SCHOOLS in Worcestershire with a predominantly white pupil intake could be forced to twin with more ethnically-diverse schools in a bid to promote community relations.

The Government is introducing a legal duty, from September, for schools to give pupils an opportunity to mix with and learn with pupils from other religious, class and ethnic backgrounds. It will be subject to inspections by the education watchdog, Ofsted.

Guidance from the Government stresses that schools have a duty to stamp out racial discrimination and must promote good relations between "people of different groups".

Schools in Worcestershire have welcomed the guidelines and say they are already well on the way to promoting cultural diversity.

Clive Corbett, headteacher at Pershore High School, said: "This is one of the things that we would want to promote. We already have very good international links - we are currently forging a twinning with a school in Zambia. But I think that we can still do more with schools in this country.

"It think it is very important for students to have the opportunity to mix with others from different backgrounds and I don't see this new guidance as an unnecessary pressure, but a positive step.

"Here in Worcestershire there is not the cultural diversity that there is in other areas of the country so I think it would be good idea."

At Red Hill Primary School in Midhurst Close, Worcester, students are forging a link with a school in India.

Headteacher Jane Long said: "I think it is very important to prepare children for being citizens in a community that is culturally diverse. I would welcome these guidelines."

Schools Minister Jim Knight said links - be they actual or virtual - between schools of differing ethnic or religious make-up was one way of breaking down barriers in society.

"As an example, I'm quite keen on faith-based schools twinning with those of other faiths - to talk to other schools about their faith - so we can extend that understanding," he said.

Mr Knight said schools could promote community relations through teaching in the classroom, the ethos of the school and through external relations of the school in the wider community, such as twinning between schools of different faiths.