Specialist ‘platform for work’ schools on increase

Chef Sophie Hutton with Kainaat Rashid, 15. Picture by Simon Hulme

However, the college which runs it has ambitious plans to educate almost 1,000 students in a series of small specialist schools which focus on preparing young people for the world of work in different career areas.

Bradford College Education Trust’s first studio school opened last year on the edge of the city centre specialising in food, travel and business.

The Department for Education has also backed its plans to open two more schools from next year which will specialise in film, theatre and costume and also health occupations.

Once full each would teach 300 pupils.

Studio schools are a new type of education provider for 14-to-19-year-olds which focus on a particular career.

The International Food and Travel (IFT) Studio in Bradford is one of 15 that have been opened so far across the country.

There are 28 more planned with Government backing to open.

From the outside the IFT Studio clearly stands out from a typical school.

Its classrooms include the front of Boeing 737 aircraft which projects out from the front of the building in Thornton Road and is used by pupils to study travel and tourism and cabin crew work.

Inside it boasts state-of-the art kitchen facilities which are not only used by pupils but have also played host to professional cookery competitions.

Pupils work a nine-to-five day, have a bookable holiday allowance and carry out regular work placements.

Studio schools have two points of recruitment for 14-year-olds about to start year ten and 16-year-olds who have just finished their GCSEs and are about to go into year 12.

Each studio school will have 75 places in each of its four year groups meaning 300 pupils overall.

The IFT Studio opened last September with 20 pupils in year ten and another 20 starting in sixth form.

It has had more than 100 applications for years ten and 12 for next September. Pupils joining it in year 10 focus on one of three specialist areas: either food, travel or business and study for a B-Tec level two diploma in their chosen field.

They are also expected to study GCSEs in five core subjects including English, maths and sciences.

The diploma will be supported by weekly work placements. The IFT has the support of a series of employers including Jet 2, West Yorkshire restaurants such as the Box Tree, Mumtaz, Prashad and the Aagrah and hotels including Hilton, Cedar Court and Marriott.

In its sixth form, pupils will do a level three B-Tec diploma in their chosen area and also have the option of taking on a range of A-level subjects.

Bradford College Education Trust’s marketing co-ordinator Jack Scarr said it was the expectation that pupils who had started in year 10 would want to continue into sixth form.

The IFT Studio is in its first year but Bradford College Education Trust is now working to repeat this approach in Film Theatre and Costume (FTC) and also Health Occupations (HO)

The FTC Studio School will work with organisations in the film, theatre and costume industries including production companies and theatres, while the HO Studio School is expected to help pupils gain the skills needed to work across a wide range of NHS jobs.

Both are expected to be based near the IFT studio on the edge of Bradford city centre close to the main college campus.

Mr Scarr said: “These specialisms have been chosen because there are skills shortages in each of these industry areas locally.

“Studio schools came about to address the gap that has existed between the work skills and experience that are needed by employers and the level of skills pupils were leaving a traditional school with. Students here work a nine to five day and it slowly integrates them into the world of work.”

He told the Yorkshire Post that studio schools also had an increased focus on project  work.

For the official launch of the school, held last month at the Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley, catering students worked in the kitchen while travel students produced a tourist guide to Ilkley and the business students dealt with the promotion and publicity of the event.

As well as setting up these studio schools Bradford College Education Trust is also operating as an academy sponsor for two schools in the Bradford district: Appleton Academy in Wyke and the Samuel Lister Academy in Cottingley.