AN OFSTED inspection has resulted in a drop from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ for a vocational training and apprenticeship provider in Farnham.

N&B Training was inspected over three days from August 20 to August 23, receiving ‘requires improvement’ across all subjects of assessment.

In the report published on September 30, findings described how the effectiveness of leadership and management was unsuitable, as “leaders and managers do not identify accurately the strengths and weaknesses of the provision”.

Improvement plans were also “overly long and complex” and not all staff members were “suitably skilled to support apprentices at the correct level of study”.

Leaders and managers of N&B Training were also found to “have not yet addressed all of the recommendations from the previous inspection” and that “learners’ progress in developing mathematical and English skills remains too slow”.

Furthermore, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment was found to be “not consistently good for all learners”.

However, inspectors found training coordinators with “new cohorts of childcare apprentices” are able to “identify quickly apprentices’ gaps in knowledge” and work closely and “successfully with apprentices to motivate them” in their programme.

Sam Clark, N&B Training managing director, said the team were “clearly disappointed” by the findings, as “a majority of the judgements were based on a small cohort of learners”.

She described how N&B has been “delivering apprenticeships since 1998” and has “supported thousands of learners”.

Sam added: “The change in government policy and the dramatic cut in funding for the apprenticeships we deliver have had a huge impact on our sector as a whole and many providers have suffered as a consequence.

“While we take on board Ofsted’s comments regarding our business apprenticeships, our first learners on the new apprenticeship standards have achieved with distinctions.”