The head-teacher of Keighley's Greenhead Gram-mar School has hit back at league tables which he says do not show the improvements the school is making.

Miles Mizon says he is keen to put the record straight on the two issues of attendance and exam performance.

Attendance league tables published earlier this month placed Greenhead in the bottom third of schools in the Bradford district.

Mr Mizon says that although the truancy rate of 4.3 per cent is unacceptable, the school is doing everything in its power to cut the number.

And he is calling on parents to cooperate with the school in its bid to cut down on the number of unauthorised absentees.

He says: "We have set a target to cut unauthorised absence by 50 per cent over the next two years.

"We have moved to a full time attendance officer so that we make same-day contact with as many parents as possible. So far this is having a big effect. Attendance is improving and if we can maintain the improvements that we have made this term we will be out of the bottom division."

Mr Mizon says the school has cracked down on unauthorised absenteesim, and is using a number of initiatives to encourage pupils to attend the school. Using money from Keighley's Single Regeneration Budget and Bradford Training and Enterprise Council the school has introduced new courses and awards for pupils with a good attendance record.

One of the factors at Greenhead is its relatively high proportion of pupils who are from families of Asian backgrounds. Culturally, they sometimes spend relatively long periods of time with family abroad, thus missing school.

In relation to the cultural aspects of truancy, Mr Mizon says cooperation with asian parents is imperative, and he believes the school can do its bit by offering help and advice. Citing the example of the upcoming festival of Eid, he says it is important to let parents know their children have only two days authorised leave from school.

On the subject of exam results, he says the school has shown year-on-year improvements. Mr Mizon says only two schools in Bradford showed a bigger improvement in this year's GCSE exam results, in which Greenhead finished 16th out of 32 schools in Bradford in the A to C grade category. He also points to the increase in A-level grades for the fourth successive year, which again pla-ces Greenhead 16th out of 32.

He adds: "Greenhead is doing well and improving in examinations. We are doing lots of things to improve attendance but we need everyone's cooperation to maintain the improvements we have already made this year. We are not saying that half-way is good enough. Greenhead aims to be in the top third of all of Bradford's schools. Our students deserve nothing less."

Teachers and pupils will be taking part in a carol concert today in St Mark's Church at 11.40am. All are welcome.

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