Boom Training’s full inspection report

The result?  An overall outcome of ‘Good’ which is a really solid endorsement of the quality of our provision and means we might not receive another visit for seven years.

Having had a monitoring visit from Ofsted in February we were a little surprised to receive a call to let us know we were to have a full inspection during the last week in June.  But we are always ready so we were happy to support the 5 inspectors who spent 4 days undertaking ‘deep dives’ into our provision.

Here are some of the things they said:

• “Apprentices benefit from skills and expertise of well-qualified and experienced tutors”
• “Tutors plan training thoroughly to ensure apprentices develop quickly the Knowledge Skills and Behaviours (KSBs) they need to be effective at work”
• “Tutors help apprentices increase confidence rapidly, take on more responsibility and quickly become valuable employees”
• “Apprentices enjoy their learning and rightly value the KSBs they gain”
• “Apprentices develop professional behaviours well to become effective employees”
• “Tutors have high expectations of apprentices' behaviour in learning and work”
• “Apprentices behave professionally and approach learning enthusiastically”
• “Employers value the new KSBs apprentices develop”
• “Employers benefit from apprentices' improved and positive attitudes to their job”
• “Retention of apprentices by their employers at the end of their apprenticeship is high and many benefit from career progression with respect to both responsibility and salary”
• “Management apprenticeships are effective in helping those with limited experience become effective managers and senior leaders”
• “English, Maths and Digital skills are embedded well for most apprentices so they improve these throughout their training”
• “Leaders use feedback from employers and learners effectively to support ongoing quality improvement”

It’s worth saying that we had an unusually high response rate to the surveys Ofsted issued to both employers and apprentices and we were genuinely blown away by the amazingly positive comments so many employers and apprentices made, as well as giving us some fantastic scores.

However, there are always areas for improvement and, in the spirit of balance, here are some of the things we’ll be working on in the coming months:

• “Most employers do not have enough involvement in the structure or content of training... Apprentices can't always practice new skills they learn straight away in the workplace.” 

We’ve already put a number of changes in place to address this, even prior to inspection.  For example:

1. Tutors have started to hold meetings with Line Managers/Mentors before the apprentice programme starts to ensure they have a very clear understanding of their role and how they will need to work with the tutor during the programme
2. We now track employer attendance at the quarterly Progress Review meetings so we can measure the level of employer engagement in these
3. The Progress Review documentation has been updated to secure more meaningful input and feedback from employers

• “Apprentices do not benefit from useful impartial careers advice and tutors only discuss progression with current employers.”

We already hold progression discussions with apprentices and employers throughout their programmes.  We will be enhancing these with some additional, more general careers advice.

You can read the full report here.