BURY schools have once again proved they are above average in the GCSE performance league tables.

A total of 53 per cent of pupils sitting their exams this summer gained five or more GCSE A*-C grades, which are equivalent to the old O-level pass.

The national average is 49.2 per cent, compared to 47.9 per cent last year.

Bury Council's chief education officer, Mr Harold Williams, said: "Once again our schools have achieved highly creditable results which show great strength in depth.

"Those achievements are even more impressive, set as they are, against the traditionally low level of funding which the schools have to work with."

Bury has, however, dipped by 0.5 per cent compared to its own score last year. But of the ten LEAs in Greater Manchester, Bury was the second best, beaten only by Trafford, which scored 56.4 per cent. Topping the table locally is St Monica's RC High School in Prestwich with a score of 71 per cent.

This is the highest score attained by a borough school in the last four years.

Last year's "winner", Bury CE High School, shared second place with St Gabriel's RC High School. Both had 64 per cent of their pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades. The headteacher of St Monica's, Mr Frank McCarron, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the results and paid tribute to his dedicated staff, the pupils and their parents.

"The results are a culmination of hard work and extra effort by both the pupils and teachers which is remarkable as we are still the lowest funded school in Bury. We have introduced a lot of new strategies and set new targets but we have also had to increase the work load. Our class sizes are getting bigger but we are still producing good results."

"Give us some more funding and I'll put my school up there with the top ranking schools in the country."

Mr McCarron said he was particularly proud that St Monica's was the first school in Bury to go through the 70 per cent barrier.

Broad Oak High School is the most improved school in the borough with 33 per cent of its pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades, a huge leap from last year's 21 per cent.

This is despite the fact that it is also the school with the highest number of children with special educational needs (26.7 per cent).

Headteacher Mr Andrew Mackenzie said: "The number one focus of our improvement plan was on raising pupil performances. We have had homework clubs after school and on Saturday mornings, staff from Bury College have come in to advise the children on examination technique, and we have encouraged and developed revision plans."

At the bottom of the table was Radcliffe High School, where only 26 per cent of pupils gained five or more A*-C grades. It was also one of the two schools in the borough with the the highest percentage of pupils gaining no passes. Both Radcliffe and Elton High Schools each had a no pass percentage of six.

Despite its placing, Radcliffe High's headteacher, Mr Graham Rollinson, said that he was pleased with its GCSE results. He said: "Our recent Ofsted inspection observed that the results 'represent good achievement for these pupils'. For instance, the proportion of pupils achieving A*-G grades in five or more subjects is well above the national average and is in the top five per cent of similar schools."

Bury Council's Lifelong Learning chairman, Councillor Trevor Holt, said: "We have not yet had the opportunity to assess our overall results against comparable authorities elsewhere in the country, although I am confident that we will have done extremely well."