally well. Students value the carefully planned personal development curriculum.

It gives them a rich choice of experiences and activities that build their interests and develop the skills they need to move into higher education or employment. For example, all Year 12 students benefit greatly from the 'read to succeed' initiative, where they read novels during timetabled sessions. This helps them to develop their literacy skills and general knowledge and they become more confident to talk about academic topics with staff and peers.

Students are happy with the good teaching that they receive. They like the useful feedback from teachers that helps them to improve their work and they say that teachers care deeply about their progress. In a few cases, in GCSE mathematics and health and social care, teachers do not set sufficiently challenging work.

In these subjects, students do not apply themselves fully nor have the chance to stretch themselves.

Students particularly value their personal mentors, staff that they can talk to about concerns, such as anxiety or discuss how to manage their workload. Mentors also help to equip students with the knowledge that they need to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy.

Students feel respected and listened to.

Staff make sure that communal spaces and the well-equipped learning resources centre are welcoming and productive. Students with high needs and those from disadvantaged backgrounds particularly appreciate having calm, quiet spaces to work.

During their study periods, students can be found quietly sitting reading or doing homework in the gardens and independent study zones.

Students feel safe in all areas of the college. They value the knowledgeable and kind safeguarding team, who they feel confident will deal with their concerns.

Contribution to meeting skills needs

The college makes a reasonable contribution to meeting skills needs.

Leaders and managers work well with a suitable range of external partners to understand and respond to the skills priorities within the local and regional area. They have productive links with the local authority, are partnered with the East London Business Alliance and have a strategic role in the Local London Green and Digital Projects Group.

Leaders understand the skills needs within their local area and the wider London region and adapt their curriculum to meet them. For example, in response to skills shortages in London's health and digital sectors, leaders have recently introduced T-level courses in digital production, design and development and adult nursing.

Leaders and managers have developed a suitable skills strategy.

They understand that their students experience barriers to finding work placements and other skills related opportunities. To respond to this, they have built a valuable network of employer contacts who support students with skills challenges and work experience placements. For example, level 3 business students participate in an enterprise activity set by a well-known department store, where they present a business plan at the store's head office.

Students have meaningful encounters with the world of work and quickly develop subject-specific skills alongside greater confidence.

Leaders and managers are taking effective action to improve the involvement of skills partners in the design of all their programmes. In a minority of subjects such as health and social care and chemistry A level, staff do not work consistently well with external partners.

In subjects with better involvement, external contacts at universities and NHS trusts help to enhance the curriculum. For example, in A-level psychology, psychotherapists teach students mental health topics and share case studies on the diagnosis and treatment of depression. This equips these students well with some of the skills they need for undergraduate study and their future careers.

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

Leaders have developed a curriculum offer with a strong focus on social mobility, which provides students with a well-planned combination of vocational and academic qualifications alongside timetabled sessions in vital skills, such as oracy. The highly individualised MHS curriculum very successfully meets the needs of children who would otherwise be out of education. Students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, develop a range of skills that help to prepare them for moving on to their next stage of education or employment.

Leaders actively promote values such as tolerance and respect, including by holding events and assemblies throughout the year. For example, they bring in experts to teach students how to discuss global conflict confidently. Through their actions, they have created a highly inclusive and harmonious environment, where students from a diverse range of backgrounds can study and work peacefully together.

Teachers use a range of methods to teach effectively. They give clear explanations, show worked examples and use different study aids to support students' learning. For example, in MHS mathematics lessons, teachers use visualisers to display student work on the board so that they can work through incorrect answers as a class.

Students correct their misconceptions and fill gaps in their learning.

Teachers use successful techniques to help students think hard and articulate their answers to questions. For example, A-level chemistry teachers encourage students to probe and challenge each other, thinking aloud about what happens in a particular nucleophilic reaction.

Students can clearly explain in words what is happening, which then makes it easier for them to draw accurate diagrams showing the stages of the reaction and resulting products. Students understand complex processes well and can explain them independently with confidence.

Teachers across all subjects set useful tasks for students to complete between lessons.

Students speak positively about their homework workbooks and how teachers use them at the start of lessons to check work and to address misconceptions. This consistency in practice every week for all subjects helps students develop their fluency and knowledge over time.

Managers and teachers use assessment well to help prepare students for their examinations and assignments.

For example, in health and social care, teachers coach students in examination techniques and show them model answers before they give them practice assessments and assignments. Students are well prepared and they can answer examination questions and complete written tasks to a high standard. Students in level 2 and level 3 vocational subjects pass their qualifications well, a large majority with distinction grades.

MHS students achieve exceptionally well, having arrived with very low starting points. Where outcomes are less good in a few A-level subjects, leaders and managers have implemented action plans to improve the quality of examination preparation. It is too soon to see the impact of these measures.

A-level results in the sciences and mathematics remain too low.

Suitably trained staff support students with high needs and special educational needs and/or disabilities well. Teachers and support staff accurately identify each student's support needs and put into place appropriate plans so that students can make a successful transition to college life.

Teachers adapt learning and teaching strategies to meet the needs of students across all subjects. For example, they provide remote teaching where it is needed and assistive technology for students to use in lessons. This enables students with high needs to complete set tasks to a high standard.

They gain confidence and develop greater independence. Students with high needs stay on their courses and achieve as well as, or better than, their peers across all subjects.

Leaders and teachers prepare students very well for their next steps through focused UCAS support, university visits, alumni student speakers and employer events.

A high proportion of students take part in relevant work experience placements. This means that students can make informed choices about their futures. The vast majority of students go on to university and other positive destinations, such as degree apprenticeships.

However, in too many cases science and mathematics students do not get the higher A-level grades that they require to choose more competitive university degree courses.

Governors, leaders and managers have a clear understanding of the college's strengths and areas for improvement because they monitor the quality of the provision well. When they identify areas for development, leaders use innovative strategies to make improvements.

For example, leaders use links with US schools to introduce effective peer coaching and professional development for teachers. This has contributed to clear improvements in the quality and consistency of teaching.

Leaders correctly identified the attendance and punctuality of students as an area for development.

They have put in place improvement plans that have contributed to a marked improvement in punctuality. Students do not arrive late to lessons. However, attendance remains too low in a minority of courses.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Continue to effect action plans in A-level sciences and mathematics to increase the proportion of students who achieve grades A* to B. ? Continue to implement the improvement plans to improve attendance in the subjects where it is too low.