Continuing our series giving local head teachers the chance to write on educational issues, Alan Hall, headteacher at Belle Vue Girls' School, Bradford, looks at the education of Asian girls in Bradford.

IN SPITE of all the upheaval surrounding Bradford's reorganisation of schools and despite the struggle to cope with all the educational initiatives from the Government, there are still many magic moments for Bradford teachers to enjoy.

Last week, for instance, I witnessed one of our sixth-formers deliver a brilliant presentation to a hall full of managers from various national organisations.

The event was a conference to promote closer links between employers and schools. There stood Shegofeta, facing the serried rank of suits and serious expressions. Was she nervous? Did her voice quiver? Not a bit as far as I could see.

Without any notes or prompts she held forth about what it is like to be a young adult learner in the new century, how one could simultaneously be a career woman, a good family member and a devout Muslim.

The audience was enthralled. No wonder a queue formed to sit at her table when it was time for lunch.

I was thrilled to bits too. Also I couldn't help reflecting that I, a product of a selective grammar school and one of England's oldest universities, yet even now as a middle-aged and experienced teacher, could not match Shegofeta's public-speaking skills.

As a 17-year-old school pupil back in the 1960s, I would have found what she had done as far beyond me as performing open-heart surgery.

Later when the conference split into discussion groups, Samina, another of our sixth-formers, produced a second piece of magic.

She politely, but firmly, corrected one of the delegates who seemed to be making some rather stereotypical remarks about Asian girls' aspirations being generally limited to marriage and childbearing. Samina soon put her right.

These days, she said, it was perfectly possible for women, Asian or otherwise, to pursue careers in the workplace and still be good wives, mothers and community members.

Indeed, she continued, helping people to achieve the right balance between all these things was really what schools like Belle Vue Girls' were all about.

Hear, hear, I thought, and again I marvelled at the way this intelligent teenager was able to express her thoughts so well to a group of older people. At her age I was usually tongue-tied in the company of the older generation and on the few occasions when I did muster the courage to speak to them, I was quite likely to cause offence to adults by using an aggressive manner to cover up my nervousness.

Not so Samina - she used exactly the right level of assertiveness to get her points across without being rude. That takes real skill.

There are hundreds of bright, confident young people like Shegofeta and Samina in Bradford's schools. They work hard. Many of them speak two or three languages fluently and think nothing of it, whereas I congratulate myself if I manage to order a cup of coffee in French.

Their inter-personal skills are often very good, too. When Health Minister Yvette Cooper took breakfast at our school recently, you would have thought the two 14-year-old youngsters who ate with her were in the habit of entertaining Government ministers every day of the week.

Communication skills, inter-personal skills and a preparedness to work hard, these are the qualities employers are looking for, according to a recent study from Bradford University.

I see those qualities every day in school and I am certain that my colleagues in other Bradford schools do too. I believe Bradford's future is bright. We have some magic young people.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.