STAFF and students at Truro and Penwith College are celebrating after receiving the highest possible rating by Ofsted at inspection.

The college retained its 'outstanding' status earned in 2011, securing a grade one in all key judgments following a four-day inspection visit in February.

Inspectors praised the quality of teaching, student support, facilities and resources, staff, and learner achievements, giving the highest possible ratings across the key judgements ‘outcomes for learners’, ‘quality of teaching’, ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’ and ‘the effectiveness of leadership and management.’

The verdict also comes two months after the Government’s official post-16 performance tables for schools and colleges put Truro and Penwith College as the best performing public 16-19 provider in Cornwall, and one of the best nationally.

The Ofsted decision comes in the same month that Truro and Penwith College received Department for Education funding approval to open a new post-16 College in Bodmin.

Callywith College has a preferred opening date of September 2017 and is committed to delivering for learners across north and east Cornwall the same high quality of facilities and achievements that Ofsted has identified at Truro and Penwith College.

Truro and Penwith College was inspected as a single entity following merger between the two colleges in 2008. Inspectors noted that “the accommodation and facilities at the Penwith site have been exceptionally well developed to match those at Truro and now provide an excellent resource”. They also confirmed that “the progress made by advanced level learners in relation to their prior qualifications is outstanding and consistently so across both the Truro and Penwith campuses”. This was the case “for both A level and vocational learners”.

The college’s significant growth and its wider regional role and influence were recognised too, with inspectors praising “impressive developments that have benefited learners and the region”. The Ofsted team again commended the governors and senior team who “have achieved a successful merger with another college, completed an ambitious building programme, increased learner numbers, and introduced new courses that meet local and regional priorities”.

Truro and Penwith College principal David Walrond credited staff and students for the “partnership, common values and aims, the hard work, and the shared sense of ownership of their college which are instrumental in creating the provision which Ofsted has rated as outstanding”.

He continued: “This is a remarkable report. It is a report about people, not simply an institution. These people are the learners, teachers, support staff and governors that make any college what it is. It is relatively straightforward to describe what outstanding in education and training should be, but it is much harder to deliver this consistently, year after year, in challenging times for the sector and for the region.

"Yet that is exactly what colleagues here have done. Their achievements are to the huge benefit of Cornwall as a whole because they are essentially about developing the skills, the aptitudes, the knowledge, and the confidence that Cornwall needs.”