EDUCATION chiefs are urging students, teachers and parents to celebrate their success with this year's SATs and GCSE results, confirming the borough's reputation for providing some of the best schooling in the country.

Last week's GCSE figures reflected the national trend with a slight fall in Bury's A*-C grade pass rate from 56.3 per cent to 53.9 per cent. But there were healthy increases at individual schools with St Monica's RC High School recording the highest ever pass rate in Bury. There, 79 per cent of students gained five or more A*-C passes, a rise of eight per cent on last year. And other schools recording increases included Radcliffe High School (with a seven per cent increase to 25 per cent) and Prestwich High School (one per cent increase to 48 per cent).

Overall, Bury's schools are continuing to outperform the national average which is 51 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the Government's Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) for seven, 11 and 14-year-olds, Bury's children continue to outperform national averages in most areas, maintaining its above-average performance, including in the 'three Rs'.

Greatest improvements were in the SATs tests for older children at Key Stage 3 where 14-year-olds maintained the borough's reputation for being well above the national average. Some of these improvements are even above national rises in performance.

Although the figures for Key Stage 3 are still provisional, the percentage of 14-year-olds in Bury reaching Level 5 or above in English is 75 per cent compared to a national average of 68 per cent; for mathematics 76 per cent (70 per cent) and science 73 per cent (68 per cent). The local figures feature a four per cent and two per cent improvement in maths and science respectively.

Meanwhile, the latest figures for Bury for younger children (seven-year-olds) in reading, writing and mathematics show that while school children in the area are still outperforming their peers in most parts of the country, there has been a drop in the numbers achieving the national expected levels, although this mirrors national trends.

Bury's figures continue to outpace the national average by anything between seven per cent and one per cent. The percentage of seven year olds (Key Stage 1) in Bury reaching Level 2 in reading is 88 per cent compared to a national average of 84 per cent; for writing 85 per cent (81 per cent) and mathematics 92 per cent (90 per cent).

This year's figure for Bury shows a rise of one per cent for reading but in writing reflects the national drop of five per cent. There is also a local drop of one per cent in mathematics. The figures for 11-year-olds (Key Stage 2) also show that Bury has maintained its lead over the national figures, although the Bury lead has fallen back slightly in most areas. And, while performance in maths has slipped by five per cent, performance is still better than the national average by two per cent.

The percentage of 11-year-olds in Bury reaching Level 4 in English is 77 per cent compared to a national average of 75 per cent; for reading 84 per cent (81 per cent); writing 65 per cent (60 per cent); mathematics 75 per cent (73 per cent) and science 89 per cent (87 per cent).

Bury Council said it is pleased with the SATs results, in a year when performance at Key Stages 1 and 2 appears to have reached a plateau nationally, but will be looking into the reasons why some of the performances, while still better than average, fell back.

Coun Steve Perkins, the Council's Executive Member for Lifelong Learning said: "I'd like to congratulate all of our students for their efforts and on their success.

"Bury's schoolchildren are still outperforming most of their peers and that is a tribute to our schools and the hard work of children themselves. Every extra percentage means more of our children getting a headstart on the ladder of lifelong learning."