THE acting principal of Birmingham Metropolitan College says he is “confident” improvement measures put in place will be successful after the college was hit with a third ‘requires improvement’ rating by Ofsted.

BMet, which runs the Stourbridge College campuses in Hagley Road in Stourbridge and Venture Way, Brierley Hill, has been ordered to make a raft of improvements – according to the education watchdog’s latest report, published last Friday (November 23).

Inspectors said in the report, which followed an inspection last month, that “significant weaknesses from the previous inspection remain unsolved”.

Cliff Hall, who has taken over as interim principal and chief executive at BMet following the departure of Andrew Cleaves in September, this week admitted “there is further work to be done”.

But he was keen to highlight the positives in the report which rated Apprenticeships, adult learning programmes and personal development, behaviour and welfare at the college as ‘good’ but which listed the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, the effectiveness of leadership and management, outcomes for learners, 16 to 19 study programmes and provision for learners with high needs as requiring improvement.

Summarising their key findings, inspectors said recent actions by leaders and managers had yet to improve the standard of teaching, learning and assessment and that governors had not been holding leaders to account fully due to lack of information received regarding students’ progress. It also said too few study programme students had access to external work experience to develop skills employers value and that not enough teachers used information about student starting points well enough to plan learning so all students made good progress.

Mr Hall, however, insisted: “The recent report from Ofsted recognises that significant improvements have been made across the college since the last inspection.

“We have increased achievement rates on the large majority of courses including level 3 diplomas, A levels, English and maths qualifications.

“We are also pleased that Ofsted once again rated our apprenticeship provision as good and have now done the same with our adult learning programmes and the important work we carry out across personal development, behaviour and welfare.”

He said the college was “already getting on with a clear plan that reflects the high expectations and determination of our staff to achieve the best outcomes for our students” and he added: “New measures have recently been in place to continue improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment at BMet and we are confident they will be successful.

“We remain proud to be known as a college that is highly responsive to the needs of students and businesses within Birmingham and the region.”

To read the report in full click here.