Accreditation and Inspection

The purpose of inspection is to ensure that Abbey College Cambridge is an institution that delivers high quality education in a safe and appropriate environment.

Findings of the Formal Inspection carried out by Ofsted in November 2010

Abbey College Cambridge was graded Outstanding by the Inspectors as a consequence of their findings during their formal inspection in November 2010.

Extracts from the report dated 16/17 November 2010 - the full report is available here.

Evaluation
"Abbey College provides an outstanding quality of education.  It admits students with a range of prior academic skills and varying levels of competence in understanding and speaking the English language.  Students are very well focused on gaining the skills and qualifications necessary to get them into their university of choice.  As well as their high academic success, students build good skills in spoken and written English and develop valuable personal and social skills.

Arrangements for safeguarding students are good and the college meets all the regulatory requirements.  Outstanding features, including the curriculum provided and the behaviour of students, combine to contribute to the college's overall success in developing young adults who are mature and prepared extremely well for their future lives."

Quality of education
"The overall quality of education is outstanding.  The curriculum is outstanding because it is so well tailored to the needs of the students.  For younger students, there is a good range of eight GCSE courses which include three sciences, as well as accredited non-GCSE courses in sports and personal and social education.  Taken in a one-year intensive course, this is very good preparation for the sixth form.  Sixth form students are offered an excellent range of possible combinations of A and AS levels that can be taken over 18 months or two years, depending on the intensity of study required.

Teachers assess the academic progress of their students very frequently.  The 'stage tests' every three weeks point to possibilities of anyone falling behind, and trigger positive responses from tutors and teachers.  Termly and half-termly assessments and module tests help to create and sustain the drive and motivation that students generally have.  Public examinations, university entrance papers and the Olympiad competitions are the final assessments and motivations for many students."

Results
"Results are outstanding.  The college's results place them in the top ten of independent colleges in England, with, for example, 32% of A level passes being at A* grade in 2010.  Similarly, 70% of passes were graded either A* or A, and 93% were in the A-C range.  Significant numbers of students attain Advanced Extension Awards (AEA) to improve their chances of gaining places at their chosen university.  Twenty students have gained entry to Oxford or Cambridge universities in the past two years, as well as to top Schools of Economics and specialist universities for dentistry, medicine and veterinary science."

Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills