Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy is a large secondary comprehensive school within Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust. This graded inspection found that the school no longer requires significant improvement following its previous inadequate judgment, but it still requires improvement in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. Leaders have made significant changes at pace, particularly to curriculum consistency, lesson structure and behaviour in lessons. Pupils now experience less disruption, benefit from regular revisiting of prior learning, and receive clearer modelling. Reading support is well embedded in key stage 3. Pupils generally feel safe, careers guidance and clubs broaden opportunities, and staff report good support for workload and wellbeing. However, the impact of recent changes is uneven and much remains to be done. Pupils with SEND are not consistently identified or supported well, attendance remains too low, and behaviour during social times is still a concern for a small but significant group. Personal development does not yet ensure pupils sufficiently understand and respect protected characteristics, and some pupils do not show respect for diversity. Overall, the school is improving but is not yet good.

Strengths

• Curriculum changes have brought greater consistency to learning across subjects.
• Most lessons include regular opportunities to revisit prior learning.
• Teachers check pupils' understanding and address misconceptions.
• Clear lesson structures and modelling help pupils apply their learning.
• Reading support is well embedded in key stage 3, including phonics help.
• Behaviour in lessons has improved and disruption has reduced.
• Pupils who have been suspended receive support to improve behaviour.
• Most pupils feel safe and believe bullying is taken seriously.
• Pupil leaders contribute to school decisions, including changes to behaviour policy.
• Careers guidance helps pupils develop aspirations and progression routes.
• Clubs in fitness, music and the arts help pupils develop talents and interests.
• Staff feel supported with workload and wellbeing.
• Oversight of alternative provision has improved.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils with SEND are not consistently identified, and the support staff receive to meet their needs varies.
• Some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could.
• Attendance remains too low, especially for pupils with SEND and those eligible for pupil premium.
• The attendance strategy is not reaching some pupils, so they miss vital learning.
• Behaviour during social times remains a concern.
• The new behaviour policy has not yet improved behaviour for a small but significant cohort.
• Personal development does not ensure pupils sufficiently understand or remember protected characteristics.
• Some pupils do not show respect for each other or diverse groups.
• The impact of recent changes is uneven, and pupils' experiences vary.
• The school should rapidly review the impact of changes and intensify pace in some areas.
• Over time, pupils have not achieved as well as they should.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy attended 86.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 38.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 25.2% of pupils at Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 23 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy had 16.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 25.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 18.1% of pupils at Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy received £10,592 and spent £10,401 for each of its 1,420 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £706,000 (£497 per pupil).

Across all 21 schools of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, income was £8,537 and spending £8,479 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Bradford · Bradford local authority: places and applications

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy is part of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, which runs 21 schools. The nearest others:

• St Oswald's Church of England Primary Academy Bradford
• Clayton St John CofE Primary School Bradford
• St Matthew's CofE Primary School and Nursery Bradford
• The Academy At St. James Bradford
• Woodlands Church of England Primary Academy Bradford
• Bradford Girls' Grammar School Bradford
• Lady Royd Primary School Bradford
• St Philip's CofE Primary School Bradford
• Bradford Forster Academy Bradford
• St John's CofE Primary School Bradford

What is Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy have?

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy has 1,325 pupils on roll.

What age range does Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy cover?

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 35.3, and 24% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy?

Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy is at Reevy Road West, Buttershaw, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD6 3PX.