TRANSFORMINGTOGETHER Guildford College Group and Activate Learning Consultation Document

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TRANSFORMING TOGETHER- A VISION FOR THE GUILDFORD COLLEGE GROUP AND ACTIVATE LEARNING

1. FOREWORD FROM THE TWO CHAIRS

We are very pleased to propose an exciting new partnership between The Guildford College Group and Activate Learning. Working together we will combine strength, resources and expertise to ensure the provision of a sustainable, high quality and responsive offer for residents in Surrey.

We see coming together as an opportunity to maximise the potential that Guildford College, Merrist Wood College and Farnham Sixth Form College have to deliver outstanding student outcomes and student experience. We will develop the colleges as community assets that will provide more choice and encourage the aspiration of potential learners to choose our colleges.

This new venture will provide the colleges and their staff with long-term financial sustainability, grow student numbers and create learning environments fit for the 21st century. Together we will support individuals, communities and businesses in the area and will make best use of the opportunities in the local economy for new income.

CONTENTS

1. Foreword from the two Chairs - page 1

2. Our organisations - page 3

Guildford College GroupActivate Learning

3. Our strengths - page 5

4. Our proposal - page 7

5. Why we are joining forces - page 9

6. Impact on stakeholders - page 11

StudentsStaffEmployersCommunity

7. What happens next - page 15

8. Views of stakeholders - page 16

9. How to have your say - page 17

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We will encourage and foster closer employer involvement with curriculum development and student employment; this will give our students a wider range of career pathways, give local businesses greater access to talent and provide greater opportunities for our staff. Working together will also provide expanded opportunities for engagement with national business brands.

Together we can grow colleges that are an even stronger asset to their local communities.

Having the support and backing of the communities we serve is very important to us. We would be delighted if you would read through the details of our proposed merger and let us know your thoughts. Your views will be taken into account when making our decision whether to proceed with our proposed merger.

To respond, please follow the link on page 17.

John Denning, Chairman of Governors, The Guildford College Group

Chris Jones, Chairman of Governors, Activate Learning

2. OUR ORGANISATIONS

Guildford College GroupThe Guildford College Group is the largest provider of further and higher education in Surrey, with over 9,000 students across the three sites: Guildford College, Merrist Wood College and Farnham Sixth Form College.

The Guildford College Group has almost 80 years of providing education in its central location in Guildford and benefits from some exceptional resources, which replicate real-world working environments. Merrist Wood College has a national and international reputation amongst employers and industry specialists and a long history of providing unrivalled education in the land-based sectors; while Farnham Sixth Form College is a small, vibrant college supporting students to progress on to university and professional careers.

The Guildford College Group provides a wide curriculum offer, from entry level to degree programmes; vocational training, apprenticeships, academic pathways and supported learning. The student achievement rates are improving year-on-year.

At the most recent Ofsted inspection, it was recognised that “Learners on vocational courses develop good industry-related and technical skills which prepare them well for future employment.” The majority of students go on to work in local commerce and industry, benefitting the surrounding region with their talents and skills.

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Activate LearningActivate Learning is a forward-thinking education group working across further education, higher education, schools, apprenticeships and training. The further education division comprises Banbury and Bicester College, City of Oxford College, Reading College, and from autumn 2018 Bracknell & Wokingham College is due to join the group.

We aim for far-reaching and progressive change and impact through learning. With a mission to provide work-ready talent for business and transform lives through our Learning Philosophy, we are working with 12,000 further education learners and 1,250 business clients in the local region and nationally.

Our distinctive, Association of Colleges Beacon Award winning Learning Philosophy, is based on understanding how the brain works so we can create the positive environment that empowers students to achieve high levels of motivation and overcome emotional barriers to learning.

Improvements in our core business are driven by the group’s Applied Learning Foundation, our centre for expertise and innovation in teaching, learning and assessment.

We raise aspirations by giving students a line of sight to employment and by enabling them to carve out their individual career pathway. Our group is recognised for its success in partnering with employers to design and teach programmes that are relevant for the jobs of today and tomorrow. We have worked with them to develop a set of core attributes to ensure that our students are sought-after employees who add value to the businesses they join.

