Plans which could revolutionise local education have been put to teaching staff across the Ilkley area.

Teachers and parents are being asked by for their opinions about a proposal to switch from the traditional three-term year to a six-term system.

Bradford Council has just started a districtwide consultation process to gauge reaction to the idea. Supporters of the scheme say it would help pupils and teachers, by delivering standard length term times and holidays, to perform better.

The head teacher of Ilkley Grammar School, Gillian James, was briefed about the proposal at a meeting this week.

But Mrs James said she had only just started to discuss it with her staff and did not want to comment before she could give 'a full school perspective' on the issue.

Ilkley parish councillor and governor of All Saints' C of E Primary School Mike Lynes, however, said he believed the switch would benefit pupils.

He said: "In terms of the length of time pupils would have off I think it would be more appropriate.

"If it could be organised to work properly in terms of exams and other things then I think to have a larger number of terms of equal time, with equal amounts of time off, would be far more suitable for the children."

The Council's executive member for Education, Councillor David Ward, explained the thinking behind the proposal in a statement issued on Tuesday.

He said: "We're aware that the traditional pattern of the school year means a long autumn term while because of the varying timing of Easter, the terms after Christmas vary, too.

"We are very interested to hear what people think about this proposal and we believe the changes could help teachers plan learning much more easily and continue to provide better quality education to pupils."

The outgoing head teacher of Burley and Woodhead C of E Primary School, Sue Adsett, said she agreed with that line of thought.

Mrs Adsett, who finishes a nine-year stint in charge of the school tomorrow, said: "I am actually in favour of it. I think it will even out the terms which reduces the pressure on staff and pupils and gives them more even terms to work with.

"Planning units of work throughout the year would be easier because it would be for a similar length of time each time.

"From an educational angle and the stamina of children, particularly the very young, having regular breaks would be better. Because children work very hard in school, it's a tiring place to be and they need regular breaks.

"I have always been concerned about the length of the summer holiday which at the moment is far too long. It's too long for teachers, because it takes them time to wind back up when they come back, and for pupils who may have been starting to make progress before the holiday but then have lost some ground again."

But Mrs Adsett did admit to having some concerns about one possible adverse effect - on pupil attendance rates.

She said: "The only thing that concerns me is that obviously we try to avoid children being taken out of school for holidays, it's not the kind of thing we like parents to do, and this change could perhaps lead to an increase in absenteeism.

"But I would hope that discussions would be held with the holiday operators beforehand so they would change their charges policy to reflect the new arrangement, and the problem could then be avoided."

If enough support is found for the new set-up the Education Policy Partnership will recommend the scheme to the Council's Executive Committee, which will have the final decision over whether it should be implemented.

People can examine the consultation document and make their comments by visiting www.bradford.gov.uk/sixtermyear before February 3, 2003.

A council spokesman said that the consultation document would also be made available to schools, 'some parents and other interested parties'.