City of Portsmouth College is ‘Good’ to go

City of Portsmouth College principal Katy Quinn and her team are celebrating a major turnaround after achieving a ‘good’ rating from education watchdog Ofsted.

The verdict is on top of a 25 per cent growth in student numbers since Highbury and Portsmouth Colleges merged three years ago.

Financial intervention by the Department for Education also ended in July after two years of economic good health.

Katy, who took over as Principal and CEO in July 2022, said she couldn’t be more delighted by the progress.“It’s been a challenging few years but we’re extremely fortunate to have a brilliant team of committed lecturers and support staff whose hard work and dedication is really paying off,” she said.

“The Ofsted inspectors were impressed by the quality of learning and facilities we offer, so much so that we were close to ‘outstanding’ in a number of areas.

“We had already identified that our apprenticeship department still requires some improvement and an action plan is well underway to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the college.”

Katy said she’s confident the college will achieve a solid ‘outstanding’ at the next inspection in around four years’ time.

Her vision is for City of Portsmouth College to define futures and lead further education learning by delivering excellence across the board, financial sustainability and outstanding quality for the people of Portsmouth and the wider Solent region.

“Great things come from Portsmouth and, thanks to the amazing team we have here, we’re now in a really good place with a fantastic platform on which to build. It’s just the start!”

The full Ofsted report can be found here.