Nearly 2,000 inner city children are to be offered a huge range of out-of-school activities thanks to the teamwork of eight neighbouring primary schools.

A joint lottery bid by the schools, all within walking distance of each other in Manningham, has just scooped £89,000.

The money, from the New Opportunities Fund, will allow them to provide everything from masterclasses with professional artists and musicians to extra computer tuition - all outside normal lesson times.

Every pupil aged between seven and 11 will be able to apply for courses run at any of the eight schools during the next three years.

The aim is to provide enough variety to motivate and excite every child, and each school will concentrate on one subject area, working in pairs to form the following "magnet centres":

*Iqra (currently Drummond Middle School) and Miriam Lord primary schools will focus on information and communications technology

*Springwood and Atlas primary schools on environmental and outdoor pursuits

*Lilycroft and Westbourne primary schools on creative arts

*Margaret Macmillan and Green Lane primary schools on sport.

In a joint statement, the eight head teachers said: "This is a close knit community which is united in working towards raising achievement levels and opening up opportunities for its children. Schools are no longer institutes which are open from nine to three, but thriving centres of the community."

They plan to use the resulting economies of scale to give children the chance to take part in more diverse activities than they could ever hope to offer alone.

"It is really an opportunity for the children to stretch their talents," said Westbourne head teacher Denise Richardson.

"We want to be able to offer them exciting activities and more unusual sports such as the opportunity to go to a dry ski slope.We want to produce citizens of the future, not pupils who only know about subjects on the national curriculum."

All schools in the Bradford district are required to work together in groups, but the Manningham primary schools have built up a reputation as one of the strongest "clusters".

Mrs Richardson said Bradford Council had bid for New Opportunities money on behalf of other schools, but the Manningham primaries had made a specific decision to go it alone.

"It was really difficult - it was a huge bid," she said.

"We could have been put off by the uncertainties caused by the schools reorganisation, so it really has been a remarkable feat to get the money."

e-mail:william.stewart

@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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