[4] The college frequently featured on Teachers TV, in some university studies, as well as on the Channel 4 episode, Dispatches: The Children Left Behind, on 11 February 2008.

[6][7] However, the school still struggled; from 2003 to 2009, its GCSE performance was well below both local authority and national levels, while its ‘Value Added’ in 2013 was the lowest in Bristol.

[15][16] The school building has biomass heating and uses a rainwater system to flush its toilets and natural ventilation and light whenever possible, which contribute to a BREEAM rating of “very good”.

Hellier, a committed Christian socialist, inaugurated the first eight houses: Lawrence, Southey, Tyndale, Müller, Carpenter, Blackwell, Brunel and Kingsley.

Hellier's retirement, the houses were renamed after birds of prey, including Osprey, Falcon, Eagle and Kestrel, before the system fell into disuse.

After the school's rebuilding in 2008, Brislington Enterprise College briefly restored the house-system with five houses named after big cats: Cougar, Jaguar, Lynx, Panther, Puma.