MORE than half of secondary students and a quarter of primary pupils in the district are studying at schools judged to be not good enough, the country's education watchdog has revealed.

The Ofsted annual report shows that Bradford-district schools are among the worst in the country, with the chances of pupils attending a good primary or secondary school having decreased this year.

It places Bradford seventh bottom in the country, among 150 education authorities with only 40 per cent of pupils going to secondary schools which are good or better.

There are only 13 authorities in the country where that number is 50 per cent or lower.

For primary pupils, Bradford is 23rd from bottom nationally, with 73 per cent of students attending good or outstanding primaries.

The figures follow a pledge made by Bradford Council in October to set itself the target of making sure every one of its schools is rated good or outstanding by 2017.

Michael Jameson, the authority’s strategic director of children’s services, admitted there was a lot of work to do.

He said: “We have a ‘no excuses’ culture and we are taking urgent action to drive up standards.

“We recently launched our new education improvement strategy and it contains deliberately ambitious targets and practical measures to improve school leadership and share best practice. We are setting extremely high standards for our schools and we are providing them with a robust challenge and support to help them achieve the highest possible standards.

“We have seen improvements at Key Stage 5 this year in the Bradford district and we have many great examples, particularly at primary school level, but our schools now have to deliver right across the board.”