The commitment of staff to help students through every step of their journey has ensured City of Bath College continues to meet a national quality framework.
The College has once again achieved Matrix Standard, meeting the 27 requirements to ensure young people and adults are given high-quality help to progress their goals.
The Student Advice Centre (SAC) was praised as “a hub for information, advice and support” about admissions, finance, accommodation, careers and work experience.
The inspector’s report highlighted that potential learners are helped at the ‘First stop Shop’ throughout their college journey from pre-enrolment through to successful achievement and progression.
The SAC’s “cheerful, supportive and caring” staff were said to offer “a seamless service” with all students being made aware of the services available when they enrolled at the College.
It comes just weeks after the College received its highest Ofsted inspection, where it was given an overall grade of 2 (Good) for the first time ever.
The Matrix inspection report highlighted:
- The College’s strong commitment to help students, keeping in line with its Mission to ‘raise students’ skills in order to improve their life chances.’
- All students spoken to were very positive about the SAC, the services it provides and the information available, as were tutors.
- The SAC has a wealth of information available in a variety of formats, including a careers area with computers available, plus job vacancy boards.
- Advice given is always impartial and focused on the needs of each individual.
- The College continues to strive for continuous improvement and is pro-active in making changes that will improve life for students.
Karen Fraser, Marketing and Client Service Manager, said she was delighted that the College had once again achieved the Matrix Standard.
She said: “Information, advice and guidance is delivered by academic and support staff all over the College.
“It is thanks to these people, and their drive to continuously improve the services we offer to our staff and students, that we have been accredited with the Matrix standard for another three years.
“We require accreditation to be able to deliver the National Careers Service contract; this allows us to claim funding for helping people 19+. It is also a prerequisite of many ESF projects.
“I’d like to say thank you to the SAC team, interviewing tutors and our HR team; without the good work of these people, we wouldn’t continually achieve this standard.”
The Matrix Standard is a national standard developed by the Department for Education and the Guidance Council and is designed to assist services to identify and follow best practice in the delivery of IAG.
