Mosque representatives have spoken out after Bradford Council’s leader said they must share the responsibility of improving the educational standards of pupils at Greenhead High School, in Keighley.

Two weeks ago Conservative councillor Kris Hopkins challenged parents, community leaders and mosques to do something about the prosperity of pupils at Greenhead and, in particular, ensure they spoke English before entering school.

His statement was issued after Greenhead School was positioned in the bottom 200 of the nation’s GCSE results.

At the time, he said: “You have my commitment to support our young people — the future workforce of our town — and to help them achieve their highest possible educational potential. But governments, councils and politicians are destined to fail in their collective efforts to make things better if the community won’t help to seek itself.”

After an “urgent” meeting between the Keighley Council for Mosques and Cllr Hopkins, who is also the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Keighley, an action plan was drawn up to improve the situation.

The mosques’ spokesman, Sajid Khan, said that the organisation intended to set up a working group to investigate the sources of under achievement. He added that it also intended to hold a conference involving parents, school and stakeholders, involve higher level management in Bradford Council to look at the issue and hold regular meetings with the group to monitor and review performances.

He said: “Kris Hopkins has assured members that (in his statement) there was a genuine attempt to improve things in Keighley rather than a quick publicity stunt. Members felt that despite their concerns about the statement they need to find a common ground of working together and thought it would be in the interest of Greenhead students and parents that a mechanism was put in place to help and support their achievement.

“There is a saying that to educate a child it takes a whole village, therefore we need to involve everyone in the village to improve standards, including the school, council, voluntary and statutory bodies, parents, businesses and so on.

“The good news is that something positive has come out of this as we all have one motto and we are willing to work together to improve things in Keighley,” he said.

In the wake of Cllr Hopkins’s comments, a Keighley-based teacher, Aisha Ali, has organised a public meeting for parents.

Aisha, an ex-Greenhead School pupil who is currently studying for an MA at Bradford College, said the event was designed to find a way forward.

She said: “We’re going to look at the role of parent school governors,” she said.

“But we want parents to first be able to air their views — we don’t want things to be too prescriptive. This is about finding a practical solution, not finger-pointing”

The public meeting will take place this Sunday, in the Highfield Community Centre, Drewry Road, from 2-4pm.