Bradford schools have produced a mixed bag of individual results in the latest secondary-schools league tables. However, in line with the recent Ofsted report on the performance of the LEA the overall impression is encouraging.

It is possible to prove just about anything with statistics. For instance, the city's apparent improvement to 133rd place from 140th last year does tend to confirm that our schools are indeed doing better. On the other hand, sceptics might suggest that it could be because seven other LEAs did worse.

There are strong indications, though, that the former is the case. The number of pupils reaching the national benchmark of five "good" GCSE passes has risen to a new high of 37.3, which is still depressingly down on the national average of 50 per cent. And Feversham College, where 53 per cent of the girls got five A-C grades, has done the district proud by coming top of the national "value added" table for schools.

Even the bad news is not as bad as it could be. Although five Bradford schools are skating close to the threshold beyond which they risk triggering government intervention, none of them has crossed it and two have improved well between last year and this. Hopefully the remaining three will follow that trend this coming year.

Although it is too early to say whether the tables vindicate the view of school bosses that last year's tables were "the last year of bad news" for Bradford, they are certainly to be welcomed as better news and encourage hopes that they will prove to be the start of a steady improvement all round.