It is encouraging that the Bradford plan for a shake-up of sixth forms across the district has earned a gold star from the minister for adult learning and skills, Ivan Lewis. It shows that despite the problems that have beset education locally over the past few years, Bradford still has the ability to respond to criticism and come up with innovative measures which show the rest of the country the way ahead in some areas of education.

It is, in fact, a very sensible plan which will not only increase choice to teenagers but should also produce a more economical way of spending the education budget. As the Ofsted inspectors said in a critical report, it was wasteful for some schools to be struggling to maintain small, unviable sixth forms while the same A-level courses were being offered in other equally-struggling schools nearby.

By having schools link with neighbours in "federations", duplication should be greatly reduced. It is this part of the plan which has particularly appealed to Mr Lewis, who has rightly pointed out that it also has the potential to help Bradford's drive on "community cohesion".

The district's school chiefs hope that moving students from one school to another in pursuit of their A-level subjects of choice will help to break down the mono-cultural system which has developed in some schools. Having Bradfordians of different cultural backgrounds studying together at a vital time in their educational and social development can surely only help to increase their understanding of each other and establish common ground.