Agenda item

(Director of Governance) to consider the attached report and undertake appropriate external scrutiny of Epping Forest College.

The Chairman introduced the recently appointed principal of Epping Forest College, Saboohi Famili, who had been invited to address the committee on the recent Ofsted report (January 2017) on its ‘inadequate’ judgement of the quality of its local further education facilities and services.

Ms Famili started by saying she was happy to be sharing the plans of the college to move forward from their current situation. She had been appointed to this post in September 2016, and within five weeks they had an Ofsted visit, resulting in an ‘inadequate’ marking. The reasons for this were mainly because of lack of scrutiny of the situation and the lack of scrutiny from the governors to ensure that the problems were addressed. At this time we had also self assessed as inadequate and Ofsted had merely confirmed this assessment. She was pleased that one of the strengths identified by Ofsted was that the new leadership had accurately identified the problems that they faced.

As a result of this judgements they would now have more regular visits from Ofsted setting out the Ofsted support in the year to come and then will carry out another major inspection in 12 to 15 months; so they were looking to next April to have full inspection to prove that the college had moved away from being an inadequate organisation.

The inspectors came back on 26 January and their unofficial comments were that they were very impressed at the speed and progress that had been made and that the college was addressing the issues. She was pleased with the support she had received from both the District Council and Essex County Council safeguarding officers during this time and she was confident that the issues reported were addressed.

Part of the improvements was down to change in management and governance. She was delighted that Councillor Mohindra was now the Chairman of the Board of Governors and in the short period he had been in the chair he had invested a large amount of time in understanding the context of the problems of the college and the improvements needed.

The college was also involved in the government’s area reviews of the larger colleges and we were recommending that we remained as a stand alone organisation while we still had these problems.

Presently our actions plans, as noted by Ofsted, have clear milestones and achievement of impacts. They are living documents that are regularly updated. We also engage with our learners and have monthly forums where we share problems and tap into the talents of the young people because it was their college and we need their help to take the college forward.

The culture of the college has radically changed it no longer has the mood of despair and disappointment; and with the help of my colleagues we are turning the college around. There was still a long way to go as it cannot be changed overnight but there was a confidence that we can turn it around and engage with staff and learners. We have a key project going on called ‘Today, Tomorrow, Together’ to engage with our stakeholders as we were aware that we have also let some of our key stakeholders down, including businesses, who had to look else where for their training needs.

One of the key purposes of the college was to listen and strategically plan the future of the organisation. This ‘hiccup’ was something that we will be able to address within 12 months; there were already signs of improvement at the college which will get reported on by Ofsted on a regular basis. We have at least three more reports before we have our full Ofsted next year and one of the key things was that we look forward to the next 10 to 15 years instead of being completely inundated with the task in hand. We are looking to where we need to be to support the local economic development of the area and the workforce of the future and also be a college where you would be proud to send your children to.

The overall leadership of the college has changed, we have only one member of staff from the previous leadership team, this was due to colleagues realising that the way forward was to be different to what they have done in the past and we have had retirements and other natural departures within the organisation.

The chairman thanked Ms Famili for her presentation and asked Councillor Mohindra if he wished to add any thing.

Councillor Mohindra thanked Ms Famili and said that they were very lucky to have her as their principal. You will be aware that they were going through a significant transition and part of his and Ms Famili’s role was to create stability. They were heading in the right direction and had put the major bits in place now and have to make them work.

The Chairman asked about recruitment and if it had been difficult due to the difficulties that the college had experienced.  Ms Famili said that it had been mixed. They have been able to recruit the senior team with no problems, some being internal progressions and some external. They had just finished some recruitment last week. They were looking to get the right people in the right jobs doing the right things. They were not appointing just for the sake of appointing, they wanted to ensure that they got the right individuals to compliment the college.

Councillor Helen Kane noted that the Ofsted report showed the overall effectiveness was inadequate, leadership (too many changes), also the quality of teaching and assessment. There were serious safeguarding issues to mention just a few. The recently appointed principal understands these significant weaknesses; how confident was she and the governing body that she would turn this around. What was the time limit and who would be monitoring the action plans? Ms Famili replied that she was confident that they would turn things around. This was not a position that she took lightly, the position of the college was made clear to her at the interview. There was now a four tired monitoring plan in place to monitor the improvements. Their Actions Plans had clear outcomes and milestones which were monitored on a monthly basis through the junior leadership team of the college who report their thoughts and findings upward, finally ending up at the board of governors. That’s the level of scrutiny that this document would go through. Once every three months (roughly), Ofsted will come in and carry out a short inspection of seven agreed key themes. There will be no hiding place, Ofsted were keen to ensure the quality of every level of learning achievement. Scrutiny would also continue with the FE Commission looking at the leadership, management and governance on a three monthly basis.

Councillor H Kane responded by saying that the governing body had to challenge and scrutinise. Councillor Mohindra assured the meeting that the governing body would be robust in their scrutiny.

Councillor Murray explained that he was a teacher at Roding Valley High School and the majority of their students who did not do ‘A’ levels would go on to college. This was probably the worst Ofsted report that he had ever read over many years. He would like more details on how this had come about, it seems like it was part of an ingrained culture, where there was an ingrained weakness in the teaching culture. No one gets everything right all the time, as teaching was an impossible job to do in terms of getting everything right. He was pleased with the point made of their ability to identify the problems and to act upon it. Was their improvement plan a private document and could we see it?

