Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy

Inspection of Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy Reevy Road West, Buttershaw, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD6 3PX

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 7 and 8 February 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Trust and school leaders are aware that they have a lot to do to provide a good standard of education for pupils in their care. Pupils do not make the progress that they are capable of because learning is often disrupted by poor behaviour. During the inspection, inspectors saw many examples of pupils showing a lack of respect for staff and each other. There are a significant minority of pupils who use derogatory language and swearing.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils say that they feel safe in school. They say that bullying does occur, but when it does it is mostly dealt with by staff. Leaders keep robust records of bullying incidents. Some pupils do not enjoy their lessons due to the negative attitude, poor manners and inappropriate language of other pupils. Leaders have introduced new systems to help pupils make the right behaviour decisions in their lessons. Staff and pupils have confidence in the new headteacher.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The range of subjects pupils study at key stages 3 and 4 are broad. However, subjects such as geography, physical education and technology, do not cover the full national curriculum. This is being addressed. The curriculum is narrow for pupils in alternative education provisions. Leaders lack ambition for a significant minority of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education is well planned and delivered by a large team of staff. Staff support most pupils well in preparing them for the next steps into education, employment and training. However, much of the programme is new and not embedded.

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better?

The actions that leaders are taking are starting to have an impact. Pupils’ attendance has improved recently as a result of leaders’ actions. The designated safeguarding leader has introduced robust systems to support the attendance work of the team.

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better?

Not all pupils with SEND in provisions based in school receive the support that they are entitled to. A significant minority of pupils do not study the same curriculum as their peers. Subjects are chosen for them and they do not study the full curriculum offer. This means that often they do not have the knowledge for future learning to be successful. The curriculum for these pupils is narrower than their peers.

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better?

Teachers appreciate the training that they receive to improve their teaching. This includes early career teachers. Much of the training is researched based and teachers use this to teach lessons that are designed to interest pupils. However, too many lessons are disrupted by pupils who do not behave well. This means that lessons do not always reach the intended end point, so pupils learn less than they should. 7 and 8 February 2023

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Teachers have secure subject knowledge and, in most subjects, they present this in a clear way. In some lessons, teachers do not address pupils’ misconceptions quickly enough. Sometimes, teachers do not use assessment to make the necessary adaptations to their teaching, leaving future topics harder for pupils to understand. In stronger subjects, such as languages and science, teachers make better use of assessment to help address pupil misconceptions.

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A number of pupils in the school’s internal alternative education provisions are studying on part-time timetables and some start and leave school at different times to their peers. Some pupils who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan and those with SEND are not receiving an education that meets their needs. The attendance of these pupils is very low. They are not given the same opportunities as their peers. A significant minority of pupils have been on part-time timetables for a long time. In some cases, this is a mechanism to try to improve behaviour. While they are reviewed regularly, they are often inappropriate as they do not meet pupils’ needs.

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Leaders are struggling to manage the volume of pupils at alternative education provisions. Some of the provisions are based in the school and some external. Leaders do not have enough oversight of the quality of education at the provisions. Quality assurance of pupils’ work is not effective. Leaders’ record-keeping is poor.

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Leaders have a strategy to improve reading. Pupils are benefitting from more opportunities to read. However, the impact of the strategy is not clear as leaders do not track it well enough. They are aware of this and are addressing the issue effectively.

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Pupils enjoy their personal development programme. They have an understanding of different cultures and protected characteristics. They know how to stay safe and know who to speak to if they are worried or concerned. During the inspection, the entire Year 7 cohort visited the theatre. Pupils reported that they enjoyed the experience. However, the personal development programme does not allow pupils sufficient opportunity to learn about fundamental British values.

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Trust leaders are aware of the challenges that they face to improve the school. While they have a structure in place to support school leaders, much of this is new. It is too soon to see the impact. Teachers say that they feel supported by leaders, for example in the reduction in work load.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school employs a strong team of staff to lead on safeguarding. Training to support staff is of high quality. Staff know who to go to if they have a concern and leaders respond effectively to individual issues. The team have positive relationships with a range of external agencies, helping to support the most vulnerable pupils. 7 and 8 February 2023

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Leaders have established strong links with social services and the education welfare team.

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Trust leaders and those responsible for governance have a good understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and carry out their duties effectively. They provide strong challenge and support in this area.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not created a culture where respectful behaviour is expected. As a result, many pupils use disrespectful language, such as name calling and derogatory comments. They do not see the effect that this has on others. Leaders must address this by ensuring that pupils’ understanding of respectful language improves. They should ensure that teachers teach about the values of tolerance and respect, so that the school culture improves.  Leaders have narrowed the curriculum for a significant minority of pupils with SEND. They do not have the same ambition for these pupils as their peers. As a result, some pupils do not study what they are entitled to and are not prepared to proceed to the appropriate education, employment and training. Leaders should swiftly address this by offering all pupils with SEND a curriculum that meets their needs and covers at least the breadth and ambition of the national curriculum.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is often poor. Pupils do not concentrate well and lose focus easily. Teachers do not always use the behaviour system consistently. As a result, too much teacher time is taken dealing with pupils who are not listening or are disrupting learning. This means that many pupils are unable to reach the end points of their learning. Leaders should ensure that teachers follow the behaviour policy consistently and effectively, so that standards of behaviour are raised and pupils can reach the end points in learning.  Teachers do not always use the information available to them to assess what pupils know. As a result, lessons are not adapted to tackle misconceptions. Pupils learn less in these lessons. Leaders should ensure that assessment is fit for purpose, where pupil misconceptions are properly addressed. Leaders should use practice from the strongest subjects to achieve this.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Too many pupils are following part-time timetables that do not meet their needs. This is particularly true for pupils with SEND. While reviewed regularly, these part- time timetables are often long term and are used as a behaviour management tool. As a result, these pupils are not receiving a standard of education that is acceptable. Leaders should consider the appropriateness of part- time timetables and use them only as a last resort and in short-term circumstances, so that pupils receive an acceptable standard of education.  Too many pupils are placed in alternative provisions that are ineffective and/or inappropriate for their needs. This includes pupils with an EHC plan. The quality assurance of pupils work at these provisions is poor. As a result, leaders do not have a clear oversight of the education these pupils receive. Leaders should 7 and 8 February 2023

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urgently improve the quality assurance systems, so that they can check that pupils are receiving education that meets their needs.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 7 and 8 February 2023

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School details

Number of pupils on the school roll 1455

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 December 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust.  The headteacher took up post in September 2022  The school meets the requirements of the Baker Clause, which requires schools to provide students in Years 8 to 13 with information about approved technical educational qualifications and apprenticeships.  The school uses two registered and three unregistered providers for alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform. 7 and 8 February 2023

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The inspector discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the provider.

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher and other members of the senior leadership team, including the leaders of attendance and behaviour.  A meeting was held with members of the board of governors and two trustees, including the chair.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in English, science, languages, geography and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers and pupils, and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  A meeting was held with the chief executive officer and director of secondary education of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust.  The lead inspector met with leaders of safeguarding. Policies, procedures and record-keeping were scrutinised, including the checks made for the recruitment of staff.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation provided by the school, including records for behaviour management, attendance and information about alternative

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provision. An inspector spoke on the telephone with representatives of three of the alternative providers.  A meeting was held with the leader of SEND.  Inspectors spoke to a number of pupils, across all key stages, formally and informally.  Inspectors took account of the views of parents, carers, staff and pupils through Ofsted’s online surveys, including Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Marc Doyle, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jonathan Ferstenberg Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 February 2023

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