Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

located in the

Buttershaw Buttershaw is a residential area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded by Horton Bank Top to the north, Wibsey to the east, Woodside to the south and Shelf to the west. Buttershaw consists mostly of 1940s council housing with t ...

area of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

It opened on 3 September 1956 as Buttershaw Secondary School, with only one three storey teaching block as it was only half built. The initial intake was 300 children and 12 staff. Mr H E Cooke was the first headmaster. Over the next seven years a house block,

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and swimming pool were added with an official opening in 1964. The school was built to accommodate the

baby boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of births. This demography, demographic phenomenon is usually an ascribed characteristic within the population of a specific nationality, nation or culture. Baby booms are caused by various ...

caused by the large number of children born after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was renamed Buttershaw

Comprehensive School A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

, and over the years it evolved into an Upper, then High School, removing its pool for an AstroTurf field. On 23 September 2006 over 100 pupils from the first intake of 1956 met at the Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford to celebrate the school's

Golden Anniversary A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"স� ...

. In the 2007 Queens Birthday Honours list David Kershaw, the school's first

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

(1956), was made a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for his services to education. 2008 saw the opening of the new building. As the new building was opened the school was renamed Buttershaw

Business and Enterprise College Business and Enterprise Colleges (BECs) were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields. Schools that successfully applied to the Specialist Sch ...

because of its new

specialist status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in ...

. Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College became a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the school governor, governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in Community school (England and Wales), community schools. Foundation schools ...

administered by the Buttershaw Learning and Achievement Trust and

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Bradford has had an elected council since 1847, which has been reformed on several occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metr ...

. However, in September 2016 the school converted to academy status and is now sponsored by the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust.

Academics

'There is variability in the experience of pupils at the school'. Unfortunately, Buttershaw routinely underperforms in national examinations, with a progress 8 score of -0.83 (well below average) and a grade 5 GCSE pass rate of 21.4%, just over half of the national average . Buttershaw offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, however the sixth form is now closed. Under the latest Ofsted inspection, the school was rated ''Requires Improvement'', with the report citing 'some changes to improve the learning and behaviour', 'pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could', 'pupils do not show respect for each other or other diverse groups', however safeguarding was reported to be effective. This is an improvement from the previous inspection grade of ''Inadequate''.

Notable former pupils

Susanna Clarke Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author best known for her debut novel '' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began ''Jonathan Strange'' in 1993 and worked on it durin ...

, Author * Alex Corina, Artist *

Andrea Dunbar Andrea Dunbar (22 May 1961 – 20 December 1990) was an English playwright. She wrote ''The Arbor'' (1980) and ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' (1982), an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of ...

, Playwright *

John Duttine John Arthur Duttine (born 15 March 1949) is an English actor noted for his roles on stage, films and television. He is well known for his role as Sgt George Miller in '' Heartbeat'' and Bill Masen in the TV series '' The Day of the Triffids''. ...

, Actor *

Paul Reas Paul Reas (born 1955) is a British Social documentary photography, social documentary photographer and university lecturer. He is best known for photographing consumerism in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s. Reas has produced the books ''I Can He ...

, Photographer * Terry Rooney, Labour Party politician * Cameron Scott, Rugby League Player

References

External links

Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College official website
{{authority control Secondary schools in the City of Bradford Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in England Academies in the City of Bradford Specialist business and enterprise colleges