College celebrates after its latest Ofsted inspection

East Durham College, which has campuses in Peterlee and Durham City, has again been graded as ‘good’ by education watchdog Ofsted.

Inspectors visited the college over two days last month.

They said that ‘governors, senior leaders, managers and staff have sustained the good quality of education and training at the college that was seen at the previous inspection’, which took place in 2014.

They also said that the college had ‘strengthened further the attention on improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment’.

Suzanne Duncan, East Durham College’s principal and chief executive, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of our recent inspection and that the report has highlighted many of our strengths.

“On behalf of myself and the governors, I would like to thank all our wonderful staff for their hard work throughout the year which ensures that our students have a high quality learning experience at all times.

“We look forward to continuing to improve the college and enhancing the positive difference we can make to lives and futures of our wonderful students.”

The report compiled by the inspectors stated that ‘learners benefit from excellent practical resources at the college’ and ‘the substantial investment in physical resources has a positive impact on enabling learners to gain the skills that employers value and need’.

It added that ‘learners behave very well at college and demonstrate high levels of respect for each other and college staff’.

David Butler, chair of governors at East Durham College, said: “We are delighted that Ofsted recognised the very good progress we have made since our last inspection and that the college has a large number of key strengths.

“I look forward to working with my fellow governors, the college leadership team and staff to ensure the college continues to go from strength to strength.”

The college’s nursery Positive Steps, which is also regularly inspected by Ofsted, was also graded as ‘good’ at their last inspection.