A football tournament encouraged children from different backgrounds to get to know one another.

Khalil Hussain, a learning mentor at Springwood Primary School in Wood Street, Manningham, Bradford, decided to set up a contest with eight teams from eight schools from across the district. But instead of each school entering its own team, the youngsters would be mixed up so there was one pupil from each school on each team.

The event, held at Manningham Sports Centre, was funded through Bradford Vision's Linking Communities project.

Mr Hussain said he was keen to do something that would encourage children from different backgrounds to interact with one another and get to know each other. "I thought 'Let's do something different'," he said. "If you target children at a younger age then you can break down any preconceptions they may have about each other.

"I wasn't too sure about how it was going to go down because nothing like this has ever been done but everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves."

Ten-year-old Suliman Khan, of Cop-thorne Primary School in All Saints Road, said: "I thought we were just going to play with the same team. But now we have to work together in a new team." Team mate Rebecca Taylor, ten, of St Matthew's Catholic Primary School in Allerton, said: "It's been good to get to know different people. Everyone has been really friendly."

The teaching staff were also spilt up and had the challenge of working with children they didn't know. Sue Hellewell, a learning mentor at Guard House Primary School in Keighley, said: "All we were told was to bring eight children, so it was a surprise for us as well. At first the children looked quite worried but they soon started to smile."

Trish Kiernan, a learning mentor at St Francis Catholic Primary School, said: "I think it's a really brave thing for them to do. As time has gone on they really started to gel with each other."

The eight schools which took part were Springwood Primary School, Guard House Primary School, St Francis Catholic Primary School, Copthorne Primary School, St Matthew's Catholic Primary School, Glenaire Primary School, Usher Street Primary School and Margaret McMillan Primary School.

Each child and teacher who took part received a trophy for their efforts presented by Bradford City players Jake Wright, John Swift and City legend Des Hamiliton.