Ofsted award top marks to Henshaws College

Henshaws College is celebrating after receiving a glowing Ofsted report and a raft of IT awards.

The college was commended by Ofsted as promoting a strong culture of continuous improvement and promotion of excellence, and achieved the highest grade of ‘significant progress’ across all five inspection themes.

 The college’s high level of learner achievement was particularly praised, in addition to the vocational curriculum offered in practical environments of hospitality, retail and admin, horticulture, media, and arts and crafts. The inspectors visited the café and shop at the Arts & Crafts Centre in Knaresborough to observe the students in training.

In addition to this success, Henshaws College was nominated in five of the eight categories at the Yorkshire and Humber Further Education IT Evolution Awards.  Senior curriculum manager Christine Sherman won the Regional Leadership Award and the ICT curriculum team scooped the Innovative Practice Award. Tutor Paul Scott was also a finalist in three categories.

Part of the charity Henshaws Yorkshire, the college is widely recognised for maximising technology to boost student achievement. It has invested in a range of mobile technology – including digital voice recorders, cameras and video cameras – as well as high tech tools for the kitchen, specialist music equipment and multimedia white boards for teaching areas.  At present, the college is focusing efforts on fundraising to secure state-of-the-art technology for an innovative media centre, which will further enhance students’ skills.

College principal Caroline Smale said: “Henshaws College is delighted to have got 2010 off to such a magnificent start. It is wonderful to have had an excellent report from Ofsted: it is extremely satisfying to confirm that we are providing the best learning environment for our students.

“Receiving two IT Evolution Awards and five nominations is the icing on the cake, and congratulations must go to all the hard working staff who thoroughly deserve this success. The college is committed to the innovative use of technology because it enables our students to gain independence and employability skills, and prepare them for their future lives. This is particularly important in helping to overcome the challenges posed by visual impairment and additional physical disabilities and learning difficulties.”

The Evolution Awards were created to recognise regional success with e-learning. Nominations come from across the higher education, further education and skills sectors, recognising those individuals or teams using technology for the benefit of learners.