A studio school run by Bradford College will close next summer due to low pupil numbers, it has been announced.

The Bradford Studio School, run by the Bradford College Educational Trust (BCET), will close next summer, according to a report in the Telegraph and Argus.

The school was Britain’s first specialist travel and hospitality industry training centre, and opened in 2012 as the International Food and Travel Studio with the aim of accommodating 300 young people, aged 14 to 19.

But the school currently has just 25 pupils on its roll, all of whom will be transferred, along with staff, to the Samuel Lister Academy, in January. The school will close for good in July.

The school was graded as requiring improvement by Ofsted after an inspection in September last year. Problems included a lack of guidance through marking and feedback and low attendance.

Bradford College was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in September 2014 and more recently has been part of the post-16 education and training area review announced for West Yorkshire in October.

In a statement, the trust said: “This difficult decision has been reached after spending time assessing the school and in consultation with the Department for Education.

“The school has faced a decline in student numbers due to lack of local demand, alongside financial challenges, issues around staffing capacity and running costs, and so with regret the Studio School is no longer financially viable.”

It comes after the Midland Academies Trust, which is sponsored by North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, announced earlier this month that it was to shut two studio schools in Hinckley and Nuneaton next summer, with just 157 pupils out of a combined capacity of 600 making them economically unviable.

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  1. FE Lecturer

    Absolutely disgraceful that public money should be wasted like this. FE colleges should be focussed on running their core business rather than dabbling in projects they do not have the skills to plan and deliver successfully.