Customer Success

Campus Training

Laying Solid Foundations for Quality Practices

Campus Training is an independent training provider specialising in flexible apprenticeships and learning solutions in early years and education. Led by Jo Bridger, the organisation became a directly funded provider in 2022 after previously delivering through subcontracting arrangements. With direct funding came greater responsibility. While Jo and the team had strong delivery experience and confidence in compliance requirements, preparing for full inspection and building a robust quality framework felt like a significant step.

An Ofsted Early Monitoring Visit in 2023 resulted in Reasonable Progress across all themes. This was a positive starting point, but also a clear signal that strong internal quality systems would be essential.

“Quality was very much around the qualifications and what the awarding organisations requirements were. So, the challenge for me was the steep learning curve of thinking outside of that awarding body box.”

Inspection came earlier than expected

In 2024, in her role as Chair of the provider network in Sussex, Jo heard that Mesma could help to strengthen quality practices. By meeting the Mesma team, she found a package of software and support tailored for new providers.

Before implementation could get started, Ofsted scheduled a full inspection. For Jo, the timing brought a sense of pressure. She suddenly needed confidence that their systems, evidence, and improvement plans were inspection ready.

Support from SDN Mesma Group moved quickly, providing immediate feedback, guidance, support and challenge to help Campus Training prepare that clear picture of where they were strong and where they were improving.

“I hadn’t even signed on the dotted line, but Mesma were happy to put together a development plan providing feedback and support, even out of hours, so that I got my ducks in a row for Ofsted.”

Campus Training secured Good grades across all areas of inspection.

Back to business

Following inspection, the immediate focus was to create a clear, manageable approach to:

self evaluation
quality improvement
observations

For a small provider, this needed to be practical rather than overwhelming.

A phased onboarding approach was designed around Jo’s capacity, allowing work to be completed in manageable stages while receiving regular feedback from a Mesma specialist.

This wraparound support helped to align the software with support to build the quality practices required at this early stage for Campus Training.

Confidence beyond inspection

The work with SDN Mesma Group has continued beyond inspection readiness. Campus Training has since developed its wider quality approach, including observation of practice and feedback processes. This has strengthened internal confidence and reduced reliance on external reassurance.

“It’s very much helped me with my confidence. I used SDN Mesma Group for lesson observations and feedback because I thought I didn’t know how to do it well. However, being able to sit in on those and listen has given me the confidence to conduct those lesson observations. It has given me the confidence to say “YesI can do quality".”

Using Mia – Mesma’s Intelligent Assistant

With the introduction of the AI assistant, Mia, Mesma is providing some of that specialist support she received from the Mesma team at the click of a mouse.