When the Government raised the bar for GCSE targets, many schools were left underneath it.

From June last year, the minimum target for the proportion of pupils gaining five or more good grades jumped from 25 to 30 per cent

Nationally, 638 schools fell below the line and the focus fell on them as they became part of a new, three-year National Challenge programme to raise achievement levels.

Many of those involved were inner-city comprehensives or schools with pupils from particularly challenging or deprived neighbourhoods.

In Leeds, 14 schools were initially under the new target, although many showed rapid improvement. A selection of those schools have now signed up to an innovative scheme designed to help speed up improvements even further.

From this summer, some of the country's brightest university graduates will be heading to Yorkshire to begin a career in teaching they may not have previously considered.

The scheme, called Teach First, recruits outstanding candidates with top-notch degrees to work in some of the country's most challenging schools.

Among those taking part is Cockburn College of Arts in Beeston, south Leeds. In 2003, just 10 per cent of pupils gained five good GCSE grades including English and maths.

This summer, the school will be heading towards 40 per cent, said head teacher Dave Gurney.

"We were very interested in Teach First because we saw it as an opportunity to put in extra capacity in terms of school improvement. We are expecting to recruit very high quality graduates in the core subjects of English and maths, where there's a national shortage.

"The students will have a full-time teaching commitment and will be additional to our existing staff. That means we can have smaller classes, which has been proven to have an impact on pupil achievement."
Other Leeds high schools that have offered to take part in the programme include the David Young Community Academy in Seacroft, Farnley Park High and Carr Manor High in Meanwood.

Teach First's Yorkshire regional director Lis Roberts said 50 graduates had been recruited for West and South Yorkshire.

"The schools come to us with their vacancies and we match them up with the students. We have placed about 40 students so far, and they will start at their schools in September.

"We have a very vigorous assessment and we look at core competancies such as resilience, empathy and respect. Many of our students are from Oxbridge but we recruit students from universities across the country."
Yorkshire schools interested in taking part in Teach First can email regional director Lis Roberts via lroberts@teachfirst.org.uk.