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Inspectors have praised staff at Stoke College for delivering a generally sound education to students despite "serious failings" in the leadership and the institution's "severe financial difficulties".

The Further Education Funding Council inspection of Stoke-on-Trent College was carried out between May last year and this January. During this period the college was rocked by allegations of bullying and mismanagement. In late December the director Neil Preston and marketing director Helen Chandler were dismissed. The inspection report, published yesterday, awarded the lowest grading, a five, for governance and management.