It would be easy for the critics of Bradford's education system who have been waiting for an opportunity to pounce to start shouting now that the experiment is failing.

Figures released today show that the district, which last year was hailed as the fastest-improving authority in England, has slipped one place in the primary school league tables.

But now is not the time to start crowing. For many, many years Bradford was one of the poorest-performing education authorities in the country and the great gains made last year are still being built upon.

It would be more correct to view this year's figures as a levelling-off, a plateau, after a period of huge disruption, in preparation for the next big push to improve the district's schools and education. Serco, the private company behind Education Bradford, has had a lot of work to do to pave the way for what is hoped will be a steady and continuous improvement.

But we must remind ourselves that these results are only a measure of the progress being made in the second year of a ten-year contract. Rome, as we are all aware, wasn't built in a day.

Mark Pattison, the managing director of Education Bradford, knows only too well that there is still a great deal of work to be done, particularly in language and writing skills.

It is still too early for those who have misgivings about the public and private partnership that runs the district's education to be calling for heads to roll.

Education Bradford must be given every chance to make its plans for Bradford work. If, within the next couple of years, things do not look like they are improving, then will be the time to ask if the great experiment is worth persisting with.