A bleak report on classroom standards in Bradford has revealed the extent of the challenge facing the district.

The district's new Education Policy Partnership (EPP), meeting for the first time yesterday, heard the authority failed to achieve all but one of its targets.

Only in the field of school exclusions did the district perform on target, successfully bringing down the numbers of youngsters thrown out of school.

At GCSE level, performance went down and although the results achieved by seven-year-olds and 11-year-olds in Key Stage 1 and 2 tests rose slightly, it was not enough for Bradford to achieve targets set by itself.

The EPP is a new advisory body which will set policy and work with Education Bradford, now managed by private firm Serco.

Chairman David Mallen said: "This makes bleak reading - there is no point pretending otherwise. It shows the challenge that lies ahead because Education Bradford has been set targets which, in some cases, are more ambitious than the ones that have just been failed. Everyone needs to understand this is a very, very challenging agenda."

He said more emphasis was needed on pre-school learning. "Children are starting to fail at Key Stage 1, we need to help them come into school much more confident. If you don't focus on early years, what you are doing from then on is try to rescue the increasingly unrescuable."

Phil Green, acting director of education, said the poor results were probably the result of the disruption caused by the schools reorganisation.

The report explains Bradford district failed to meet its targets in Key Stage 2 and at GCSE level as well as in attendance and unauthorised absence. However the number of permanent exclusions from school was 102 - down from 116 the year before and well within the target of 112.