Find out about all of the recent achievements of our Colleges and Schools below
NEW COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TRUST RETAINS LEADERS IN DIVERSITY STATUS
Having originally attained the prestigious award in May 2014 for New College Pontefract, New Collaborative Learning Trust successfully retained their Leaders in Diversity status, most recently in October 2020. In 2020, New Collaborative Learning Trust was also featured in the National Centre for Diversity Top 100 Index at number 29 The index highlights the very best of over 600 organisations from across the UK, celebrating commitment and excellence around equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
NEW COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TRUST ACHIEVES DISABILITY CONFIDENT LEADER STATUS
New Collaborative Learning Trust has become a Disability Confident ‘LEADER’. This is the highest tier of the government backed scheme that works with employers to remove barriers, increase understanding and ensure that people with a disability have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. Find out more about this scheme on the GOV.UK website.
NEW COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TRUST IN THE TOP 50 MOST INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES
New Collaborative Learning Trust has once again placed in the top 50 most inclusive workplaces at the National Centre for Diversity’s FREDIE awards. This award shows the exceptional work done around equality, diversity and inclusion within the Trust
TES AWARDS 2020 – SIXTH FORM COLLEGE OF THE YEAR and OVERALL FE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
New College Pontefract won the country’s highest award for its sector, claiming the title of Sixth Form College of the Year, at the TES FE Awards in 2020. So impressed were the judges by New College Pontefract, though, that they awarded the college the additional “best of the best” prize of Overall FE Provider of the Year, a title competed for by the winners of every sector in the competition. Not only does this mean that New College Pontefract is now recognised as the best post-16 FE provider in the country, it is also the first time in the history of the TES FE Awards that a sixth form college has ever won the Overall Provider of the Year title.
PEARSON NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS – FE TEAM OF THE YEAR, GOLD WINNER – SPORT AND PE DEPARTMENT
New College Pontefract’s PE and Sports Studies department won the GOLD Award as FE Team of the Year from the Pearson National Teaching Awards, following their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the students they work with every day.
PEARSON NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS – FE TEAM OF THE YEAR, SILVER WINNER – NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT SENIOR TEAM
New College Pontefract’s senior team won a silver Pearson National Teaching Award for FE Team of the Year. The award reflects the success that the leadership team have had over the past five years, with the expansion of the college, the creation of two sister colleges and the consistent outstanding success rates of all students, which have put the college in the top five of the DfE’s national tables for five years.
NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT RATED “OUTSTANDING” IN ALL AREAS BY OFSTED
New College Pontefract was inspected in April 2014 and the published report judged the college to be Grade 1, Outstanding, in every area.
The full report can be found here but the summary grades are as follows:
Outcomes for learners – Outstanding – 1
The quality of teaching, learning and assessment – Outstanding – 1
The effectiveness of leadership and management – Outstanding – 1
New College was the first sixth form college locally and nationally to be judged outstanding in every area inspected. The inspection framework is extremely robust and the bar to outstanding is particularly high.
NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT ACCREDITED BY THE TALENTED ATHLETE SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME (TASS) INITIATIVE.
New College is committed to providing young people in the local community the chance to develop their sporting ability and shine on the highest possible stage all whilst gaining an outstanding education and creating a TASS Dual Career. By formally recognising an institution’s commitment to supporting student-athletes, the TASS Dual Career Accreditation Scheme aims to allow athletes to reach their potential in education alongside achieving success in their sport.
As a Dual Career Accredited Centre, New College Pontefract will be an important extension of the network of universities that already partner with TASS, delivering core support services to more than 400 student-athletes each year.
NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT OFFERS ‘SPORTS LEADERS’ QUALIFICATION
The qualification allows our PE and Sport students to obtain a formally recognised qualification and show that they are able to lead and assist in the delivery of sport and physical activity sessions. This makes them more employable due to increased skills and improves their CVs.
NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT ACHIEVES THE AFPE QUALITY MARK DISTINCTION
The afPE Quality Mark is a prestigious award that evidences the strength and quality of Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity (PESSPA) in the college. It raises the profile of the Sport and PE subjects and the college, both locally and nationally, and promotes the outstanding work that is being undertaken on a daily basis.
NEW COLLEGE PONTEFRACT ACHIEVES WAKEFIELD WORKPLACE WELLBEING
New College Pontefract is delighted to have achieved the Wakefield Workplace Health and Wellbeing Charter. The charter has been developed by Wakefield Council to set out their vision for the creation of healthy and productive workplaces throughout the Wakefield District and to give recognition to workplaces that can demonstrate they are working to develop a sustainable culture of health and wellbeing.
NEW COLLEGE DONCASTER RATED “OUTSTANDING” IN ALL AREAS BY OFSTED IN ITS FIRST INSPECTION
In a glowing report following the inspection in December 2020, Ofsted described the college as having “a culture of very high expectations, which supports [students] to maximise their potential and achieve their aspirations.”
