Also pleased see cash reserves at record levels, despite £38m of capital investment in last two years, and low, sustainable, staff costs while annual report shows above-national-achievement-rate for 16-18s, adults & apprentices. Lucky to have such great staff & exceptional leadership team

And would the public (or even most FE folk) realise that England's biggest sixth forms include Chichester, Bedford & Exeter? Does Ofsted consider scale v population when judging our economic contribution?

64,000 students (5% of national total) are served by just two medium-sized colleges by income - WEA & City Lit. Both Nelson & Colne and Bedford enrol more students than say LTE group.

As the college group expanded fast & wide (£30m to £100m, 1 major town to 8) it made sense to transfer the academy trust to an organisation more focused on younger people. Pleased Knowledge Schools Trust is now taking forward the development of education for the Wixams community

Last Christmas may be No 1, but first Christmas is even better! Have a good break

They weren't just "job-ready", the majority of bootcampers had jobs-already, looking at the data!

Not sure about the latter, but agree on the former. A nearby college to Bedford got same results on half the taught hours, in part due to it increasing attendance levels. Imposing "how" to do something, rather than "what" always ends in tears - and eliminates innovation

Yes, sadly Stephen. A condition of funding should ideally come with generous funding, but if money is tight governments usually increase the number of duties (conditions without funding!) as a cheaper option

The attention & support has been critical Julian, I agree, but I don't believe a fair number who didn't want to do resits but subsequently achieved grade 4+, would have done so without the condition. The big variation in general L2 to L3 progression suggests variable ambition among colleges?

Yes I agree! Of 16 year olds w/out L2 English & maths, 1 in 3 now have it at age 19. Up from 1 in 10 ten years ago. This is a huge success! Not popular when it was introduced. And we can do better through more investment. But let's celebrate progress & march on. Not row back in e.g. apprenticeships.

I found it a very shallow evaluation Stephen. You are right on targeting. 40% dropout rate on “short, flexible” courses is dire. And no surprise that if you want to get a level 3 outcome it helps if you are already over-qualified, and have good fortune in terms of health and location!

I’ll look up Homelands Julian. You’ll enjoy Money, it’s very witty given the subject. That’s what prompted me to read The Wizard of Oz, which I’d never thought of as an economics allegory!