head teachers at schools in Keighley say they have not encountered any problems with security checks on staff and opened as normal this week.

However, Bradford education chiefs say there are still outstanding checks to be done on teacher and support staff backgrounds. This warning came in spite of reassurances made by the Criminal Records Bureau to the council earlier this week that all staff would be checked before the beginning of term.

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which runs checks on school staff to see if they have a criminal record, reportedly has a backlog of around 7,000 staff that still need to be checked.

This has led to major concerns nationally following the tragic deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham, even though Ian Huntley, who is charged with their murder, and girlfriend Maxine Carr, accused of lying to the police, were both cleared by the CRB.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: "Although there are still a small number of completed checks coming through from the CRB, there are still a significant number of outstanding clearances. Education Bradford has done everything asked of it, but, despite continual assurances from the CRB over the last week it now looks as if there could be difficulties for some schools at the start of the new school term."

Margaret Platts, acting head teacher at Greenhead High School, Utley, said the school already had measures in place to ensure the safety of children.

"We take this issue very seriously and we think we've got suitable measures in place to start on time and have a good year," said Miss Platts.

"Other schools I have contacted have said it won't be a problem, even though final confirmation has in some cases not been issued yet."

Celia Pankhurst, the administrator at Our Lady of Victories RC Primary School, Keighley, said: "We have one member of staff joining us this year but it should not cause us a problem.

"We sent off the person's details very early and have received confirmation so we are fine."

The government eased the rules at the beginning of the week, stating that certain groups did not require a check if they have had one done previously.