Ms Famili said that there was no way they could separate the teaching culture of the organisation from the leadership of the organisation. The culture of the organisation prior to her arrival was one of blame and fear and as a result there were practices of hiding the truth. Their new culture was one that no longer hides anything. Over the last year the college has had six management information system managers and as a result the leadership of the organisation has not had a good idea of what was good quality. We now have a good teaching culture but have not addressed all the problems listed in the report. We now have an open door policy and have introduced coaches from within the college creating an environment that was proud to share and not afraid to ask for help. That was now the culture of the organisation. We have an open door policy so much so that I do not have an office in the college I sit in the foyer and my office has been turned into a meeting room. I am always available.  As for having a quality improvement plan and action plan as hidden documents - absolutely not. You can go on our website and find them. They are updated regularly. The quality improvement Action plan is available on request. It is updated every month. Not published on the website as it is a live working document.

Councillor Murray said that he found that a very reassuring answer in lots of ways and the chairman applauded her for her accessibility as she could not think of any other education establishment that had that.

Councillor Brookes asked that in view of the recent challenges was there the possibility of a merger with a more successful college? She was told that as part of an area review for the East of England; Essex being part of this noted that this was one of the aspects that were considered. Prior to her arrival the approach of the board of governors was that the college could stay as a stand alone entity. Now, further to the challenges we have faced and the Ofsted report and growing concerns about the finances of the organisation, we do have land and a good financial balance, but quality improvement was costly and planning was not as robust as it could have been, so there were some concerns as to our finance. As a result of this the Board has asked me to actively seek out other options. Currently none of the other Essex colleges that I have approached had expressed any interest in having a group structure, not a merger, but something that was of mutual benefit for infrastructure and sharing facilities with other colleges.  She has also approached colleges to the north and east of London, none have said no as yet but we are not that attractive. Once we have turned ourselves around we can then have talks with them.

Councillor Brookes noted the large turnover of teachers and asked how they could keep the good teachers and how was she tackling the culture of lateness. Ms Famili commenting about lateness said it was about the inconsistencies they had; a student might get challenged at one class but not at another. As a result students got away with turning up late. We now have attendance monitors who walk the corridors and check attendance. If a student was not attending, then they would be texted and their parents would be texted. We send out letters every half term to the household stating the attendance of the students and highlighting any problems and issues. We have reviewed our disciplinary policy so lateness was now a disciplinary matter. But more than this we try to ensure that the lessons were of the highest quality so the students would set a higher value on them and not want to miss them. We also have problems with some students who have substance abuse and are addressing their problems as well.  As for keeping our teachers one of the key elements was giving the power back to our teachers using them as professionals and let them try new things and share their successes with us and other colleges. Having said that, it was also about pay. Unfortunately we were not in a position to complete with the London Colleges, which were close by (by tube) and paid much more. It is also about the care and value we put on our staff and she was pleased to say that she was surprised by the level of interest she had received for their vacancies. We can never stop people leaving but those who stay are the ones who have the right attitude and talent for our organisation.

Councillor Dorrell noted that until recently generally everyone who went to college wanted to be there, but recently they had increased the leaving age from 16 to 18 meaning that these students may not be as well motivated, and now a lot of the higher performers go to sixth form collages. How has the college responded to this demographic change and how will it be taken forward. Ms Famili said that about 48% of students come from outside Essex and the majority of students came from North East London, getting away from the poor culture of student life of London but also bring with them levels of behaviour from there. They come here because they have heard that we were good. We need to make sure our admission process was robust and have to be consistent in enforcing of our rules. They also have people who patrol the college, keeping an eye out and sorting problems as they arise. Everyone has to play their part and address problems as they arise and not let them slide. Although this was one of the worst Ofsted reports, we thought it used quite inflammatory language and our discipline problems were not as bad as had been indicated. We have also asked our students not to tolerate this form of behaviour and have an awareness raising week where we tackle such topics as drug taking and other behavioural problems. Our culture is to raise expectations and be supportive, but at the same time not be afraid to take hard line when needed.

Councillor Wixley said that he had visited the college in December before the Ofsted report came out. He noted that the college was doing a survey of 2000 businesses within an hours travelling time of the college, and he wondered how this had gone and what were the implications of their response following the Ofsted report. Ms Family replied that the results had not been published as yet, but said she would share the outcome when it was available.

Councillor Holly Whitbread asked what percentage of students went on to University and what level of local retention was there for local businesses or other courses. She was told that 37% of students went on to university and over 80% gained employment. She did not have any figures on local retention.

Councillor Holly Whitbread then asked how the college built up relationships with local schools and if they could improve on that. Ms Famili said they had an admission and recruitment plan where they visit schools and invited them to come to the college and so are working closely together with them. Councillor Mohindra added that it was fair to say that the college had a representational problem and hoped that members would be assured enough to publicise attendance at the college and actively encourage their residents to seriously consider attending the college.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse asked if they could take on apprentices at the college. He was told that the apprentice methodology was changing and there will be new frameworks starting from May. They could continue with the apprentices that they already have but will not be able to recruit any more or grow our apprenticeships into a new areas; that is not until the next full Ofsted report comes out in 12 to 15 months time.

Councillor Lea noted that her grandson went to the college, and when there he had noted that either there were no bus services or there were problems with the buses from Waltham Abbey, resulting presumably, in low attendance. Was there a problem, and if so, should we take this up with county? Ms Famili said she would be happy if this could be done. Along with the Tube strikes, transport was an issue. She noted that some colleges allowed later start times to allow for the teenager body clocks. If there was a later start then they would more likely be on time. However, we also need to prepare young people for the world of work. Transport was definitely a key problem for punctuality.

Councillor Sartin thanked Ms Famili for her detailed and frank presentation and asked if she happy to attend again a future meeting to update the Committee on progress made. Ms Famili said that she was happy to do so and that her invitation still stood for any Councillors to come and visit the college.