Marple Sixth Form College OFSTED report

[Dave]

I have 2 children at the college. I never understood people that send their kids miles away when we have a college on the doorstep.

I sometimes wonder if the results could be different if most local children attended rather than the sharp elbowed seeking 'the best' for their children and congregating them at Aquinas.

One of the main reasons for people sending their teenagers out of Marple to do A levels is the poor choice at Marple. For example, as others have pointed out, the college no longer offers Music or German A level, which is hopeless, and also sad, as the college used to have an excellent music department.

Two of our kids went to Marple, but the third had to go to Aquinas, not because we were 'sharp-elbowed' (whatever that means), but because he needed to do A level Music. He has now fulfilled his ambition to be a professional musician - but no thanks to Marple 6th Form College!

Marple is a medium-sized town with a population of 23,000, and its monopoly provider of post-16 education should offer a full range of A levels.

[Henry01]

I am surprised by the lack of Music and German A-levels, which, nationally, are fairly mainstream.
For the record - both of my children went through A-levels at the College in Marple.

The decline of German A level nationally is a shame. See stats:

German A level entries:
2002: 6367
2015: 3624

Spanish:
2002: 4430
2015: 7607

I think we can see what has happened here. German is now as mainstream as Performing Arts and Communication Studies A levels (I believe the latter has now been dropped entirely by the government).

[hollins]

The courses (A-level and vocational) on offer at the Marple Campus are listed at
http://marple.cmcnet.ac.uk/course_category/courses-a-z/

Judge for yourself about the range of A-levels, but, even as a scientist, I am surprised by the lack of Music and German A-levels, which, nationally, are fairly mainstream. On the other hand, you can do lots of Sports BTECs.

For the record - both of my children went through A-levels at the College in Marple.

[Henry01]

I attended the opening evening last night and was impressed by the enthusiasm of the staff and the general feel of the place, especially when compared to my visit two years ago when the old campus was still open. They have clearly invested in the future of A levels with new science labs etc. The literature I was given states that Physics has 100% pass rate with 71% high grades so I don't really understand the scaremongering about the quality of science provision. There has been a marked improvement in science and maths results compared to two years ago. Despite my best efforts to persuade them to pursue sciences (like me!), my children have followed arts/humanities routes and my youngest spent a lot of time talking to the teachers and spoke positively about the experience.

I have looked over the Ofsted report which was on the whole very complimentary, but you do have to bear in mind that it incorporates Cheadle College which is a completely different animal. This did make it difficult for me to establish which college the comments referred to.

[JMC]

I have 2 children at the college. I never understood people that send their kids miles away when we have a college on the doorstep.

If a child works hard they can do well anywhere. I know several pupils whom have gone on to Oxbridge from CAMSFC..

I sometimes wonder if the results could be different if most local children attended rather than the sharp elbowed seeking 'the best' for their children and congregating them at Aquinas..

Either way, in my opinion the college has improved in the last couple of years. It is great having pupils using the shops in Marple at lunchtime too.

It is harder to get a good rating now so the improvements must be significant. Also there are always to improve on.

[andy+kirsty]

What makes you think that a centre with no experience of A-Level delivery would be any better?

Does MHS have the capacity to add in further A-Level classes on the timetable?

What breadth of provision can there be with a cohort of 100 or so?

What impact would this have on the rest of the school?

(Also I wasn't aware that it did block MHS from starting a Sixth Form)


A.

Sadly and reluctantly, I'm with Corium on this. For those who are, or whose children are, wanting to do A-levels at Marple College - particularly in Science and Mathematics - I think you need to read that report carefully ... very, very carefully. You probably need to go and visit the science labs too.

The College is manifestly doing an excellent job delivering vocational courses, and deserves commendation for that, but its aspirations for A-level students are nowhere near as high. It cannot be allowed to block Marple Hall from starting a Sixth Form unless it delivers good A-level provision itself.

[Cyberman]

Having now had time to read the report fully I agree with aspects of the previous posts - the college doesn't seem to challenge some learners as much as it could - particularly high achievers. However I was impressed with the teachers.

I did visit 2 years ago and was not very impressed by the facilities (mostly in the Hibbert Lane site) or some of the teachers, who seemed a bit too laid back. But when I visited a couple of weeks ago both these issues had been addressed - facilities were OK, and teachers seemed motivated and competent.

There's another open day soon - I will go again and ask some post OFSTED questions

[hollins]

Sadly and reluctantly, I'm with Corium on this. For those who are, or whose children are, wanting to do A-levels at Marple College - particularly in Science and Mathematics - I think you need to read that report carefully ... very, very carefully. You probably need to go and visit the science labs too.

The College is manifestly doing an excellent job delivering vocational courses, and deserves commendation for that, but its aspirations for A-level students are nowhere near as high. It cannot be allowed to block Marple Hall from starting a Sixth Form unless it delivers good A-level provision itself.

[corium]

Having looked at the report in detail I was slightly surprised at all the "goods" given the number & nature of the subjects where it was felt learners were not being pushed to reach their potential (sciences, maths, history,etc.) but I don't know the benchmarks. Based purely on the report I'd have expected to see at least one further "requires improvement"

I do think the college has some way to go though given the number of local pupils who seem to opt to "anywhere but Marple". My daughters were unimpressed with the way many college staff presented themselves when they chose to go elsewhere and at the time I shared their opinion - to be polite lets just say several staff members were condescending in the extreme and needed to spend more time promoting the college & less time about the inconvenience of their having coming in during the evening . A few years later & my son got exactly the same overall impressions (there were exceptions); I'd like to say from the staff, except that for some "big" subjects they didn't turn up on one of the open evenings just leaving current students to field questions - that told him all he needed to know & he's gone elsewhere as well

[My login is Henrietta]

The latest OFSTED report has been released - here.

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/130515

Pleased to see its overall good. All aspects are "Good" except for the Apprenticeships section which "requires improvement". In the previous inspection (2014) the Outcomes for Learners section was "requires improvement". Looks like the management team are now focussing their efforts on their students (sorry - learners) rather than on selling their land to Asda.

I went to an open day there recently and was very impressed by the attitude and professionalism of the staff. Another thing we can be proud of in Marple!

Shame there aren't more outdoor facilities nearby to occupy the students in their spare time. If only Marple had a decent skatepark...

When I was teaching and writing pupil reports "Good" was considered to be "Damning with faint praise".

[admin]

If only Marple had a decent skatepark...

Working on it https://localgiving.org/fommp

[Cyberman]

The latest OFSTED report has been released - here.

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/130515

Pleased to see its overall good. All aspects are "Good" except for the Apprenticeships section which "requires improvement". In the previous inspection (2014) the Outcomes for Learners section was "requires improvement". Looks like the management team are now focussing their efforts on their students (sorry - learners) rather than on selling their land to Asda.

I went to an open day there recently and was very impressed by the attitude and professionalism of the staff. Another thing we can be proud of in Marple!

Shame there aren't more outdoor facilities nearby to occupy the students in their spare time. If only Marple had a decent skatepark...