Learning Curve Group graded ‘Good’ by Ofsted

County Durham-based national education provider Learning Curve Group (LCG) has maintained its ‘good’ grading after a short Ofsted inspection.

Inspectors who visited over two days in July praised the company for meeting the needs of a wide range of learners through a clear and ambitious strategy.

Founded in 2004, the Bishop Auckland business has grown rapidly to become one of the UK’s largest training and recruitment specialists.

LCG employs around 300 full-time staff and 250 associate tutors, and has an annual turnover of £25m.

The standards inspectorate said LCG has “a clear and ambitious strategy to provide education and training to meet the needs of a wide range of learners and apprentices”.

It also highlighted the positive relationships managers sustain with employers, which meant they return for additional training and work with LCG to provide innovative solutions.

LCG Chief Executive Brenda McLeish said: “It is extremely satisfying that, even with our diverse range of offerings, all areas of the business have been highly praised by Ofsted.

“I am very proud of the dedication that our staff put into delivering high quality training and transforming the lives of our learners.

“It is very rewarding to know that this has been recognised with our ‘good’ award.”

LCG provides training programmes, such as flexible learning, apprenticeships and mathematics and English qualifications, to help those looking to develop their workplace skills and for employers seeking to eradicate skills gaps.

Recently awarded Investors in People Gold Standard, the company is currently recruiting nationally for a variety of roles while working closely with blue chip companies.

Its provision includes operating two North East Skill Centres which offer construction courses, and three military preparation centres in Yorkshire.

These centres were commended by Ofsted for helping learners to make good progress, often from low starting points.

Fifty-percent of learners at the military preparation centres successfully completed their course and progressed into Army careers in 2015-16.

During the visit, two Her Majesty’s Inspectors and three Ofsted Inspectors observed teaching, learning and assessment sessions, viewed key documents and spoke to learners, apprentices and employers.

They found learners used good quality resources that improved their subject knowledge and skills and helped over 23,000 people achieve last year.

And they highlighted LCG’s flexible learning programmes, which they said continued to meet learner need, and highlighted a good induction process which provided useful information.

Her Majesty’s Inspector Rachel Angus said: “Tutors effectively develop learners’ personal and job-related skills, such as confidence, communication, independent research, and the ability to identify and self-correct errors within their work.”