College rocked by Ofsted
Damning Ofsted probe Staff light up in no smoking areas Students’ foul language Lecturers routinely fail to challenge pupils Vice principal: ‘clearly unacceptable’
FOUL and abusive language on campus, teachers lighting up in nosmoking areas and students coasting through lessons - that is if they turn up at all.
These are the damning early findings from an Ofsted inspection of Newcastle College, according to a leaked email seen by the Chronicle.
Inspectors have spent the past week on the college’s city centre campus.
But staff were contacted by vice principal Scott Bullock on May 16 with early feedback from the fiveday audit and a call for evetyone to improve.
Although the formal findings of the inspection will not be available for some time, the leaked email will no doubt make for worrying reading for parents and guardians with children at the college.
The email states that staff are “routinely not challenging students” over poor punctuality and attendance and there is a culture of low expectations.
He also said staff had been caught smoking in no-smoking areas and are accused of “not challenging foul and abusive language in corridors and around the campus”.
Mr Bullock even added that inspectors have had to step in on some occasions to challenge mouthy and offensive students, which he described as “clearly unacceptable”.
The email states there are problems with teaching too, with lecturers not “sufficiently stretching and challenging” students in classes.
Mr Bullock ends the letter by calling on staff to put urgent improvements in place for the remainder of the week and a further email was sent on May 17 calling for more action on these failings.
His call to arms read: “Now, let’s put our best foot forward and show this inspection team that we are proud to work at Newcastle College, proud to make a difference to our students and we are all ready and willing to go the extra mile to support our students to be their best.”
Newcastle College was given a ‘good’ rating when it was inspected in 2016, although the report found apprenticeships required improvements. The college is operated by NCG, which also runs Newcastle Sixth Form College and Carlisle College. An NCG spokesperson said: “We are happy to confirm NCG is being inspected by Ofsted this week.
“As the largest provider of further education in the UK, we are committed to quality and transparency.
“This is evidenced by our successful campaigning to introduce campus-level inspections by Ofsted.
“NCG welcomes robust inspection processes and will reflect very carefully on any feedback we receive.”
Now let’s put our best foot forward and show... we are proud to work at Newcastle College Vice principal Sean Bullock