A new unit could be set up to help "anxious" children get back into school.

Some youngsters in their early teens have so many problems they stay off lessons for the long-term and are being taught at home.

But now the Education Policy Partnership in Bradford is backing a plan to help them out of home teaching and back into mainstream schools.

At a meeting yesterday the partnership's chairman David Mallen said a study into providing the unit should be given the go ahead.

The plan to be investigated by Mr Mallen's committee is to set up a "half-way" house unit at a school in Shipley. Here the troubled youngsters could be taught in larger groups to get them away from the one-to-one home teaching style and as preparation for returning to full-size classrooms.

Bill Turner, head of learning and support services for Education Bradford, told councillors on the partnership yesterday the unit would be modelled on schemes in Wakefield and Blackburn - councils with top Ofsted ratings for looking after "anxious" children.

They are mainly aged 12 to 15 and suffering from depression, panic attacks, phobias and stress brought on by situations at home or at school.

He said the hours of one-to-one teaching for children with these problems had gone up by 60 per cent in the past three years.

The unit would cater for up to 16 pupils referred to it by their GPs and a consultant paediatrician.

He said a site had been already agreed with governors at a school in Shipley and it was hoped to open it up by September.

He told the Education Policy Policy Partnership that Bradford did not have currently a facility for small group work.

After the meeting he said: "These are pupils with real problems. It is not just a case where they wake up and don't want to go to school in the mornings.

"In some cases it is so bad they may run away or may barricade themselves in their bedrooms.

"Their problems very often may not be school-related but are for other reasons."