A PARTNERSHIP between Bradford's schools, where education leaders can both support and challenge head teachers, will drive up standards, according to the district's education bosses.

In the past year, Bradford has faced disappointing school results, and has found itself near the bottom of league tables for both primary and secondary school performance.

This underperforming has led Bradford Council to work with the area's schools to come up with ambitious plans to improve them, including the aim of having every school in the district rated good or outstanding by Ofsted within a few years.

And a recently commissioned report by a national education expert, Professor David Woods, is now being used as part of the Council's improvement efforts.

The Telegraph & Argus has spoken exclusively to some of the top people behind the council's school improvement plans.

Michael Jameson, head of children's services at the Council, said: "There has been a good 20 years of underachievement in education in Bradford. We have made some progress, but last year was disappointing, and people across the education system felt that disappointment, not least for the parents and children.

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"We will support head teachers in making the changes they have to, and also challenge them when they aren't making changes.

"I know what excellence looks like in education, and I've seen some of the best headteachers I've come across in Bradford. What we need to get is more consistency, that is our ambition."

Schools of all types, including academies and free schools, as well as Council-run schools, are currently working together to improve standards.

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for children's services at the Council, said: "I don't know of many authorities that have that level of working together across all types of schools. Bradford doesn't sell itself particularly well, and a lot of people have a glass half empty approach. We need to be more confident and that will attract more teachers in.

"We need to give heads at struggling schools the opportunity to demonstrate they can improve, but if they cannot then we take action."

The Council has recently appointed someone to help recruit "highly regarded" head teachers, and is looking to have more good teachers move up the ranks to become leaders. The Council is also working to encourage people from different backgrounds to become governors.

Liz Lawley is head of St John's CE Primary, and also from the Bradford Primary Partnership, made up of 150 primary schools. Schools are regularly visited by staff from other schools and Council officers, who act as inspectors separate from the government Ofsted inspections. Results of these visits are used to determine how schools need to improve.

She said: "The partnership has offered support to schools as well as challenging them. With successful schools we identify key things that make them successful, and use that information to help other schools."

David Horn, the head teacher of Beckfoot School, Bingley, and chairman of the Bradford Partnership - comprised of every secondary school in the district, said: "The partnership's focus is really simple - we want to improve our schools. It is not just a talking shop, our reviews of each school follow the same lines as Ofsted reviews. It really helps us determine what a schools strengths and areas that need development are."