Congratulations to Beckfoot, Salt Grammar and Hanson schools as well as the Girls' Grammar School, Bradford, on joining the list of local schools which have qualified for the Sportsmark Gold award recognising commitment to sport in the curriculum.

Bradford now has a dozen schools which have gained this national honour. Together they have set a standard which hopefully more and more schools will seek to match within their own curriculum. The winners will be the district's pupils who will gain physically and mentally from greater involvement in a wide range of sporting activities.

After a few years during which school sport was frowned upon in some educational quarters, it is good to learn that it is now firmly back on the agenda.

There has been a lot of concern expressed recently about young people becoming overweight because they eat the wrong foods and spend far too much of their time sitting in front of computers or televisions. The exercise that comes from taking part in organised sports such as football, tennis, basketball, netball and cricket can help to change all that by encouraging young people to think in healthy-eating terms.

The more schools become involved, the greater the chance of changing the emphasis of the culture which encourages youngsters to wallow in a sedentary lifestyle.

It is heartening, too, that many of the sports involved are team activities which encourage youngsters to work co-operatively within a group and develop the sort of competitive edge that will stand them in good stead when the time comes for them to make their way in the world outside the school environment.