HEADTEACHERS in East Lancashire have slammed school performance league tables -- as today it was revealed that nearly half of local state secondary schools fared worse than last year.

Nine heads said in a joint statement today: "If schools were judged according to the value they add to each pupil, a very different story might emerge"

The heads -- from St Augustine's, Billington; Bowland, Grindleton; St Christopher's RC, Accrington; the Hollins, Accrington; Moorhead, Accrington; Mount Carmel, Oswaldtwistle; Norden, Great Harwood; Rhyddings, Oswaldtwistle; and Ribblesdale, Clitheroe -- added: "Teachers know that the academic ability of pupils varies from year to year.

"In one year a school may have a year group in which there are a high number of able pupils. The following year, there happen to be fewer.

"A high result in the first year is therefore followed by a lower result, not because anything about the school, such as the quality of teaching, has changed, but just because of the fluctuation in pupil ability."

And they added :"However important examination results are they are only part of school life."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the National Association of Head Teachers said: "One again the Government has trotted out tired old secondary school performance tables that are past their sell-by date and are in need of radical overhaul.

"The tables once again condemn those schools that are below the Government's highly-artificial figures."

Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris said today: "Performance tables provide an invaluable and easily accessible source of information to parents and the wider community.

"However, we have listened to concerns that the existing tables only tell part of the story about school performance. We have therefore introduced a pilot measure this year which will show how far schools help their pupils' progress."

Next year the Government says it will include "value-added' in the results.