3. OUR STRENGTHS

The Guildford College Group and Activate Learning are effective providers, with our successes and strengths validated by our students, business clients, partners, Ofsted, award wins and, most importantly, by the good results and progression destinations reached by our learners.

In their 2018 report, Ofsted ranked Activate Learning as Good and highlighted improvements in teaching, learning and assessment that resulted in a higher grade for student outcomes and progression.

In 2017 Ofsted graded The Guildford College Group as Requires Improvement (Grade 3). The college recognised this as a fair representation of where the college was at that point in time, as despite significant improvements, the timing of the inspection did not allow The Guildford College Group to demonstrate the impact of these changes. However student achievement and progression at the end of 2016-17 proved that these changes had made a significant impact and the college’s journey of improvement continues.

The Guildford College Group is now on an upward trend with regards to overall achievement rates. Achievement rates improved significantly for 2016-17 and are predicted to continue to improve to national average achievement rate for 2017-18.

Activate Learning has a track record of rising achievement rates over the past four years and performs above the national average.

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Guildford College Group’s strengths include:

Breadth of curriculum delivery across the three sites

High progression rates to university and employment

Unique land-based curriculum delivered at Merrist Wood College, with residential provision rated Outstanding by Ofsted

Activate Learning’s strengths include:

Experience of successfully managing mergers and establishing new schools

Four year trend of increased student success in further education

Silver provider in the higher education Teaching Excellence Framework

For A-levels we are in the top 25% of providers based on ALPS Grade 3 (Excellent). Overall students achieve in line with expectations.

Consistently strong quality reviews for higher education

Excellent reputation for the delivery of Counselling programmes

Excellent progression to employment: 35% against the regional average of 31%

High pass rates in English and maths

Three Association of Colleges Beacon awards in the last three years

4. OUR PROPOSAL

We propose that The Guildford College Group will become a member of Activate Learning, subject to financial and legal due diligence and the outcome of this consultation. The target date for the change is 1 February 2019.

The corporation of The Guildford College Group will dissolve just prior to the merger and the colleges, along with any property, rights and liabilities, will transfer to the governing body of Activate Learning. The names Guildford College, Merrist Wood College and Farnham Sixth Form College will be retained and the colleges will continue to be the further education provider that serves the Guildford and Farnham areas.

The colleges will join the group’s existing colleges in Oxfordshire and Berkshire; Reading College, City of Oxford College, Banbury and Bicester College, and from autumn 2018 Bracknell and Wokingham College is expected to join the group. This will create a forward-thinking education group that also includes Activate Apprenticeships, Activate Business School, Activate International and six schools within its multi-academy trust - Theale Green School and The Bicester School; UTC Reading; UTC Swindon; UTC Oxfordshire and Bicester Technology Studio.

The combined larger group will serve some 23,000 further education learners and 3,000 employers.

Our new venture will provide students, staff and employers in the area with new opportunities and choices, giving access to growth and development opportunities made possible by being part of a larger group with national influence.

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5. WHY WE ARE JOINING FORCES

We believe that our new partnership will be in the best interests of learners in Surrey, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Working together we will combine strength, resources and expertise to ensure the provision of a high quality and responsive offer for individuals, communities and businesses in the area.

Quality

By working together there is great opportunity to share our common and individual strengths and raise the bar in terms of quality of provision. We will combine strength, resources and expertise to ensure the provision of a high quality and responsive offer for residents in Surrey, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. We intend to raise the quality of every aspect of teaching and learning and thereby enable the colleges to meet employer demand and learner aspirations.

Sustainability

Ensuring Guildford, Farnham Sixth Form and Merrist Wood Colleges continue to deliver skills for the local community for decades to come will require a partner with financial robustness to support the operation of the colleges and accelerate growth. Together we can provide that stability and efficiencies in support through our group service structure.

