Paston Sixth Form College Ofsted Report

27 Apr 2011

"The College's ambition to raise aspirations amongst young people and offer them the opportunity to achieve success is outstanding. Morale amongst staff is high; they are united in striving for excellence."

Paston's was inspected in March 2011 by Ofsted and the report was published on April 26. "This is an excellent report," says Principal Peter Mayne. "It recognises our success and the journey we have made, and continue to make, in raising student aspirations and success. "I am particularly proud of Ofsted's comments on our ambition for students and the quality of our staff," he adds.

How is Paston assessed ?

Paston's performance is measured against the other 90 sixth form colleges nationally not against schools or FE colleges, where benchmarks/averages are lower. A recent government report (National Audit Office Mar 2011) identified sixth form colleges as the top performers in post-16 education. Measured against this very high benchmark Ofsted said Paston was a good college with aspects that were outstanding.

Progress since the 2008 inspection

In 2008 inspectors said Paston was a good and rapidly improving college with outstanding capacity to progress further. In 2011 inspectors noted that all areas for development identified had been addressed and significant improvement sustained.

What Inspectors say...

Strengths:

Managers and governors have very high levels of ambition for students to succeed and progress. They provide very good leadership and motivate staff to achieve high standards. Students are involved in decision making and their views are influential.

Student achievement is good. Results have continued to rise over the last three years and are above the high national averages [sixth form colleges] - particularly so on A-level and AS courses where students make very good progress compared with their prior attainment and achieve their qualifications, often with high grades.

Most students enjoy College life and their courses very much. Lessons are exciting and can be fun, and relationships with their teachers are good.

Teaching, learning and assessment are good. Most lessons observed by Inspectors were outstanding or good. Thoroughly planned lessons include a wide range of activities that interest and motivated students and technology is used effectively to support learning.

Care, guidance and support at the College are good. Very effective arrangements ensure that students are on the right course. They receive high levels of support from their teachers and tutors and their performance is monitored closely through detailed reviews and targets

Governors and managers raise the ambitions of staff and students outstandingly well. Arrangements to promote the safety of students are satisfactory: students feel very safe.

Staff promote equality and diversity very well in most aspects of college life.

Leadership, management and governance are good.

There are good partnerships with a wide range of organisations. Staff liaise well with local schools to recruit potential students and students benefit significantly from very effective links with external partners.

Areas for development:

Retention of students on lower level and vocational courses,
More opportunities for community and health education
More formal arrangements for sharing good professional practice
Higher participation in Paston's Wednesday afternoons enrichment programme.

What students say...

Inspectors say students are very positive about the College. They say ?..

Teachers are helpful, enthusiastic and approachable and there is always help, both in and out of lessons.

Lessons are exciting and fun.

Paston has a friendly, encouraging and supportive ethos

Bullying is not tolerated

Students are treated as adults and as individuals

There are good one-to-one support with useful and frequent target setting and progress reviews

They value commendation letters for exceptional work or contribution sent to students and their parents.

The wide range of visits, residential trips and involvement of external specialists.

Students would like to see more computers and social space and improved sports facilities. They would appreciate better phasing of assignments to avoid congested deadlines and more careers support for those going directly into jobs.

Verdict

"Paston is one of the highest performing "sixth forms" in Norfolk" said Peter Mayne.
"By measuring the College against other sixth form colleges, Ofsted has shown that Paston is a high performer nationally."

To view the full Ofsted report for this year, please click here.
To view the Ofsted archive, please click here.