Education leaders will be invited to a Whitehall summit to thrash out ideas on how to help struggling Bradford schools where pupils are not making the grade.

Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, will bring together council officials, leading councillors and education experts to explore changes which will try and improve results rapidly.

Mr Balls is targeting 638 secondary schools across England - including ten in Bradford - which fall short of a benchmark of 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.

Last year, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned any school failing that test by 2011 would be shut down or taken over by another school - possibly from the private sector.

A spokesperson for Education Bradford said: "We welcome the summit and, in particular, any additional resources this might bring. We are using or considering adopting all the strategies outlined by Ed Balls to bring about further improvements in all these schools and the other secondary schools within the Bradford district.

"Bradford's overall picture at GCSE has improved in recent years and all these schools are working really hard, with support from Education Bradford, to bring about further improvements in their GCSE results.

"Bradford recorded the district's highest ever GCSE figures last year. In addition, the district now has the lowest number of secondary schools in an Ofsted category.

Education Bradford has set targets for secondary schools this year to ensure there are no Bradford secondary schools below floor targets in 2011 - in line with Government expectations."

At the summit, expected to be held in June, authorities across the country will be urged to investigate possible routes to speed up improvement. These could include buying in expert help in English, maths, creating direct partnerships with better performing schools, or providing funding to strong schools so they can help weaker ones develop.

Other options include schools being linked in a trust with a business or charity which would have the power to appoint staff and set admissions policy, or set up as academies sponsored directly by a firm, university or charity.

Last week, Bradford's council executive decided Rhodesway and Wyke Manor should have secondary schools academy status, and will be supported by Bradford College and the existing Dixon's academy.

A spokeswoman for the Depart-ment for Children, Schools and Families confirmed closure was one option for schools failing to reach the 30 per cent threshold - but only as a "last resort".

A £200m pot was set aside in last month's budget to raise standards in struggling secondary schools, with a particular focus on the 638 falling short of the GCSE target. There were 1,610 failing schools in 1997.

Mr Balls said he did not describe all 638 schools as "failing", because around one-third were making good progress towards the benchmark.

He said: "About two-thirds of the 638 have been below 30 per cent for some time and are not making the progress we would like. They need more intensive efforts over the next two or three years to get above the threshold, so we will be inviting all directors of children's services and councillors responsible for education to meet with us in June."