A SPECIAL breakfast conference has been held to explore ways of raising educational attainment in the district.

Headteachers joined with businesses and community leaders to examine practical ways of working together to bring about improvements.

The conference – at City Hall in Bradford – focused on the education covenant, which sets out what the council needs to do to raise achievement and how the community can help.

Delegates considered a range of measures, from the provision of work placements to volunteering in schools.

Councillor Imran Khan, Bradford Council's portfolio holder for education, employment and skills, said: "We've made good progress in many areas of our education covenant and the Government has recently recognised Bradford as a place of educational opportunity.

"We need to live up to this expectation and the conference was about bringing together sectors of our community to look at practical steps we can all take to help raise education standards.

"We have a young and vibrant district with huge potential and the whole of Bradford needs to come together to realise that potential and play a part in the district's education success."

Michael Jameson, strategic director of children's services, said: "Learning starts at birth and continues for life, both inside and outside the classroom.

"The covenant is a way in which we can make sure we have a joined-up approach to the whole range of education our children receive. It takes a community to raise a child and everyone has a role to play."

Last month, the first set of official results using a new measure for rating secondary schools – based on the progress made by pupils – was published.

The figures for Key Stage 4 (GCSE) showed that while Bradford district remained near the bottom of national league tables, it fared better in a new Performance 8 measure that the Government will now use to judge schools.