Bradford College

College Excels At Ofsted Inspection

Bradford College is celebrating after a Government’s Oftsed inspection report judged it to be “Good” with many “Outstanding” features following a full Ofsted inspection, which took place between 6th and 10th of October 2008.

The report published on 28th November 2008 highlighted good teaching and learning, outstanding promotion of equality and diversity and outstanding strategic leadership.

The inspection focussed on the effectiveness of the College’s provision; the capacity of the organisation to improve further; achievement and standards; quality of provision; leadership and management; and courses in health, social care and early years; science and mathematics; construction planning and the built environment; literacy and numeracy; provision for learners with learning difficulties/disabilities; and business studies.

Bradford College’s capacity to improve, a measure of its ability to improve even further, was judged to be “Outstanding”.  The report highlighted that the College had made “outstanding progress” to promote improvements since the last inspection in 2004.

Commenting on the success of the Ofsted inspection, Michele Sutton, Bradford College Principal and Chief Executive said: “I am delighted with the findings of the Ofsted report. I have seen the hard work, effort and commitment that all staff have put in to improve Bradford College and this Ofsted report is testament to that. The inspectors noted that staff morale is high, student feedback excellent and that many of our partners are delighted they have a very successful College on their doorstep.  This will boost the confidence in education and training in the City, district and region. It was a great privilege for me to be appointed Principal of Bradford College in 2004 and this is still the case now if not more so.”

Ofsted inspectors graded the effectiveness of the College’s provision, which is a measure of how effective and efficient the College is in meeting the full range of its learners’ needs, as “Good”. Ofsted inspectors also noted that the College’s work in “reaching vulnerable and hard-to reach groups is outstanding and a particular strength. The report also recognised the College’s outstanding promotion of the Every Child Matters agenda by awarding 1 “Good” and 4 “Outstanding” grades under the five headings: Keeping Safe, Staying Healthy, Enjoyment and Achievement, Economic Wellbeing and Active Citizenship.

Achievements and standards at Bradford College, which assess how well learners achieve, was judged to be “Good”, with high success rates at level one seen as a key strength. Quality of provision, which measures the effectiveness of teaching, training and learning, was judged to be “Good”. The inspection report also noted that “the proportion of lessons judged outstanding has increased since the last inspection.”

In the category of leadership and management, which examines how effective leadership and management are in raising achievement and supporting all learners, the College was judged to be “Good”, with a contributory “Outstanding” grade for its promotion of equality of opportunity. The report noted that the “strategic leadership of improvements since the last inspection is outstanding” and that the “principal is an inspirational leader, who, with the support of governors and senior managers, has changed the College’s culture and core values to be more learner focused.”

All course areas that were inspected were judged to be “Good” apart from Science and Mathematics, which were judged to be “Outstanding”.

For further information about the Ofsted Report click here