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Focus on teaching and learning

We will have an improved focus on teaching and learning. Building on our complementary strengths, we have the capability to deliver outstanding student outcomes and create an exceptional student experience. Together our focus on outstanding curriculum management will raise the quality of every aspect of teaching and learning and enable the colleges to meet employer demand and student aspirations.

Community delivery

Both organisations are strong on community delivery. Activate Learning has been successful in winning funding to support disadvantaged groups in the community in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, such as the long-term unemployed, or young people not in education, employment or training. In partnership, our greater critical mass within the South East would make us even more successful.

Growth

There are growth opportunities that we can maximise, building on recent progress, such as the apprenticeship market and opportunities for both our curriculum teams to develop and grow our provision. There are other opportunities to deliver new curriculum, such as expanding our higher education offer and developing new products for the international market.

Synergy

There is significant synergy between the two organisations. The proximity of The Guildford College Group’s three colleges and Activate Learning’s campuses at Reading and Bracknell (from the planned date of 1 August 2018) mean we are working in a very similar economic context, responding to similar employer demands and workforce skills needs. Both organisations are engaging with employers in many of the same industries, engage neighbouring Local Enterprise Partnerships and have very similar conversations with local authorities and other stakeholders. All of the colleges are easily connected by train and car.

6. IMPACT ON STAKEHOLDERS

StudentsBy being stronger together we will ensure better outcomes and a better experience for our students.

Existing and incoming students at The Guildford College Group will transfer to Activate Learning and will continue on their learning programmes at the same location as before the merger.

Students will benefit from a stronger and more effective partnership that will provide new opportunities and choices, including opportunities for progression between campuses, access to better resourced and supported teachers and investment in 21st Century facilities.

The new partnership will ensure strong and responsive local colleges that serve the students, businesses and communities of Guildford, Farnham, Bracknell, Reading, Oxford, Banbury and Bicester; delivering excellent provision for students and using the greater strength of the partnership to invest in new facilities.

Students will be able to access a wider choice of programmes and opportunities across the expanded group’s campuses at Guildford, Farnham, Merrist Wood, Oxford, Reading, Banbury and Bicester. Closer working between teaching staff in all colleges will allow them to further improve provision.

Learners across Surrey, Berkshire and Oxfordshire will also have greater opportunities for apprenticeships and work-based training through Activate Apprenticeships and Activate Business School.

Students will have access to an expanded and integrated student support service. Both organisations have invested in supporting learners at potential disadvantage.

Support services will be strengthened and remain centred on the individual student.

Support includes:

– Strong focus on the internal progression of existing learners

– Weekly performance measures for advanced recruitment tracking

– Professional interview training linked to career pathway discussions with learners

– Single support plans (student support and learning support) to ensure learners have a smooth transition to college

– Activate Careers – our own, independent careers advice service

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StaffWe recognise that the quality and commitment of our staff is the key to our students’ future and success. Working together we will be able to invest even more in staff development and learning technologies. The Activate Learning informal sharing and knowledge exchange programme, Pass It On, won the Association of Colleges Beacon Award for Staff Development in 2015. This has now been incorporated into a broader portfolio of staff development tools, delivered by the Applied Learning Foundation (ALF).

The ALF raises standards by promoting a professional learning culture, targeted at individual personal and professional development needs. The ALF also acts as the nucleus for quality improvement for teaching, learning and assessment, leading research and providing strategic expertise in these subjects, with teachers deployed across faculties.

Employer engagement is central to developing and delivering relevant learning programmes that offer students a direct line of sight to employment. Together we will develop a more formalised industry immersion scheme for teaching staff and similar opportunities for our group services team members. This will be supported by the delivery of training in engaging with external businesses for key teaching staff.

Working together will offer considerable opportunities for career progression for staff, in both the academic and business support areas. This will enable the best teachers and leaders to take on broader responsibilities across both Surrey and the wider Thames Valley area, opens up opportunities for networking, sharing of best practice and staff development.

Staff will be able to access intragroup progression, such as permanent job moves or fixed-term secondments. This is supported by a well-established programme of appraisals and reviews and training in leadership and coaching, delivered by our own Activate Business School.

