Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Andrew Taylor Headteacher Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy Reevy Road West Buttershaw Bradford West Yorkshire BD6 3PX

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Enterprise College Academy

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 26 November 2024, on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the third monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in February 2023.

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Enterprise College Academy

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school's progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school's previous graded inspection.

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Enterprise College Academy

During the inspection, Linda Griffiths, Ofsted Inspector (OI), and I discussed with you and other senior leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust, the director for secondary education of the trust and trustees the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also spoke with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with groups of pupils and considered the school’s work to safeguard pupils. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the school to no longer be judged as having serious weaknesses.

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designation

Since my last visit, the school has made further changes to the responsibilities of some staff. There have been new appointments to the school’s senior leadership team, including a new designated safeguarding lead. Some other senior leaders now lead on new areas of responsibility. The school has made a number of other appointments to its teaching and support staff. There remain a small number of teaching staff vacancies that were not filled in time for September 2024. During this visit, our activities focused mainly on the quality of education that pupils receive.

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designation

The school recognises that the achievement of pupils in national examinations remains too low. However, there is now greater emphasis on bringing about the necessary improvements. Subject leaders have built on previous work to revise the curriculum. They have evaluated the performance of pupils in recent examinations. Where pupils have performed less well than they should, leaders have made further improvements to subject curriculums to address this. As a result of the improved curriculum design, teachers have greater clarity about what pupils should know from a lesson or sequence of lessons. More often, teaching now focuses on the most important knowledge that pupils need to learn.

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designation

Staff’s expectations of what pupils can achieve are increasing. The training that the school has provided on how to deliver the curriculum is being implemented by teachers more often. Inspectors noted the improvements in the teaching of subject specific vocabulary, for example. However, there remains inconsistency in pupils’ experiences in lessons. Leaders recognise the importance of continuing to reduce this inequality in order to raise the achievement of all pupils.

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designation

The school has worked to improve the support that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive. Leaders recognise that ongoing training to develop the expertise of staff in teaching pupils with SEND remains a high priority. The school now works more effectively with external agencies, such as educational psychologists, to identify the support that these pupils need. It shares this information with adults who work with these pupils. Increasingly, teachers use this information to meet the needs of pupils.

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designation

The school has continued to make changes to bring about wider improvements in the experiences of pupils. You and your team have accelerated the pace of the improvements that you began last academic year. In several aspects of the school’s work, the impact of this is increasingly evident. For example, while attendance remains low, it is improving and the number of pupils who are persistently absent is reducing. The number of pupils who are suspended for poor behaviour, while high, continues to reduce from its peak. Pupils and staff in the school recognise these incremental improvements.

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designation

Since my previous visit, the trust has provided further support to the school, such as by deploying central trust staff in the school for an increased amount of their time. Trustees and local governors have a much more detailed understanding of the school. They use what they know more strategically to inform ongoing support and challenge that they provide to the school. This is now more focused on the impact of the actions that the school is taking. Leaders at all levels understand the importance of building on the current progress to deliver the improvements that pupils deserve.

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designation

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, and the CEO of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Bradford. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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