Education bosses want every school in the district to be ranked good or better in five years' time.

Kath Tunstall, Bradford Council's newly-installed director of children's services, has announced the ambitious target in a bid to hike up standards.

Mrs Tunstall believes the goal is achievable as more schools are posting overall good or outstanding Ofsted reports.

She said: "In the longer term there is a clear need to have a strategy for our education provision across the district.

"In five years I want every child in the district to be attending a school that is good or better.

"We have got to put a mark in the sand. There are more schools in the district which are now judged outstanding in category.

"I think it's important that we focus some people's minds on some very clear targets and where we want our children to be in five years."

Mrs Tunstall said she had spoken to Education Bradford bosses about the issue and was also looking at re-setting targets at each key stage.

John Gaskin, Education Bradford's managing director, said the "face of education in Bradford was changing".

An Education Bradford spokesman added the district had seen an increasing number of schools perform better.

From September 2005 to Easter this year, 87 primary, nursery and special schools and 18 secondary schools have been inspected by Ofsted, the spokesman said.

Of those, 12 were judged outstanding - 11 primary, nursery and special schools and one secondary, Carlton Bolling College in Undercliffe.

In addition, 44 have been designated good and 29 satisfactory.

Latest figures from Ofsted also reveal Bradford schools' collective performance has improved, although primary and secondary school sectors still remain behind the national average.

From September 2005 to Easter 2007 56.3 per cent of primary schools in the district were judged good or better compared with 59 per cent nationally with secondary schools reaching a figure of 44 per cent, in contrast to 49 per cent nationally.

When Education Bradford was awarded the contract to run the district's schools in 2001, 32 were "in category" - being monitored by Ofsted inspectors because of failing standards. There are now 11 with the same status.

John Gaskin, Education Bradford's managing director, said: "These figures are heartening and show that the face of education in Bradford is really changing."

Copthorne Primary School is the latest school to be judged outstanding by inspectors.

Head teacher Naila Zaffar said: "We are very pleased as we are an inner-city school. It's a very high-deprivation area the children have achieved so well.

"Our target system is very deliberate so if a child slips, targets are put in place to bring them back up very quickly."

Councillor Colin Gill, executive member for education services, said: "I want excellence in education to be the norm for every child and every school. This target is achievable."

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