BRADFORD Council has set itself the "deliberately ambitious" goal of making sure every one of its schools in the district is rated good or outstanding by 2017.

Today, 71 per cent of children in the district attend a primary school that has been rated good or better by school inspection body Ofsted - nine per cent lower than the national average - but when it comes to secondary schools that number falls to 42 per cent, compared to 74 per cent nationally.

Now, as part of the Council's latest school improvement strategy, the authority is insisting all its 143 primaries and 17 secondaries must be rated at least good by their next inspection, and it has also pledged there will be a "no excuses" attitude to driving up standards.

Bradford consistently finds itself near the bottom of school performance tables and the most recent figures show that for the Council to meet its new targets, the number of pupils taught in good secondary schools would have to rise 58 per cent between now and 2017.

There are also ambitious targets for this academic year. By next summer the Council hopes to close the gap between Bradford and the national average of children getting five A* - C GCSE grades from six per cent to three per cent.

In 2016 the aim is to exceed the national average.

Ideas to achieve the targets include:

* Creating a new senior officer role in the Council dedicated to recruiting and keeping high quality teachers in the district;

* Turning successful head teachers into 'super heads' responsible for a number of schools;

* Targeting problem families to help children progress faster;

* Making annual inspections of every school, on top of the regular Ofsted visits,

* And carrying out a "root and branch" review of school governors.

The strategy, which was being presented to a meeting of Bradford Schools' Forum today, states that educational performance "must improve significantly".

It is based on a similar strategy first released in 2012, but Councillor Ralph Berry, executive for children's services, said the revised version will "focus on accelerating improvements".

An introduction to the strategy says: "The district and its schools face several challenges, but we have a culture of 'no excuses' and we are committed to meeting the challenge."

It adds: "School performance is not improving fast enough or consistently enough."

The Council is now advertising for a schools recruitment and retention strategy lead officer whose job it will be make sure the district has a steady supply of "high quality" teachers.

Cllr Berry said the role had been created partly in response to discussions with schools.

The three priorities for the council are making sure children are "school ready" before they start reception, that young people leaving school are "ready for the world of work and life" and accelerating the achievement and attainment of students.

On the 2017 target, Cllr Berry said: "It's a deliberately ambitious and determined target, but it is the sort of target we have to have.

"We want to get the best teachers to come to Bradford, and we want more young people in Bradford to want to be teachers and also leaders in their community."

On whether the schools could all meet the target, he added: "The key to its success is schools being up for this."

The strategy has been welcomed by many, but the opposition Conservative group on the Council, admitted it was "sceptical" that the targets could be met in little more than two years' time.

Councillor Debbie Davies, its spokesman for education, said the target was "a bit unrealistic".

"Bradford hasn't done very well in education terms in recent years," she said.

"We aren't keeping up with the national average. Based on our previous performance I don't see it happening that soon. A lot of this has all been said before and is just being regurgitated. There is nothing wrong with the ideas, but I'm a little pessimistic."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, the Liberal Democrats group leader, said: "I'm glad we are finally seriously focusing on achievement rather than finding excuses like 'we don't have enough money'.

"It is a good plan, but needs to be closely monitored. I think it can be done."

Ian Murch, Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers, also supported the ambitious strategy.

He said: "It is a good thing because too many councils are giving up on education as the Government is making it more difficult for them. I wish the Council well and I hope it does work, but it will need more resources than we have at the moment."

He said the "good or better" target would depend on Ofsted, and whether it changed the criteria between now and 2017. Last year criteria was revised making it more difficult for schools to be judged good.