It will be an uphill struggle to improve educational standards in Bradford, according to a major teaching union as the Government's league tables are published today.

Although the district seemed to have improved slightly on last year, it will take more than a generation to tackle the endemic problems causing under achievement, said one union leader.

"Bradford will never be top of the league tables unless it is a league table which quantifies opportunities and improvements," said Ian Murch of the NUT.

He blamed ongoing and un-addressed problems of poverty, deprivation coupled with a high volume of children who needed special help because English was not their first language.

Spending on secondary education also needed to be hiked up to deal with under-achievement, he said.

"The social structure of Bradford is not going to change in a generation," said Mr Murch.

A spokesman for Bradford's LEA said GCSE results suggested that local pupils had done slightly better this year continuing a trend of steady improvement which began in 1994.

The number of pupils achieving the magic five or more A*-C passes has gone up by just under one per cent to 29.6 per cent.

Those achieving GCSE grades A-G now stands at 79.8 per cent with the biggest rise being for the number of students gaining one or more GCSE going up from around 80 per cent to 89 per cent.

"I am pleased that we have more than maintained our position and that there is real improvement in the area that matters most which is the pupils in the middle to lower reaches of the results," said Education Committee Chairman, Councillor Jim Flood.

Elsewhere it was not all bad news for schools in Bradford when the league tables were published today.

Independent and grant maintained schools - those which have opted out of local authority control - picked up the top places.

Top of the class was Bradford Girls Grammar School, where an impressive 100 per cent of pupils gained five or more top grades at GCSE.

Headteacher Lynda Warrington said the results justified her belief that single sex education was best.

"We are delighted with the results which are a just reward for the girls' hard work, The league table reaffirms our belief that single-sex environments produce better results time and time again," she said.

Two more private schools, Shaw House and Bradford Grammar School were the next two in the list.

Top state school was Dixons CTC, although this is not under the control of Bradford LEA and is funded directly from the government.

At the West Bowling high-tech school the 76 per cent of pupils who gained A*-C also served to nudge them into the list of the country's top performing comprehensive schools.

Principal John Lewis said he was delighted:

"We are a state school and we take students from all over the city.

"This is the second year running we have done well in the league tables and it is really good news. We are all delighted. It shows that we are not just a flash in the pan."

The school recently celebrated the opening of what was hailed the most high-tech classroom in Britain.

The Minerva Centre - some £500,000 worth of state of the art information technology - was opened by former governor and TV personality Carol Vorderman last week.

The picture painted overall in Bradford had some highs and lows.

GCSE results gained by pupils in the all important A*-C range put the district 14th from the bottom in the list of 150 local education authorities.

It is a mild improvement from last year, when Bradford was placed 12th.

However, comparisons are difficult to draw 19 new local education authorities have come on line in the last year under local government reorganisation.

In terms of truancy there have been improvements. Last year Bradford was second bottom in the league of unauthorised absences. This year it came in sixth from bottom.

It is an improvement - however marginal - that Neil Donkin, headteacher of Eccleshill Upper School, puts down to targeted, hard work to address the problem.

Last year his school in Harrogate Road was named as the worst in Britain for unauthorised absence.

This year it has been replaced at the foot of the table by a Liverpool school.

"We have worked really hard and set in motion a lot to address this problem such as working with educational social workers."

St Joseph's College came seventh out of the district's 35 upper schools.

The girls' results were in line with the national picture where they continued to outshine the boys. The national tables showed 51 per cent of girls achieved five or more GCSE A*-C GCSE grades on the GNVQ equivalent, compared with 41.3 per cent of boys.

All GCSE entrants at Shaw House School and Bradford Girls Grammar got at least 5 A-C grades, while Bradford Grammar School followed a close third with 99 per cent.

On the national scene King Ermystead Grammar in Skipton was in the limelight as one of the top 50 best selective schools in Britain for GCSE grades.

Aireville School, Skipton, is among the country's 211 most improved schools in terms of GCSE grades.

Education spokesman for the Council's Tory group. Councillor Dale Smith said he did not think the restructure of Bradford schools would solve their problems.

He said: "I think people need a better perception of the value of education. It is important that money is spent at the chalk face. I still don't think we are spending enough on education."

Councillor David Ward education spokesman for the Council's Liberal Democrat group said the authority had let some schools "go to the wall" to prove the need for the schools review.

How the missing days are totted up

Truancy is measured in terms of the percentage of half days missed annually through unauthorised absence.

Nine Bradford schools were among the worst 200 in the country for truancy. They were, in order:

Eccleshill Upper - which had the second worst truancy record, after a school in Liverpool - Carlton Bolling College, Bowling Community College, Tong Upper School, Buttershaw Upper School, Wyke Manor Upper School, Rhodesway School, Salt Grammar School, Shipley, and Oakbank School, Keighley.

Bradford schools which featured in the list of the 200 schools with the worst GCSE results, in terms of the proportion of students gaining five or more A*-C grades at GCSE were as follows:

Eccleshill Upper School was 39th with eight per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.

Bowling Community College was 57th with nine per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.

Tong Upper School was 80th with 11 per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.

Buttershaw Upper School was 98th with 12 per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.

Belle Vue Boys School was 136th with 13 per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grade GCSEs.

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