Advance information about the contents of the Behaviour Support Plan for Bradford schoolchildren, due to be published by the end of the year, suggest that it contains some sensible ideas for coping with "problem pupils".

The plan is set to be launched in the wake of a report showing that Bradford, as a district, has the sixth worst truancy record in the country. Clearly there is a need for radical steps to be taken to ensure that more youngsters spend more time at school. By staying away they not only waste their educational chances and put themselves at a disadvantage for the rest of the their lives. They also risk being attracted into a life of drugs and crime.

It is welcome news that parental involvement and responsibility is to be given a high priority in the plan, with parents being contacted on the very first day of their child's unauthorised absence. Schools are hrd-pressed, but resources put into enforcing a measure of this sort could well pay dividends by catching absenteeism early, before it has chance to turn into a regular habit.

It also makes a lot of sense to adapt a school's curriculum to cater for the needs of individual pupils, making it more appropriate to the needs and interests of children who might not be academic.

School needs to be made interesting, exciting and above all relevant to those youngsters who currently see nothing for themselves in it. If that means playing to vocational needs in some cases rather than academic aspirations, then so be it.

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