Ofsted delivers verdict on outstanding Brighton sixth form college

By Rosy Matheson

Brighton, Hove and Sussex VI Form College (BHASVIC) has received an outstanding report from schools the education watchdog Ofsted.

In its latest inspection Ofsted awarded four key overall grades with inspectors giving the college the top grade, outstanding, for all four of them.

Chris Thomson, the principal of BHASVIC, said: “We believe this achievement is unique among colleges nationally in the current round of Ofsted inspections.

“In the last round, Ofsted inspected 203 colleges and awarded an overall grade of outstanding to only 13.

“This is a considerable achievement for all of BHASVIC’s staff, governors and students.

“We are delighted – and hope you will be too!”

Mathematics and statistics, performing arts and visual arts scored highly in the inspection.

The inspectors said: “The college’s overall success rate for AS and A-level learners, by far the largest cohort, is high, and consistently significantly better than the national average for similar colleges.”

They added: “Learners make excellent progress at the college, and some exceptional progress, with most reaching a higher level of attainment than might be expected from their starting points.”

They also praised the management, adding: “The principal, senior managers and governors have ensured that the college is very successful, and that learners make excellent progress and achieve very well.”

The inspectors suggested a number of ways to make the college better.

These included improving success rates for intermediate level courses and for the small number of poorer performing AS and A-level subjects and ensuring that the outstanding practice within the college was shared more systematically to raise the quality of provision consistently in all subjects.

The full Ofsted report can be read at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/130669.