Pupils' success in the business world has prompted a Buttershaw school to aim to become the country's first enterprise school.

A firm set up within Buttershaw Upper School as part of the Young Enterprise scheme was named runner-up in the Bradford district's awards this week and will compete for the regional title later in the month.

And the company, Reflecticks - which makes and markets mirrors and clocks - is the latest in a long line of enterprise successes for the school.

Headteacher John Hull said staff were now to meet regional Government officials to appeal for cash - the school had long had ambitions to create an enterprise centre on its site.

The school is seeking £500,000 in addition to £100,000 it already has earmarked. This would fund the building of the centre as well as staffing and start-up costs.

The proposed centre would include workshops which could be used in the evenings and during school holidays as well as a board room and conference facilities. Mr Hull said: "The young people from our area have had a raw deal for too long. Many have been low-aspiring and low-attaining, perhaps because they have lived in an area which offered to them limited opportunities. Their children deserve better."

The scheme will be called the Jigsaw Centre because it links with other projects in the area. A bid has been made by Royds Community Association for an enterprise centre on The Crescent in Buttershaw, close to the upper school, offering hi-tech equipment and training for local people to gain skills and set up their own businesses using workspace in the centre.

Mr Hull said: "We have a ready-made plan here to perhaps be the country's first enterprise school, along the lines of the specialist schools in languages, sport or technology."

Under the Young Enterprise scheme pupils set up companies, do research, marketing, make goods, sell them, have shareholders, hold board meetings and then liquidate the company at the end of the school year after a series of reports, presentations and exams. They learn skills which would give them career opportunities and a taste of the world of business and work.

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