QUALITY

Quality at iO-Sphere

Who checks our work, how we check it ourselves, and where we are with Ofsted.

Last updated

Organisation
iO-Sphere Limited
UKPRN
10094788
Regulated by
Ofsted (apprenticeships)
Awarding organisations
NCFE and The AI Board, both recognised by Ofqual
Apprenticeships
Funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, delivered across England
Skills Bootcamps
London, funded by the Greater London Authority; Oxfordshire, with Enterprise Oxfordshire and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions

Ofsted

Ofsted inspects our apprenticeships. We are a new apprenticeship provider and Ofsted has not yet carried out our first inspection, so we do not have a report yet.

That first inspection is a new provider monitoring inspection, which Ofsted normally carries out within 18 months of a provider starting delivery. We entered that window in summer 2026, so the inspection can come at any point now. Inspectors judge the progress we are making in four areas: leadership and governance, inclusion, curriculum and training, and safeguarding.

Ofsted publishes its findings as an interim report card. We will link to it here as soon as it is published.

External quality assurance of our qualifications

The qualifications our learners earn are awarded by two awarding organisations, both recognised and regulated by Ofqual. Each one externally quality assures our delivery: its quality assurers review our assessment decisions and our internal quality assurance.

NCFE

Awards the NCFE Level 3 Certificate in Data that learners earn on our Skills Bootcamps.

The AI Board

We are an approved centre for The AI Board, which awards the AIB Level 3 Award in AI: Concepts, Ethics and Applications (610/6527/4).

The AI Board and iO-Sphere share directors. As Ofqual expects, The AI Board keeps its quality assurance of our centre separate from them.

What we deliver

Apprenticeships. Data and AI apprenticeships for people employed in England, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy. See our apprenticeships.

Skills Bootcamps. Free data bootcamps for adults in London, funded by the Greater London Authority, and in Oxfordshire, delivered with Enterprise Oxfordshire and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions. Each funder monitors our delivery and our learners' outcomes under its contract. See our Skills Bootcamps.

How we assure quality ourselves

  1. 01

    Coaches who have done the job

    We recruit coaches for several years of industry experience in the subject they teach. Every coach is observed regularly, coached, and keeps up their own professional development.

  2. 02

    Assessment checked by a second person

    Each programme area has a lead internal quality assurer (IQA) with experience in that curriculum. IQAs check a sample of marked work, and check more of it where the risk is higher, such as a new assessor or a new qualification.

  3. 03

    Standardisation every term

    At least once a term, assessors and IQAs meet to mark the same learner work, discuss borderline decisions and agree how the criteria are read. What they find feeds staff development and our improvement plan.

  4. 04

    An honest look at ourselves every year

    Each programme team writes an annual self-assessment report covering achievement, retention, progression, attendance, and learner and employer feedback. It produces a quality improvement plan of specific, dated actions.

  5. 05

    A Quality Board that follows it through

    Our Head of Quality chairs a Quality Board that reviews the improvement plan, the risk ratings and the assessment outcomes every term, and acts on the findings of deep dives into individual curriculum areas.

Our commitments to you

  • Your work is marked fairly and consistently, and the marking is checked.
  • You are taught by people who have worked in the field, and who keep learning themselves.
  • Your feedback, through surveys and reviews, shapes what we change.
  • If something goes wrong, you have a clear route to raise it through our complaints policy, and to the funder or awarding organisation if you are not satisfied.
  • We publish our Ofsted report on this page as soon as Ofsted publishes it.

Read our Complaints Policy, Safeguarding and Prevent Policy and Whistleblowing Policy.

Questions about quality?

If you are an employer, funder or partner and want to know more about how we assure quality, get in touch.

Get in touch