Bradford Christian School

Age group Published Reference no. Bradford Christian School

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Independent School

DfES Registration Number 380/6110 Unique Reference Number 107461 Inspection number 296783 Inspection dates 23 - 24 January 2007 Reporting inspector Mr Ian Richardson HMI

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Independent School

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 162A of the Education Act 2002 (as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005).

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Purpose and scope of the inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, in order to advise the Secretary of State for Education and Skills about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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Information about the school

Bradford Christian School was opened in September 1993 and was registered in October 2002. It has been on the current site four years. There are 67 pupils who are 4-10 years old and 111 who are 11-16 years old. The school draws from Christian families who attend 25 churches, but around 25 per cent of pupils come from non-Christian families. Discipleship is a central aim of the school’s vision in preparing young people to live out their faith as young adults in society. The school is outward looking and has established exchange and partnership ventures with other Christian schools in this country and abroad.

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Evaluation of the school

The school provides good education for its pupils. It is strongly committed to building a partnership with parents, to ensure the pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education and life beyond school. Teaching is good and the curriculum is broadly balanced and effectively meets pupils’ needs. Provision for pupils’ welfare health and safety is good. The school is managed in a way that ensures this is a high priority. Pupils are well cared for. The behaviour of pupils is outstanding, as is their spiritual and moral development. Not all regulations are met; these are identified at the end of the report.

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Quality of education

The curriculum in the school is good, and is rooted in the Christian ethos of the institution. A Christian perspective permeates all subjects and a broad and balanced range of activities is provided within both the primary and secondary phases of the school. These activities cover all the areas of knowledge and skills as required by the regulations. There is an emphasis in the primary years on acquisition of language and numeracy skills. The curriculum at the secondary stage builds on the foundation of good skills and knowledge developed during the primary years. At Key Stage 4 the school has increased opportunities for learning to include some subjects with a vocational emphasis. Further plans for curriculum development are firmly in place. The curriculum at all phases makes a significant contribution to the personal, health and social development of pupils within a clear Christian moral context. In addition, some aspects of the

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Quality of education

curriculum, for example swimming, makes a further contribution in helping pupils to feel safe.

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Quality of education

The school’s curriculum for citzenship includes issues surrounding equality and the notion of creation. Although these elements are taught within the school's Christian ethos and its moral value system, the relevant issues are included and covered with sensitivity. The curriculum is enriched in a number of ways, for example, there are regular opportunities for exchange visits to partner institutions both in the Netherlands and Romania. In the latter case, the links are with a rural Gypsy community and the pupils gain in their awareness, empathy and understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity. The curriculum allows all pupils to learn and make good progress. These gains are evidenced by the assessment processes, and the outcomes as detailed in the school's published examination results.

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Quality of education

Teaching within all phases of learning is good. This ensures that all pupils, including those with learning difficulties make good progress. Teaching is planned well and appropriately focused at the needs of pupils with different levels of attainment. This is particularly the case in the primary classes where pupils are of different ages. Teaching and planning is strongly influenced by routine assessment of pupils; their progress is carefully monitored. This is a good aspect of the school's provision. The teaching exploits a range of learning and organisational strategies that enhance pupils' interest and motivation. Teachers’ subject knowledge is good, as are their expecations of pupils’ learning and achievements. The teaching consistently promotes outstanding personal behaviour. Relationships are good in all aspects of the school's life and work. The school has implemented a professional and routine programme for

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Quality of education

monitoring teaching. This is effectively linked to professional development. Many lessons provided good opportunities for practical learning, as in the case of a childcare lesson on foods to be avoided during pregnancy. Parents are well informed about the progress of their children. There is evidence of a close working relationship with parents, especially when an individual pupil's progress causes concern.

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pupils

The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. The school has established a curriculum in which they seek to develop pupils’ faith as they make progress in their knowledge and understanding of subjects. Pupils’ spiritual development is outstanding and examples of their maturity were seen in a number of contexts. For example, in the Reception and Year 1 class a number of pupils spontaneously prayed for individuals and situations where they had identified needs within their classmates. In a Key Stage 4 mixed age class pupils used their knowledge of the Jewish feast of Passover and compared it with the crucifixion of Jesus. Pupils readily shared their feelings about the sacrifice of the ‘Lamb of God’ and its significance to mankind. The planning of teaching contains scriptural and faith references related to the work, although in practice the link is not always made robustly.

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pupils

Pupils enjoy being at the school and they have great respect for teachers. They clearly show their care for other pupils. They are very positive about the quality of teaching they receive, and the willingness of teachers to support their learning and development outside of lessons. This positive view of the school is also held strongly by the parents, a very large proportion of whom contributed to the inspection through their questionnaires. Both in class and at other times pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. They responded to inspectors’ questions with maturity and confidence. The assemblies and devotion times offer good moral guidance to pupils. Planning for personal, social and health education and citizenship involves pupils in their consideration of other cultures and faiths. Visitors from other faiths and ethnic communities contribute to pupils’ cultural development. However, there are few artefacts and experiences of other

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pupils

cultures. There is an outstanding range of experiences which promote the spiritual development of young people. These include reciprocal exchange visits to a Dutch Christian school for Year 9 pupils and the Bar mitzvah project involving Year 8 pupils and their parents.

