Regeneration schemes in Bradford have not done enough to help poor children achieve in the classroom, a senior councillor claimed today.

Councillor David Ward, executive member for education on Bradford Council, was speaking as a new report from End Child Poverty showed academic success was still largely determined by social class.

Wealthier youngsters are three times more likely to gain five good GCSE passes, the standard 'passport' to A levels and higher education.

These divisions remain a problem in Bradford which has some of the most deprived Council wards in the country.

Coun Ward said: "This is a huge challenge for us although we shouldn't use it as an excuse - it just shows we need to do even more.

"Nearly all the regeneration partnerships in Bradford have failed in this respect."

The Trident regeneration scheme, which is channelling £50 million into the Manchester Road area over ten years, has already produced data showing exam results among its pupils are getting better.

"If Trident is learning lessons from others, all well and good - it hasn't been an area of success in earlier Partnerships," Coun Ward said.

The report by End Child Poverty reveals Britain has one of the biggest class divides in education in the industrialised world.

It reveals: the academic gap between poor and well-off children appears before a child's second birthday and widens as it gets older; poor children are a third as likely to get five good GCSEs as their wealthier classmates; and the gap widens faster in areas such as Skipton with selective grammar schools.

Author Paul Ennals, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau, called for extra cash for education authorities like Bradford, serving poor areas.

He said: "A greater proportion of the education budget must be allocated to the cause of reducing inequality."

The report was launched yesterday at a conference in London due to be attended by Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

He admitted: "The nation cannot accept the current situation in which differences between children's backgrounds are evident as early as 22 months."