AN ousted governor of a Bradford school has criticised how a recent inspection of the school has only just been released, weeks after the head was first told the findings.

Ofsted inspectors visited Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College in late November, and on December 1 released their "section 117" report to principal Jen McIntosh.

Now former governor and Bradford Councillor Faisal Khan (Bradford Independent Group, Bradford Moor) has criticised how the details of the report, which raised some issues about performance at the school, were only revealed to parents last week.

But the school and Ofsted have said that the findings were not part of a formal report, the likes of which are normally automatically made public on the Ofsted website.

In April, the school's board of governors was sacked by Bradford Council and replaced with an interim executive board over concerns about their effectiveness, concerns also raised by Ofsted.

Cllr Khan said he had only been able to see the latest report by submitting a Freedom of Information request.

The report says: "The college has not made enough progress towards addressing the areas for improvement.

"GCSE outcomes in 2014 were a severe set back on the college's journey towards good, particularly in English."

It does go on to praise the school in many areas, adding: "Leaders are strongly committed to improving outcomes for students. However, it is uncertain whether the necessary improvements can be secured before the next inspection."

On the interim executive board, it adds: "Members are rightly questioning the pace of improvement."

Cllr Khan said: "Why didn't they let parents know about this in December? I suspect they didn't want the public to see this. If the former governors were such a hindrance, then why haven't things improved faster? Are the IEB a hindrance too?"

Mrs McIntosh said: “We had a support visit from Ofsted, not a formal inspection, to check on our progress last term. We have relayed Ofsted's feedback to our parents. Ofsted confirmed we have made several improvements – attendance, science results, sixth form retention rates and AS Level pass rates have all improved.

“But we fully accept that we need to accelerate our improvements and we are taking urgent action to do that.

“We are currently commissioning partnership working with the West Yorkshire Teaching Alliance, which will give us additional support in key areas where we need to make quick and sustainable progress. It's potentially a very exciting and fruitful partnership with lots of advantages and opportunities for our youngsters and for the development of our staff.”

Michael Jameson, Strategic Director of Children’s Services, said: “We welcome Ofsted’s positive findings, such as the college’s improved attendance, better achievement in science and improvements at post-16.

“But the college accepts it needs to urgently address the key areas identified by Ofsted and it needs to improve more rapidly. We will continue to robustly challenge and support the college so that it can speed up its progress.”

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