Children from one North West high school could help rid Britain of racism.

That was the dramatic claim made by the chief of the Commission for Racial Equality during a visit to Moor Park High School, in Preston the most ethnically diverse school in Lancashire.

During a 30-minute discussion with children at the school in Deepdale, Trevor Phillips praised pupils' attitudes and asked them their views on the school's secret for success.

And after the meeting, he said, "If I could take children from this school and inject them into every other school, I think we could solve a lot of Britain's racial problems.

"The interesting thing about this school is the children's willingness to be open to learn about each other's backgrounds without a sense of losing their own identity."

The Moor Park Avenue community school boasts 502 pupils from a number of ethnic backgrounds: 204 White British, five Kosovar, 15 Black Caribbean, five mixed race, 222 Indian, and 43 Pakistani.

In addition, 13 different languages are spoken in the school, and the catchment area falls in the five per cent most deprived wards in England.

During the meeting pupil Saiva Ishaf, 16, said: "Here at Moor Park we learn to appreciate the similarities as well as the differences between our cultures."

Children at the school are also encouraged to bring in aspects of their cultures and religions like books and artefacts for discussion in religious education classes and citizenship lessons.

"We constantly reinforce a positive attitude towards diversity, and we have had no incidents of racism to report to the Local Education Authority in recent times," said headteacher Peter Cunningham.

"The secret to our success is our inclusion strategies and policies, and the way that diversity and understanding are positively encouraged.

"In last year's OFSTED report the school was congratulated for our friendly, harmonious and inclusive ethos," he added.

Mr Phillips' visit, on Friday, March 19, was part of a wider tour of the area to meet business chiefs and politicians.

Faruk Desai, chief executive of Preston Racial Equality Council, said: "I spoke to Mr Phillips after the meeting and he was very impressed with the maturity of the pupils at Moor Park.

"The school had difficulties in the past with racial issues, but it has turned around and has become so popular that people now have to be turned away as the school is oversubscribed."