THE IMPACT of Eastern European migrants on results at Bradford schools cannot be ignored even if people are sympathetic to their reasons for coming to the UK, councillors have argued.

A report into the impact of "new communities" in Bradford has shown that Eastern Europeans now make up the largest proportion of migrants to the district, with Slovakians making up 40 per cent of this group.

Over the district, there are over 4,300 children in schools classed as recent migrants from the EU, with many not speaking English as a first language.

At a meeting of Bradford Council's Children's Services Scrutiny Committee, members said the rising number of European migrants would impact the performance of Bradford's schools, although one councillor said it should be viewed as a challenge rather than referring to these children as a "problem."

Paul Johnson, co-ordinator for new communities and travellers, told the meeting: "Bradford has a history of migrants, and up until 2011 people from Pakistan were the single largest group of migrants to the city. Eastern Europeans have now exceeded the numbers of Pakistanis coming to the area, and we can all see the demographic change.

"Some of these families live in poverty, and obviously this will impact on the children and their educational standards."

The report shows that at GCSE level just seven per cent of Gypsy/Roma pupils achieved the desired results, and Roma pupils were "disproportionately represented" when it came to fixed term exclusions. Attendance rates for Roma pupils last year were 87.4 per cent. The figure for non Roma Eastern European pupils was 92 per cent.

Councillor Mike Pollard, (Conservative, Baildon) chairing the meeting, said: "These groups of pupils are very likely to bring down Bradford's figures when it comes to exam results, and it is a growing cohort. I know from schools where I am a governor, if you are falling below 95 per cent attendance then it starts to hit the fan."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said: "We are dealing with young people who may have been ethnically cleansed from their homes. I would hate for us to single out groups of people like this and say they are the problem."

Cllr Pollard said: "We do have to acknowledge that it is a problem for our schools."

Cllr Sunderland responded: "It is a challenge, not a problem. I have been to Romania and seen how bad things are for some people."

Councillor Tess Pert (Labour, Tong) said: "The fact is this issue impacts massively on end of year results for schools, and schools are judged on these results. In some cases you have a student who is only in a school for seven weeks before they are sitting a GCSE exam."

Councillor Susanne Hinchcliffe, executive for education, said the biggest disparity when it came to results was between boys and girls, adding: "You can't get hung up just on ethnicity."