MANY East Lancashire secondary schools are failing to make the grade on exam results despite improving standards around the country.

Although the latest league tables show several success stories, 18 out of 41 East Lancashire schools got worse GCSE results this year than last, while nationwide standards rose by 1.3 per cent.

Seven out of nine state schools in Blackburn with Darwen improved their performance, but the borough is still almost ten per cent behind the national average with only 40 per cent of pupils achieving five GCSE results at grades A to C compared to 49.2 per cent nationwide.

Mark Pattison, Director of Education and Training for the borough, said the results showed schools improving much more rapidly than the national average.

He said: "They show the improvement strategies we have developed with schools are having a real impact. The performance ofindividual schools fluctuates from year to year."

Although the picture was brighter in the rest of Lancashire, where 49.6 per cent of children get five top grade GCSEs, half the East Lancashire schools run by the authority got worse results than last year.

Nelson and Colne came bottom of the class, with pupils at six out of seven schools getting fewer top grade GCSEs than last year.

Hazel Harding, chairman of Lancashire's education committee, said she was aware of the problems in the East of the county.

She said: "We are channelling resources into areas such as Burnley. We have been targeting primary education and have high expectations of the benefits working their way through to secondary education and GCSE results.

"We urge parents to look behind the figures at the great work are schools are doing."

Throughout East Lancashire, private and selective schools topped the tables, with Clitheroe Royal Grammar School leading the field.

This year, 99 per cent of their pupils achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A to C, closely followed by Westholme and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn and Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School. Some state schools also had reason to celebrate.

In Blackburn with Darwen, acting headteacher David Whyte at St Wilfrid's CE school was thrilled after achieving a huge 16 per cent rise on the numbers of pupils achieving the target, making the school the top of the borough's league.

He said the school's success was down to constantly monitoring pupils and giving 68 border-line pupils one-to-one help organising study plans.

Mr Whyte said: "We tracked pupils performance all the way through the two year course and we kept parents informed all the time about how they were progressing."

Colne's SS John Fisher and Thomas More School re-wrote its record books as it rose from 54th in the table to 25th. The school's pass rate for five GCSEs at A* to C rocketed from 48 per cent to 65.8 per cent -- the biggest rise in the region.

Head Peter Donnelly said: "We are absolutely delighted with these results which are the best in the school's history."

Queen's Park High School dropped back down the table after only 15 per cent of pupils achieved top grade results, the worst results in East Lancashire.

Last year, they were celebrating a ten per cent rise, but this year's ten per cent drop took them straight back to 1998 levels.

The school also had the worst East Lancashire truancy rate, with four per cent of pupils bunking off on any one day.

Vicki Devonport, head of Queen's Park, said the school had reviewed the results and taken steps to improve performance

She said: "The school is involved in a whole range of initiatives including mentoring schemes, study support sessions and summer school programmes."

She said was disappointed with the latest GCSE results, but said they did not take into account the work-related and vocational curriculum the school offers and were not the only way to measure a school's performance.

Mr Pattison, of BwD, said: "Queen's Park High School's Key Stage 3 results for 13-14 year olds have improved year on year and we are confident the school has a bright future."

Towneley High School, Burnley, suffered the biggest performance drop, falling from 32 per cent of pupils getting top grades in 1999 to only 18 per cent this year.

No-one at the school was available to comment.

Full tables in today's Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

See coverage from schools net at www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/education/