London council proposes taking over further education in borough

Southwark Council has urged the Further Education Commissioner to back its plan to remove Southwark’s further education offer from Lewisham and Southwark College and bring it under the local authority’s control.

The move, if implemented, would see the creation of a new college in Southwark.

The proposals are contained in a prospectus, Raising standards and skills in further education in Southwark. This also sets out plans for a specialist construction skills centre at the Elephant and Castle.

The original Southwark College was inspected by Ofsted in December 2011 and its provision was found to be 'inadequate'.

This outcome coupled with significant financial problems led to its merger with Lewisham College (which had been judged to be 'satisfactory' by Ofsted).

However, since then the merged college has received two 'inadequate' judgements in November 2013 and February 2015.

In a letter to the FE Commissioner, Southwark’s Cabinet Member for Children and Schools Cllr Victoria Mills said: "We strongly believe that for too long our residents have been let down by the further education offer in Southwark. Solutions have been tried, but each has been left wanting. 

“Students are coming out of Southwark’s schools with great potential to build on their personal success. And as a borough we are job rich. The employment opportunities in Southwark are simply fantastic thanks to the highly ambitious regeneration of the borough by the council and our partners. Sadly, there is no high quality local college of choice to help make the transition between the two.”

She added: "Now, more than ever, we need to start afresh and look at new solutions to give our learners the best opportunity to realise their potential. This is not about finger pointing at the past. It is about signposting to the future.”

Cllr Mills said Southwark’s plan was based on the council working in step with employers and schools to match skills to local job opportunities through a commissioned approach to learning. 

It also demonstrated “where and how local authorities can play a bigger role in developing skills and raising standards in FE locally through a devolved model of delivery”, she added.