A Good Ofsted rating for HMP Rye Hill

We are delighted to announce that HMP Rye Hill have received a 'Good' overall rating from Ofsted, recognising that learners "in education, skills and work were well behaved, polite, and had respectful relationships with peers and staff". 

Congratulations to everyone at HMP Rye Hill, it's a real collaborative effort from Novus, G4S colleagues and other supporting organisations and is making a significant difference to learner outcomes. 

Providing additional learning support for learners 

There were many positive comments within the report, including:

When appropriate, teachers and instructors used support strategies which enabled prisoners to overcome barriers to learning

"Prisoners benefited from very effective additional support within all education, skills and work activities."

"The many peer mentors who had received training in LDD gave much individual and well-considered support." 

"Teachers had a clear awareness of prisoner need, and prisoners themselves understood how best these challenges could be overcome."

It's great to see Ofsted acknowledge the additional support that is given to learners to support them in education. Many learners have barriers to accessing education from neurodiverse needs, lack of confidence in themselves and having a negative relationship with education as a whole. 

Implementing support strategies in our education delivery to meet the needs of each learner is integral to our education provision, so that all learners have the chance to access and engage in education programmes and services. 

Qualified and experienced teachers and instructors

Having a qualified and experienced team of teachers and instructors is extremely important, so that we can provide the best quality of education to learners. So, it was fantastic to see Ofsted acknowledging the high calibre of teachers and instructors that we employ, and their support and dedication to providing high quality education to learners. 

Experienced and well-qualified teachers assessed what prisoners already knew to plan interesting lessons which met their individual needs

"Teachers checked prisoner's progress frequently and gave helpful guidance to enable them to improve." 

"Leaders and managers maintained effective oversight of the quality of education, skills and work."

Developing the reading skills of learners 

In the report, Ofsted also made positive comments regarding the reading provision at HMP Rye Hill. 

Leaders and managers had adopted a successful whole prison approach to developing the reading skills of prisoners

"Teachers and trainers placed a high priority on reading in education and industry."

"Those requiring help to become functional readers were referred to an enthusiastic and trained Shannon Trust team."  

"During frequent sessions branded 'Drop Everything and Read', all prisoners put down tools, stopped their other work or set aside their education to read a book or magazine from a 'mini library' which existed in each classroom, workshop and accomodation wing." 

Our reading strategy has been a main focus across Novus establishments with colleagues implementing the reading strategy across the whole education provision, to provide more opportunities for learners to enjoy the benefits of reading. 

Over the years, we have seen excellent improvement in reading support and the development of reading groups and initiatives such as the 'Drop Everything and Read' initiative, across Novus establishments so it was great to see Ofsted acknowledge the excellent work HMP Rye Hill are doing in support of this. 

If you would like to read the report in full, you can do so here.