A new flagship school is so keen to stay multi-cultural it plans to opt out of local authority control.

Leaders of the Challenge College, which celebrates its first birthday in September, are desperate to keep a healthy mix of Asian and white pupils.

But the school is now so popular - with four pupils chasing each one of its places - Bradford Council has imposed a catchment area. New pupils starting in September must live in Manningham or Frizinghall. As a result only one in ten will be white.

The popular school - which attracts applications from white parents from across North Bradford - wants to preserve a 60/40 or a 70/30 split between Asian and white pupils.

The Ouseley Report highlighted 'virtual apartheid' in schools as one of the main ills afflicting Bradford.

But plans to beat segregation at The Challenge College have been scuppered by an admissions policy imposed by the Council.

Now, school leaders say their only hope is to opt out and become a Foundation School - giving a more powerful governing body control over admissions. It would then move to a system of 'feeder' primary schools like that at the prestigious Ilkley Grammar School.

But Bradford Council is hoping to dissuade them from making the move.

The Challenge College is currently at a temporary base at the former Woodend Middle School in Shipley, but moves next year to brand new premises in North Avenue, Manningham.

Rod Sawyer, chairman of the governors, said: "It's no longer the case that you get financial advantages from opting out, otherwise we wouldn't be taking this step. Now, it's more about what you want to do with the school. Our governing body voted unanimously to do this."

Next term the school will start consulting parents and other interested parties. After a ballot of parents, a final decision would be made by the Department for Education and Skills.

Mr Sawyer said the school was booming and oversubscribed, thanks to its success in raising standards and maintaining good behaviour.

The school has a majority Asian population but white families make a point of sending their children from Shipley, Nab Wood, Fagley, Ravenscliffe and Undercliffe. But its popularity means that for September's intake, a catchment area has been imposed limiting admission to pupils living in Manningham and Frizinghall.

This in effect means the youngest pupils come September will be 90 per cent Asian - destroying the cultural mix the school has tried so hard to create.

"Governors, parents, staff and children at our school all want a socially and racially mixed school with the highest standards," Mr Sawyer said.

"How ironic - we have an over subscribed school in the inner city which white parents want their children to go to, but can't."

Head teacher Gareth Dawkins said: "This flies in the face of our aspirations. We are a very popular and over-subscribed school, so the LEA has had to put a catchment area on, but we're vehemently opposed to it. We don't want to abandon our core constituency - but Pakistani parents are saying they don't want their pupils in a school that's exclusively Pakistani."

However teaching unions have voiced concern over the school's go-it-alone plan.

Ian Murch, of the Bradford branch of the NUT, said: "This is a retrograde step. It would be better if they worked with the LEA on admissions. Voluntary aided and Foundation schools in Bradford distort the pattern of admissions. The absolutely vital thing, if you are going to improve the racial mix and accessibility at schools, is to have a proper, co-ordinated admissions system."

Councillor David Ward, executive member for education, said he respected the aims of the Challenge College leaders but hoped to dissuade them from quitting the LEA. "They are doing it for the very very best reasons - it makes a pleasant change for a school to say 'we want control to have a mix of ethnicity'. I applaud that but I hope we can resolve their concerns without them having to go for Foundation Status."