Students and staff at Exeter College are celebrating following the publication of a glowing report from the Government’s monitoring body, Ofsted.

The monitoring progress report follows a visit from the Ofsted inspectors in March which tested the teaching, learning and leadership across the college and scored the college the highest marks in seven out of the eight categories.

“We’re absolutely delighted that the college has been recognised as making such fantastic progress”, said Richard Atkins, Principal, “since it clearly demonstrates that we have made considerable progress since our last full inspection in 2008.”

Ofsted particularly noted “a culture of high expectations and ambition” and how the College “now engages in highly insightful and penetrating self-assessment that leads clearly to specific strategies to improve outcomes for students”.

John Laramy, Deputy Principal commented “These sorts of accolades from Ofsted are quite rare and it is a real testament to the college’s determination to provide the best possible student experience. The report also gives clear evidence of the commitment, care and talent of our staff. Which when combined with the effort and ability of our students is delivering some truly excellent results”.

A large part of the report focuses on the significant progress made with student achievements across all areas and that working closely in partnership with schools it has “jointly put in place ….. courses that meet students’ needs very well” . Continuing its praise for the college’s role in the community the inspectors add that the college has “broadened its curriculum in a planned way to ensure that it can continue to play a leading role in providing all the tertiary education and training for the city of Exeter and its hinterland”

“This is a report that celebrates also the success of our school partnerships raising the ambitions of our students,” said Richard Atkins, “We are very proud that our work with colleagues in the local schools has contributed to increasing the numbers of students who stay in education and training after year 11”. The report states that there is “compelling evidence of the success of the collaborative arrangements to provide a coherent, well planned 11-19 phase for students in and around Exeter”.

The report also celebrates that “A large majority of students on advanced level courses make outstanding progress and attain at a higher level than might be expected from their prior levels of attainment when they enter the college”

“Following on from our great league tables results earlier this year, this brilliant Ofsted report shows that we are continuously improving , but we are not complacent” Richard Atkins added, “In fact, the report gives us a couple of areas that we can clearly focus on to ensure that we are outstanding across the board”.

Kurtis Schofield, Exeter College’s Students’ Union President welcomed the report that signaled the continued achievements of students and said “It’s important that students at the college get the best possible chance of doing well since it’s so competitive getting a job or going onto university now. I’m really pleased that this reports reflects the good feedback we get from students and that the college is being praised for continually checking out how it can support students. This is another big step towards the outstanding Ofsted rating we deserve”.