“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”. Those wise words from Sajid Khan may well go down in history as the turning point in the under achievement of pupils at some schools.

They came as a direct result of the straight-to-the-point statement by Bradford Council leader Councillor Kris Hopkins about Greenhead High School. It did spark some controversial comments but the challenge was taken up by the Council for Mosques, which has set up a working party to look at the sources of under achievement. At the same time a public meeting is being held this weekend in a bid to find a way forward organised by an ex-Greenhead pupil, Aisha Ali , now a teacher and parent.

As Sajid Khan says the good news is that something positive has come out of the statement and people are starting to work together. The mosque members say they felt the 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. It was a painful wake-up call from Cllr Hopkins which has been heeded. All support must now be given to those who have reacted in a positive way to help students achieve their ambitions and aspirations.