The UK's first school for teenage mechanics has opened in Bradford.

The pioneering project will prepare hundreds of non-academic youngsters for real jobs in the motor trade.

If successful, the £100,000 pilot could open the door to a new £3 million skills centre for the city, as well as launching similar motors schools across the country.

The project is aimed at pupils aged 14 to 16 who are not expected to do well in traditional exams.

Set up by Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College in partnership with ReMIT, the training arm of the Retail Motor Industry, the aim is to boost teenagers' career options as well as encouraging ethnic minorities and girls to consider jobs in the sector.

Based at Mitre Court, in Dick Lane, Cutler Heights, the state-of-the-art centre opened its doors yesterday to the first 180 students from ten secondary schools across the district.

And it is expected to be the springboard for a bid to build a £3 million skills centre in Laisterdyke, offering a wide range of training opportunities and an eight-bay mechanics base for teenagers and adult learners.

The revolutionary scheme was the brainchild of Robert Roebuck, Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College's deputy head teacher who is also the school's curriculum boss.

"This was a vision of mine 18 months ago and now, after a lot of hard work and determination, what we have is something concrete and real which will help hundreds of teenagers across Bradford make their career choices," he said.

"At Laisterdyke this year 35 per cent of students got at least five A* to C grades but we are not confident that this benchmark grading is suitable for all of our students."

Nationally more than 50 per cent of students gain at least five A* to C grades.

He added: "For those who are not particularly suited to academia the 14 to 16 and 14 to 19 agenda has to offer students more vocational opportunities to give them the best chance in life.

"The new centre will help students who are better suited for this kind of work, and even if they don't go on to be a motor technician they will learn other skills from the experience."

The school, which has an 80 per cent intake of ethnic minorities, was the first in the district to earlier this year gain specialist status.

The base was funded on the back of the school's specialist status with grants from ReMIT, Connexions West Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Learning and Skills Council.

ReMIT quality manager John Davies said although they already trained apprentices in the city the retention rate could be better.

"We take on 60 apprentices every year but about a fifth of them leave within the first three months, which is costly for us," he said.

"If youngsters are given a taste of the industry at a younger age they know if it's for them and it also gives them an advantage over others as they leave school with some of their apprenticeship under their belt."

Youngsters will be working alongside ReMIT's qualified vehicle technicians, and will spend time on work placement with some of district's car dealerships.

The base will also be used for ReMIT's 18 and 19-year-old apprentices.

The 14 to 16-year-olds who opted for the course will work towards level one of a technical certificate and will make up the first year of an apprenticeship.

They will learn the basics of motor maintenance, such as how engines work, how to change a tyre, how to service a car, while in the classroom they will apply IT and maths to the industry.