HEADteachers in North Yorkshire are likely to benefit from a drive to raise standards in schools by establishing a national bursar development programme.

The idea is to develop support staff with appropriate skills to deal with non-curriculum issues.

That should leave heads and senior leaders free to concentrate on the quality of learning and teaching.

A pilot programme is being held across the country and 15 of the 100 volunteers involved are from ten North Yorkshire schools.

The county's head of education policy and development, Bernadette Jones, said: "We can have a major impact on the development of the scheme.