Benefits for business

The commitment from Activate Learning will be to encourage and strengthen the engagement of stakeholders with The Guildford College Group, both at a senior leadership level and with curriculum leaders and individual teaching staff.

Over the last three years, in advance of and endorsed by the Sainsbury Review and more recently the government’s Industrial Strategy, Activate Learning has been working to connect learning programmes with industry needs by mapping out career pathways aligned to industry sectors. Students no longer join a course, but join the first stage in their career pathway.

Together we can provide an even better service for businesses seeking apprentice provision. The Guildford College Group has an aspiration to grow its apprenticeship provision and Activate Learning would like to unlock this potential through the apprenticeship levy with the large multinational companies located in and around Surrey.

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Activate Apprenticeships is the apprenticeship division of Activate Learning, supporting over 1,250 businesses every year. Colleges in the Activate Learning group benefit from Activate Apprenticeships’ 130 FTE employees, dedicated to delivering and managing apprenticeship programmes and operating in 12 sectors: automotive, business, care, construction, digital, education, engineering, furniture, hair, hospitality, logistics and sport.

The apprenticeship levy is attracting more large employers to treat their apprenticeship programmes as a true strategic investment, and this gives us more opportunities to work with large employers in our local area. With our national delivery capability, clients who need support across the UK can be seriously considered.

Whilst employer-rich projects and assignments are commonplace within vocational delivery, we believe our A-level students are gaining an enhanced experience and better preparation for university or employment through the use of employer-designed and delivered projects and assignments. This is something we would seek to share at Farnham Sixth Form College.

CommunityThe Guildford College Group and Activate Learning both have strong track records of supporting the needs of the local community and have excellent local knowledge and stakeholder involvement. We understand the importance of building strong relationships with local authorities in the communities.

We work with over 150 schools, delivering careers advice, providing information about college options and offering a dedicated transition service for school leavers.

As a multi-academy trust (MAT), Activate Learning Education Trust includes three university technical colleges (UTCs), a studio school and two comprehensive academies. Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC is expected to join the MAT in 2018.

Our colleges will act as the hubs of our community, supporting people into employment, or to learn English to better support integration and helping people to upskill and advance their careers.

7. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Start of public consultation to hear your views.

Public consultation closes.

The two organisations consider the views received.

Results of the public consultation are published.

The governing bodies of Activate Learning and The Guildford College Group confirm their intention to merge, subject to legal process.

The Guildford College Group joins Activate Learning.

JUNE 2018

AUGUST 2018

SEPTEMBER 2018

NOVEMBER 2018

FEBRUARY 2019

March to November - Due diligence is carried out and teams from both organsations work together on the plans for the new group.

JULY 2018

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8. VIEWS OF STAKEHOLDERS

We welcome all views about our proposal and we will be formally inviting the following stakeholders to respond.

– FE and sixth form colleges

– Schools and academies

– Local authorities

– Members of Parliament

– Education and Skills Funding Agency

– FE Commissioner

– Higher Education Funding Council for England

– Local enterprise partnerships

– Our key partners and employers

– Secretary of State for Education

As part of the consultation process, we would also welcome views from any interested party including any of the following:

– Sixth Form College Association

– Association of Colleges

– Employer representative groups

– Employee representative groups

– Ofsted

– Staff

– Students

– Parents

– Third sector organisations

– Universities

9. HOW TO HAVE YOUR SAY

To respond, please provide your comments by 27 July;

- by clicking here

- visiting our college websites: www.guildford.ac.uk/transformingtogether www.activatelearning.ac.uk/transforming-together

- emailing us at principal@guildford.ac.uk.

The results of the consultation will be published on our college websites by 27 September 2018 and we will be happy to send you a copy free of charge on your request.

Guildford College GroupStoke RoadGuildfordSurreyGU1 1EZ01483 44 85 00principal@guildford.ac.ukguildford.ac.uk

Activate Learning Oxpens RoadOxfordOX1 1SA

01865 550 550enquiries@activatelearning.ac.ukactivatelearning.ac.uk