A pool of trained interpreters could be set up under plans to boost children's literacy in the district.

At a meeting of the Education Policy Partnership yesterday, members heard about work already underway to improve the speaking and comprehension skills of all children in the area aged between three and five.

Early years advisor Ros Lilley described extensive work which has already been carried out to address children who are learning English as an additional language, those who are able language learners and those who have additional communication needs.

Mrs Lilley, from the Early Years Childcare Service, said: "We have worked on handbooks in two volumes which are available for every school, nursery and child care service to give guidelines for good practice.

"They include language records and vocabulary lists and it is backed up with case studies from Bradford practitioners across the sectors.

"The idea is to support teachers. We live in a more and more diverse city and there is a need for practitioners to find out about the backgrounds of children.

"This is something for them to consult and provides references."

The meeting heard that there are more than 100 languages spoken in Bradford, not including various dialects.

Mrs Lilley continued: "To fit the changing demographics of the city we need to audit the languages that are being spoken.

"There are a plethora of languages and slightly different dialects spoken by children in Bradford and one of the issues is that the increased incidence of minority languages in the Bradford district is leading to isolated learners in some schools and other settings."

Members heard that further training for bilingual classroom assistants and support workers - as well as possibly setting up a pool of trained interpreters to work with children - is necessary.

The Early Years Childcare Service report explained that in Victoria, Australia, a voluntary pool of interpreters has been set up for this purpose.

Mrs Lilley added: "The system works very well in Australia. It might be that the only way is to rely on volunteers here because of the massive range of dialects spoken.

"What is important is that understanding language at an early age is vitally important for all children.

"We need to monitor their progress and make sure they are all able to communicate to the best of their abilities - their future learning depends on their speaking and comprehension skills."

She added that the service needs to secure funding for a teacher for a year to keep the project progressing.