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Welfare, health and safety of the pupils

The provision for pupils’ welfare, health and safety is good. This extends into areas beyond the classroom. In playgrounds, at break times and during meals pupils are supervised well. Pupils say they feel safe, well cared for and describe an absence of bullying. Supervision is positive and engaging, with teachers, lunchtime supervisors and prefects setting good personal standards of behaviour and care. The priorities and practices for welfare, health and safety of pupils are set out clearly in policies related to these matters. The school administers these policies effectively; they have references to Department for Education and Skills current guidance, and dates set by which they need to be reviewed. Regulatory matters are fully met with records, admissions and attendance registers kept in good order. The school meets requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. Much of the school is accessible to disabled users

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Welfare, health and safety of the pupils

and the school has further plans to improve access during the next three years.

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Suitability of the proprietor and staff

All staff appointed to the school have been subject to a check with the Criminal Records Bureau. As part of the appointment process records of previous employment, qualifications and professional references are called for. The school keeps good records of these.

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School’s premises and accommodation

The school is housed in well maintained buildings on one site. The secondary students are taught for much of the time in several temporary buildings. These do not provide conditions favourable to learning as do the older and original buildings. The school has some specialist areas that serve their purposes well. There is a well appointed science room, of appropriate size and with suitable furniture which enables a good range of learning to take place. The information and communication technology suite has modern computers, which are networked and connected to the Internet. The art room has restricted space, and in which the furniture is inappropriate to provide flexible and adequate work surfaces. This restricts the range of work and display that is possible. Generally, the standard of decoration is good and other furniture is appropriate to the needs of pupils. Floor coverings are a mixture of carpeted and hard

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School’s premises and accommodation

surfaces suited to their purpose. Classrooms are kept at suitable temperatures. They are lit well and do not have acoustic problems. The school does not have a medical room which provides appropriate facilities for pupils who may become ill.

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Provision of information for parents, carers and others

The material sent to parents or prospective parents gives a clear picture of the ethos of the school and its vision for the education of its pupils. The school clearly seeks to develop a culture of collaboration and partnership with parents. There are some requirements that are not met in relation to the information that the school should provide to parents and what information they can request. These are identified at the end of this report. The school has already set about making changes to achieve compliance with regulations.

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Procedures for handling complaints

There is a complaints procedure which is given to parents on request. Although there have been no complaints during the last year appropriate systems are in place to manage them. There are some regulations that are not met by the complaints policy. These are identified in full at the end of this report. There is need for improved clarity over the time scales for each stage in the complaints process. Similarly the composition of the complaints panel and the parents’ right to be accompanied to complaints panel meetings are insufficiently clear.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school meets all of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003 as amended January 2005, with the exception of those listed below.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school does not meet all requirements in respect of the premises and accommodation (standard 5) and must:

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 provide appropriate facilities for pupils who are ill (paragraph 5(l)).

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school does not meet all requirements in respect of the provision of information for parents, carers and others (standard 6) and must:

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 provide particulars of the school’s policy on and arrangements for discipline and exclusions (paragraph 6(2)(e))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 provide particulars of educational and welfare provision for pupils with statements of SEN and for pupils for whom English is an additional language (paragraph 6(2)(f))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that parents are aware they can request particulars of policies relating to bullying, child protection, health and safety, promotion of good behaviour, and sanctions adopted in the event of pupils misbehaving (paragraph 6(2)(h))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that parents are aware they can request particulars of academic performance during the preceding school year, including the results of any public examinations (paragraph 6(2)(i))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that parents are aware they can request details of the complaints procedures, together with details of the number of complaints registered under the formal procedure during the preceding school year (paragraph 6(2)(j))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that parents are aware they can request the number of staff employed at the school, including temporary staff, and a summary of their qualifications (paragraph 6(2)(k)).

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

The school does not meet all requirements in respect of procedures for handling complaints (standard 7) and must:

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure sets out clear timescales for the management of a complaint (paragraph 7(c))  ensure that the procedure provides for parents who are not satisfied with a response to a written complaint there is provision for the establishment of a hearing before a panel appointed by the proprietor of at least three people who have not been directly involved in the matters detailed in the complaint (paragraph 7(f))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure makes clear that where there is a panel hearing of a complaint there is provision that one person on the panel is independent of the management and running of the school (paragraph 7(g))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure makes clear that parents are allowed to attend the panel hearing, and, if they wish, to be accompanied (paragraph 7(h))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure provides for the panel to make findings and recommendations and that the complainant, proprietors and headteachers, and, where relevant, the person complained about, should be given a copy of any findings and recommendations (paragraph 7(i))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure provides for written records to be kept of all complaints indicating whether they were resolved at the preliminary stage, or whether they proceed to a panel hearing (paragraph 7(j))

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 ensure that the procedure provides that correspondence, statements and records of complaints are to be kept confidential (paragraph 7(k)).

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School details

Name of school Bradford Christian School DfES number 380/6110 Unique reference number 107461 Status Independent Date school opened September 1993 Age range of pupils 4 - 16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number on roll (full-time pupils) Boys: 76 Girls: 101 Total: 177 Number of pupils with a statement of special educational need Boys: 3 Girls: 2 Total: 5 Annual fees (day pupils) £1704 - £4020 Address of school Bradford Christian School Livingstone Road Bolton Woods Bradford West Yorkshire BD2 1BT Telephone number 01274 532649 Fax number 01274 595819 Email address bchristians@btconnect. com Headteacher Mr Philip John Moon Proprietor Trustees of Bradford Christian School Reporting inspector Mr Ian Richardson HMI Dates of inspection 23 – 24 January 2007

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