An Ofsted report says that the SMB group's Stephenson campus in Coalville has made 'significant progress' in the year since its last inspection.

A previous visit in February last year left the further education college 'requiring improvement' according to inspectors.

But the results of a monitoring visit in March have been published this week - and returned a better assessment.

The report says: "The focus of this monitoring visit was to evaluate the progress that leaders and managers have made in resolving the main areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection.

"Since the previous inspection, leaders have strengthened their quality assurance and improvement arrangements significantly.

"Newly appointed curriculum quality managers work successfully with leaders to drive improvements in teaching, learning, and assessment.

"Leaders have quickly introduced a highly effective 'teacher toolkit' to improve the quality of curriculum planning and teaching. Teachers consistently use a range of strategies, such as directed questioning, and recall activities effectively.

"Leaders, managers, and teachers have high expectations and aspirations for young learners.

"Teachers set challenging subject and personal targets for learners, that are frequently reviewed.

"Learners complete practical and written work to a consistently high standard. They develop their personal skills, such as teamwork, communication, timekeeping and organisation, swiftly."

The report adds the college has made progress in terms of ensuring apprentices are prepared for their final assessments, and achieve well.

It says: "Leaders and managers have taken decisive action to improve the quality of their apprenticeship provision.

"They hold useful monthly meetings to identify the few apprentices who are falling behind, and intervene swiftly to help them stay on target. As a result of these actions, the number of apprentices who have exceeded their planned end date has declined substantially.

"Achievement rates for apprenticeship courses have notably increased. The proportion of apprentices who achieve distinction grades, particularly in construction, heavy goods vehicle, and forklift truck courses, has improved significantly since the previous inspection."