MORE than a third of Bradford schools either require improvement or are inadequate, according to latest Ofsted figures.

Of the 201 schools and academies inspectors have visited in Bradford, 65 are judged to require improvement and five have received inadequate judgements.

It means that 70 of the district's schools, or 34 per cent, fall below the "good" level. Previous figures, released last year, showed 32 per cent of schools in Bradford fell short of being rated "good."

Just 24 are currently outstanding - 12 per cent, compared to the national average of 20 per cent - and the majority, 107, are judged as "good" in Bradford.

Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest percentage of schools requiring improvement in the country and of the region's local authorities, Bradford has the second highest level.

Last year Bradford Council set the ambitious target of having all the district's schools up to the level of good or outstanding by 2017.

Councillor Ralph Berry, the executive member for Children's Services, said the Council was still aiming for this, despite the latest Ofsted findings.

"We need to see much more of the good and outstanding schools and more schools have signed up to partnerships in order to increase the number of outstanding schools," he added.

"We need to look at what makes them outstanding or good and make the most of this. We're committed to this and getting more people coming in to help this, including people from beyond Bradford."

Councillor Debbie Davies, Bradford Conservative spokesman for education, said: "It is disappointing to see that a lot of parents in the area will be sending their children to a school that is not classed as good.

"I really feel for the children at these schools who aren't getting an adequate education. Hopefully seeing these figures will encourage the schools to do more. It may be that there are still fantastic teachers at these schools, but their efforts might be swallowed up in a poor Ofsted report."

The Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers Ian Murch said: "I think Bradford is targeted by inspectors because of its low exam league table standing.

"Bradford schools actually do a bit better in this respect when you compare these figures to being bottom of the exam tables."

He said many of the schools that required improvement were from deprived areas, or had limited resources.

"Turning some schools around is very hard in the short term," he added.