Students, “benefit from very high-quality teaching”, “make rapid progress in developing the skills and knowledge”, and “benefit from excellent pastoral and academic support”. “Most students progress to higher education, including prestigious universities. The number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who progress to higher education is particularly high.”
Teachers, meanwhile, “challenge students to be the best that they can be”, “demonstrate a very comprehensive knowledge of their subjects and communicate this well to students”, and “use extensively the retrieval strategies … to support students to recall knowledge in the long term”.
NEW COLLEGE DONCASTER WINS PEARSON NATIONAL TEACHING AWARD
The senior leadership team at New College Doncaster won a National Teaching Award for their success in leading the college through its first five years, culminating in their ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report published in January 2020. The Bronze Award for FE Team of the Year means they were recognised as one of the six best FE teams across the country.
NEW COLLEGE DONCASTER ACCREDITED BY THE TALENTED ATHLETE SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME (TASS) INITIATIVE.
New College is committed to providing young people in the local community the chance to develop their sporting ability and shine on the highest possible stage all whilst gaining an outstanding education and creating a TASS Dual Career. By formally recognising an institution’s commitment to supporting student-athletes, the TASS Dual Career Accreditation Scheme aims to allow athletes to reach their potential in education alongside achieving success in their sport.
As a Dual Career Accredited Centre, New College Pontefract will be an important extension of the network of universities that already partner with TASS, delivering core support services to more than 400 student-athletes each year.
NEW COLLEGE DONCASTER OFFERS ‘SPORTS LEADERS’ QUALIFICATION
The qualification allows our PE and Sport students to obtain a formally recognised qualification and show that they are able to lead and assist in the delivery of sport and physical activity sessions. This makes them more employable due to increased skills and improves their CVs.
NEW COLLEGE BRADFORD SECURED THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME FROM IT’S FIRST OFSTED VISIT
The monitoring visit, an interim Ofsted inspection for new educational providers, took place in May 2022 and the college received the highest judgement, “significant progress”, used to describe all three areas inspected. The three areas inspected included looking at the quality of the educational programme being offered to students, how well that prepared them “for their intended job role, career aim and/or personal goals”, and how well the senior leaders have ensured that “effective safeguarding arrangements are in place”. This is a fantastic step in becoming an ‘Outstanding’ provider, which is the ultimate goal for the college.
ELEVEN STUDENTS FROM NEW COLLEGE BRADFORD RECEIVED AWARDS AT THE 2022 BRADFORD CTE AWARDS
The awards, organised by the Bradford City Council Careers and Technical Education team. Aruba Bibi, one of the college’s Year 12 students, won the prestigious Public Services and Law Student of the Year award, in recognition of her exceptional efforts to develop her employability skills alongside her academic skills. In particular, the panel were impressed with the significant amounts of work experience that she has organised in national law firms and barristers chambers, as well useful mentoring.
WINGFIELD ACADEMY CHOSEN TO BE A NATIONAL LEADER ON BEHAVIOUR
The senior team at Wingfield Academy have successfully applied to be one of the DfE’s behaviour hubs, a status which highlights their success in establishing Wingfield as one of country’s leading schools in developing a culture that nurtures exemplary behaviour amongst young people. Wingfield Academy is one of only 10 new secondary school behaviour hubs announced this spring, all of which have an “exceptional behaviour culture”, according to the DfE. Following the announcement of the new behaviour hubs, schools minister Robin Walker said: “Helping schools to create calm, orderly, safe and supportive environments is key to levelling up education for children and young people.”
This school continues to be good.
The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. School leaders know the school well. Mr Wirth leads a united team in celebrating strengths and tackling any aspects of underperformance. He also constantly refines and develops systems for checking on the quality of teaching and learning with his team. As a result, leaders’ evaluations of the school are accurate and the priorities identified for improvement are the right ones. His professional and thoughtful approach to leading school improvement is highly valued by parents, staff and governors.
Redscope Primary School rated Good by Ofsted.
Pupils’ personal and academic development thrive because of the very positive learning ethos in the school and the way staff overall foster pupils’ well-being and good behaviour. Staff relationships are extremely positive and the school’s high expectations are upheld equally by parents, who show their genuine support in the way they involve themselves in school life. The headteacher, supported by an active governing body, works very hard to ensure that the school’s work is recognised in the community, and that all forms of discrimination are challenged vigorously so that every pupil has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Thorpe Hesley were judged as an OUTSTANDING school in all areas.
Schools are assessed on leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils, quality of teaching, achievement of pupils, and Early Years provision. To be awarded the top ‘outstanding’ category, the school must provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs, and leave them well equipped for the next stage of their education. Thorpe Hesley was heaped with praise, securing the ‘outstanding’ rating in each of these areas, confirming the school’s self-evaluation.
