The secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls, visited Leeds on Friday for the national launch of the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard.

He was joined by Stephen Lawrence's mother, Doreen. Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death in a racist attack in London in 1993.

The standard was developed by Education Leeds in 2003 and has since been awarded to schools, early years centres and colleges which demonstrate knowledge, understanding and evidence of promoting inclusion and race equality to help transform     education.

Seventeen of Morley's schools have achieved the award and were at the forefront of its inception.

The national launch means the programme will be available to schools up and down the country and more than 315 delegates from local authorities and partners from across England gathered at the Royal Armouries on Friday.

Mr Balls said: "A Stephen Lawrence Education Award is a sign of a good school. It means they are committed to doing everything possible to show that racism has no place in their school, and that pupils understand different cultures and backgrounds.

"The Morley family of schools has been at the forefront of this work. Our local schools recognised early on that their campaign to stamp out racism would be stronger if they worked   together.

"Seventeen schools across Morley came together, along with local community figures and business representatives, to create a truly ground-breaking approach to tackling racist bullying and negative attitudes in our schools, our streets, and our towns.

"I'm delighted at the contribution Morley schools have made to this work – and that we can now roll the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard out to schools across the country."

Coun Richard Harker, executive board member for learning at Leeds City Council, said: "It's a fantastic achievement for the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard to be recognised in this way.

"It was developed to promote the importance of treating everyone equally and continues the city's proud tradition of celebrating diversity.

"The standard encourages children and young people to treat everyone with respect and it's excellent news that it will benefit other schools across the country."