EAST Lancashire primary schools shot to the top of the class today after the government released the latest education league tables.

Five local primaries are listed among the top ten in Lancashire while a further 149 are among the first 174 places of the 490-school league.

And those governed by the new Local Education Authority established at Blackburn with Darwen Council have fared equally well, with the top school in that area, Turton Edgworth CE and Methodist, achieving the best results in East Lancashire.

The tables are compiled using results from last year's National Curriculum exams for 11-year-old pupils who are tested in English, maths and science. The percentage of children who achieve level four, the level expected for their age, are listed alongside each school and combined to produce a ranking overall. Among East Lancashire's elite are Oswaldtwistle's West End County Primary, ranked fifth in Lancashire, Withnell Fold County Primary, Chorley, in sixth place, Chatburn CE, Clitheroe, and LaneshawBridge County Primary, joint seventh, and Stubbins County Primary, in ninth.

In Blackburn with Darwen, Turton CE and Methodist is followed by St Gabriel's CE, Blackburn, and Ashleigh, Darwen.

Harry Sharples, headteacher of St Gabriel's, said: "I am very pleased because we had excellent exam results last year, in fact, they were our best ever.

"But while I am pleased for us I also realise that when the performance of a school is reflected in raw data things like the catchment area is not reflected and there are a lot of schools with very committed staff and children who are working hard who have not fared so well."

Chairman of Lancashire County Council's Education and Cultural Services Committee Hazel Harding said she welcomed the news but echoed Mr Sharples' views and urged parents to judge

schools on a wider range of information.

"Our schools should feel proud of these excellent results. They are the result ofhard work and dedication on the part of headteachers, staff and governing bodies throughout the county. "But the number of pupils achieving level four will vary from school to school because they have very different intakes and some have a higher proportion of pupils with special needs.

"These schools are actually performing much better than the numbers suggest and for their pupils, level three may be a major achievement."

More than half East Lancashire schools showed results above the national average for the number of children achieving level four.

But Chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council's education and training committee Coun Bill Taylor said: "We are reasonably pleased but we are looking at ways of improving even more. The LEA is only 10 months old but we have already been collaborating with all the primary schools, setting ambitious and challenging goals.

"For the future we have action plans and school improvement officers who will be working hard to improve performance."

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