Children who don't have a good grasp of English should be encouraged to speak their own language in the classroom, according to a new draft policy for Bradford schools, unveiled today.

Education chiefs said the proposals - which suggest teachers should make more use of other languages to help children both at school and at home - were essential. They revealed that a third of Bradford pupils speak a language other than English at home.

The draft policy says: "No child should be expected to cast off the language and culture of the home as he/she crosses the school threshold, nor live and act as though school and home represent two separate and different cultures which have to be kept firmly apart."

Schools will get the chance to comment later this year, after the draft policy is discussed by members of the Education Policy Partnership today.

Keighley MP Mrs Ann Cryer said the emphasis should be on getting parents to improve their own English and their children's. She blamed trans-Continental marriages - where one partner is a recent immigrant - for the poor levels of English language in many Asian homes.

"To do something about this you have to arrange marriages within the settled community, so that both mum and dad have English and are often well-educated," said Mrs Cryer.

Kay Lindley, head teacher of Victoria Primary, Keighley, which caters for mostly Asian children, said her pupils were not 'multi-lingual' - they arrived at school with only one language, Punjabi. "Some of our parents have been educated here and could be fluent in English, but won't teach it to the children," she said. "They leave it for us to do when the child is five, which is not the best time to start doing it."

David Ward, executive member for education, welcomed the draft policy. He said improving pupils' English and encouraging them to develop their home language went hand-in-hand.