I don't know if you're talking about MY school, but I have a suspicion that if not, my school would fit your description. We don't learn bunkai, and are DISCOURAGED from learning bunkai to katas at an early level. However, you would have to sit in on a class and realize what we learn INSTEAD. While our school has a fabulous reputation in kata competitions, it also does well in kumite. Karate is about much, MUCH more than lethal techniques. Teaching lethal techniques to hachikyu isn't going to accomplish much. But teaching them about body mechanics will yield huge rewards as they progress. We are even taught that the actual techniques in kata aren't very important. We constantly change the kata from one technique to another, and then two years later, we change it back. But we are never taught that one technique is superior to the other, just "we're doing it this way now". That is because kata is about learning how to move your own body for maximum power in ANY technique. We do other kihon drills for more practical fighting techniques; ippon kumite, etc. In other words, to teach bunkai with the kata at an early stage or not is a philosophical choice on the part of the teacher. Both have different results in the type of karateka they produce, but I would really look at the black belts each philosophy produces to determine "better" or "worse" philosophy, rather than merely making a judgement call based off of what is known and familiar.
