THE imminent privatisation of much of the district's education service has been given a cautious welcome by an Ilkley school governor.

Bradford Council bosses decided this week to award a ten-year contract to external education provider Serco QAA.

From the end of this month, Serco will take over the running of a wide range of support services to schools in the Ilkley Pyramid and the rest of the district, including admissions, inspection and advisory services, special needs, pupil support services, training, financial management and information technology.

Already the company has been involved in discussions with officials and schools about the way to run education services in the future.

Ilkley District Councillor Martin Smith (Con), governor in charge of buildings at Ilkley Grammar, said initial contacts with the company had been encouraging.

He said: "We have already seen a different attitude that they have towards the schools. They are much more supportive than it appeared under the previous system."

He said although the arrangement was in its very early stages, it appeared the partnership and privatisation process had improved communication between schools and education officials.

In the past, governors and staff at Ilkley Grammar have been at loggerheads with Bradford Council, particularly over the school's budget deficit. At one point education officials prevented the school from spending any money on anything but essentials until the problems were ironed out.

Coun Smith said: "We still have problems with the budget because we have extra pupils but we don't get paid for them until next April. We have to find an extra teacher."

He is hoping for better treatment for the school under the new arrangements.

"We can only take it as it comes. Initially it seems to be okay but it is early days," said Coun Smith.

He said a business management structure had been put in place with specific targets to achieve which were linked to payment.

"It seems at the moment it is becoming easier to talk to the authority and get action than it was before," Coun Smith said.

Serco QAA was selected as a preferred bidder from a shortlist of four organisations. Around 1,000 council staff will transfer to the new organisation at the end of this month, with others going at the beginning of next year.

Paul Brett, operations director for Serco, said: "The responsibility is enormous, but we firmly believe that with the support and backing of everyone in the district - schools, parents, the council and local communities - we can achieve our goal of raising standards."

Targets built into the £360 million contract include raising levels of academic achievement for all children at Key Stages One to Four and improving the performance of specific groups.

The overall aim is to see pupils in Bradford reaching at least the national average for educational attainment by 2005.

Although Ilkley does not suffer the low-achievement levels of much of the rest of the district, governors, staff and parents in the area hope the new management arrangement will lead to improvements here as well.

The council decided to seek an external provider following consultation with headteachers, governors and the Government in the aftermath of an Ofsted report which branded the local authority's education service as very poor.

Council leader Margaret Eaton (Con - Bingley Rural) said: "Education is the key to the social and economic regeneration of the district. If we want to ensure the success of our district in the future, we must ensure the educational success of all our children.

"The strategic partnership between the council, Serco and schools represents a new start for education in the district. We want to see higher standards and we now expect to see them begin to rise very quickly."