Success in sight as inner city struggles with constant change

In the space of 30 years there have no been no fewer than five

different schools on the site of the current Bradford Academy.

Since the 1990s four have closed. The original Fairfax Community School was shut after achieving some of the worst results in the country. One of its later successors, Bradford Cathedral Community College was earmarked for closure after being placed in special measures – which it later came out of – before being replaced by Bradford Academy in 2007.

Last year the academy's GCSE results fell short of the Government's minimum targets of getting 30 per cent of pupils to achieve five good GCSEs including English and maths, but principal Gareth Dawkins has ambitious plans to raise results over the next three years.

He said: "We expect to surpass the 30 per cent mark this year and when we get to 2011/12 we will have the first cohort who have been taught in the academy throughout their secondary school life. We expect more than 50 per cent of those pupils to achieve five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths."

Although Bradford Academy is one of seven academies in Yorkshire which fell short of the GCSE floor target, Mr Dawkins believes the school's performance so far has been a success.

He said: "We have trebled the number of pupils achieving five good GCSEs, including English and maths, compared with our predecessor school and more than doubled its best ever five A* to C GCSE results, we have added 10 per cent to our attendance figures and this year we had 570 parents listing us as one of their preferences – we have 180 places. Sadly we are having to turn local kids away."

Mr Dawkins was unhappy with the outcome of Bradford Academy's first full Ofsted inspection which rated the school as only satisfactory.

Mr Dawkins said judging a school based on its exam performance made it difficult for schools in deprived areas to be rated as good or outstanding.