Bradford College

Ofsted Inspection a High Point at the End of the Academic Year

Bradford College is celebrating after a Government’s Oftsed inspection report judged the College to have made significant progress in a number of areas, including: Self-assessment and Improvement Planning, Quality of Provision and Leadership and Management.

In the previous inspection in 2008, the college was judged to be good, with outstanding capacity to improve. Achievement and standards, quality of provision, and leadership and management were good. Science and mathematics were outstanding and the other five subject areas inspected were good.

The latest report focused on the themes outlined below during the visit.

Self-assessment and Improvement Planning:

Has the college maintained its good arrangements for self-assessment and quality improvement, including the use of data at curriculum level to monitor and analyse the performance of students? (Significant Progress)

Outcomes for Students:

What progress has been made in improving outcomes for students? (Reasonable Progress)
What progress has the college made in maintaining, or improving upon, the good progress that students were making in the previous inspection? (Significant Progress)

Quality of Provision:

What progress has been made in improving the focus on learning during the observation of teaching and learning? (Significant Progress)

What progress has the college made in ensuring that individual learning plans are focused sharply on planning learning and monitoring students’ progress? (Reasonable Progress)

What progress has been made in ensuring that the provision of assistive technologies is timely and appropriate for those students with sensory support needs? (Significant Progress)

Leadership and Management:

Has the college maintained its strength in promoting community cohesion and working with hard-to-reach groups? (Significant Progress)

Comments made by Ofsted inspectors who carried out a Focussed Monitoring Visit at Bradford College in June 2011 included:

“The promotion of harmony and respect both within the college community and beyond remains clearly at the heart of the college’s work.”

“All staff work very productively…to ensure that students are safe while in college. The strength, noted in the previous inspection, of supporting those students who face many barriers to learning, continues to be significant.”

These judgements were made in the category of Leadership and Management, which examines how effective leadership and management are in raising achievement and supporting all learners.

Commenting on the success of the Ofsted inspection, Michele Sutton, OBE, Bradford College’s Principal and Chief Executive, said: “I would like to thank all staff who were involved with the inspection for their hard work – senior managers, programme managers, curriculum team leaders, teaching and support staff.”

“I am proud and humble to be Principal of a College which is clearly focussed on student enjoyment and student achievement.”

For further information about the Ofsted Report click here