EFFORTS to improve the performance of Bradford's schools are being boosted by the success of an alliance of schools working together to train teachers.

St Edmund's Nursery and Children's Centre is the lead school of an alliance of nursery, primary, secondary and special schools that allow new teachers to train on the job.

The alliance is going from strength to strength, and from September bosses expect to be offering over 100 training places, and hope to soon be involved in every school in the district.

It currently comprises of 70 primary schools, six nurseries a special school, three secondary schools an academy and a secondary free school, and Sheffield Hallam University, and is one of the country's largest collaborations of schools.

It has already trained over 100 student teachers, run nationwide conferences and recruited 20 teachers with particular expertise in certain subjects to work in struggling schools.

Recent years have seen Bradford languish near the bottom of national school league tables, and last year the council announced ambitious plans to turn the district's fortunes around. These included improving standards of teaching and making sure every school in the district becomes "good" or better, as judged by Ofsted, by 2017.

And St Edmunds has recently proved that the school was more than up to the task of leading the charge - it was judged outstanding in its most recent Ofsted inspection, after which inspectors said the staff "create a vibrant and positive environment." Only schools that are classed as outstanding can apply to become teaching schools.

The alliance is helping improve schools by recruiting and training new entrants to teaching, providing training courses, supporting school leadership and recruiting and training outstanding head teachers and subject leaders. People new to the teaching profession can learn on the job by working other high quality teachers. It also means teachers can be sent to struggling schools, and successful schools can offer sport to improve less successful ones.

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The system was inspired by the London Challenge, a programme that helped turn around standards in London schools.

There is also a focus on research into teaching methods.

Councillor Ralph Berry said: "These schools are delivering a huge range of professional training and development in the communities of Bradford."

Anne Marie Merifield, head of the school, said: "We look at teaching and learning, how we can support it and the part it plays in improvement in schools. It involves both the initial teacher training and the refreshing the skills of teachers as their careers go on."

Having been born in Bradford, Mrs Merifield says it is particularly important that the city produces good teachers. She said: "Bradford can have a much better reputation, and this is a great opportunity to improve standards.

"One of the areas the city really has to focus on is teacher training, and I'm particularly interested in the quality of teaching - it needs to be excellent. There are a lot of great young people who want to put a lot into Bradford.

Christian Bunting, head of teaching schools, said: "In this situation schools are in charge of their own improvement and their own professional development strategy." Cllr Berry added: "Schools and these partnerships drive their own improvement agenda."

Mr Bunting added: "This is about improving the lives of children in Bradford, every child has the right to go to a good school.

"It the moment we're working with about 15 different schools on five different research projects, including pupils' outcomes in relation to pupil premium funding."

He said the benefits of this method of training teachers was that new teachers learned from working teachers, rather than lecturers in a classroom setting. He said: "Training is delivered by teachers who are working 25 hours a week, not by people who were last in a classroom 25 year ago. The next generation of teachers learn by watching them work.

"The great thing is a lot of these teachers coming in are from Bradford. I've always had the view that we have fantastic teachers in Bradford, but many of them don't know they are teachers yet."

The programme has also led to a high number of people from under represented groups entering the profession, including young women of South Asian heritage. Mr Bunting said: "These groups feel much more comfortable training in local schools."

Cllr Berry added: "We aren't going to attract great teachers by doing something like raising pay by £1,000 a year, you will do it by making Bradford a fantastic place to teach."