Brighter boys, better numeracy skills and a drop in truancy are part of an education blueprint to boost achievement in Bradford.

A document is under discussion which will map out the shape of things to come in the district during the next three years.

The Bradford Education Development Plan has been drafted and before a final version is produced a cross-party seminar is set to be held to firm it up.

Some targets and priorities have already been set.

Councillors want literacy, numeracy, information technology and science achievement to improve.

Standards attained by boys - who have classically fallen behind the girls in the race for results - must also be boosted as well as the achievements of ethnic minority pupils. And councillors want to cut truancy and exclusions from school.

Teachers are not excluded from the vision - with a need to improve the quality of teaching, leadership and attendance all marked as key priorities.

Reaching the high standards will be tough but attainable, say members of the education committee.

Boosting the four key classroom skills will be achieved through implementing schemes such as the National Literacy Strategy, the National Numeracy Project and local initiatives such as the Better Reading Partnership, which gets people from local industry into schools to help children read.

Helping boys achieve better grades will take the form of target-setting and using latest research to inform new policies.

Ethnic minority pupils will be given a helping hand through a system of networking to foster good communications and practice between clusters of schools.

Training is at the core of initiatives to boost the quality of teaching.

The report admits that a major challenge in attaining the targets will be the schools reorganisation.

"In short, the authority will have to take specific and focused measures to prevent any dip in the levels of achievement for the duration of the re-organisation process," says the report.

Exactly how that will be done is not specified in the document.

Every local education authority in the country must submit an EDP for approval to the Department of Education and Employment.

Although only a draft version, Bradford's has been sent down to London with the caveat that it will not be fully discussed until the new year.

Education councillors welcomed the plan and congratulated officers for their hard work in putting it together.

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