TOO many students at South Essex College are not finishing their studies and pass rates on some courses have declined, education watchdog Ofsted has warned.

In the most recent inspection of the college, which has campuses in Southend, Basildon and Thurrock, Ofsted found it still “requires improvement”, after a similar assessment in November 2013.

Chief concerns expressed in the report were.

! Course success rates were below the national average ! Pass rates on AS-level courses had declined ! Not enough students completed their A-level courses ! Attendance remained below target and more adults left their courses early than the national average.

Teaching was criticised for not allowing students to learn independently and, although the proportion of students achieving A* to C grades in GCSE maths was above average, the number was below the average in English.

However, the college was praised for having a good understanding of areas requiring improvement, for raising standards in teaching, having a high success rate with apprentices studying with subcontractors, and providing useful work experience for students.

Principal and chief executive Angela O’Donoghue said she believed the watchdogwould see a much greater improvement in 12 months.

She said: “We have made significant strides forward since the last inspection and Ofsted has recognised that.

“Unfortunately for us, we were inspected before Ofsted could see the full impact of what we have done.

“To have leadership and management achieve a grade two, with teaching, learning and assessment at grade three, is highly unusual and shows that Ofsted is happy with the journey the college is undertaking.

“While we are pleased the inspectors have recognised the huge amount of progress made over the last year, we are absolutely determined to continue on our mission to see South Essex College graded outstanding.

“I am pleased Ofsted found four of the eight subject areas it inspected to be good, including early years and playwork, hairdressing and beauty therapy, sport, and administration. The grade two for apprenticeships was also satisfying, with the inspectors praising the ‘high’ timely completion rate.”

The college has 17,389 students, two thirds of which are aged 16 to 18, with most studying vocational courses and about a tenth studying A-levels.