EAST Lancashire teachers have welcomed new league table indicators which compare pupils' abilities like-for-like.

But parents have been warned that statistics still don't tell the whole story about school achievement.

And in Blackburn with Darwen, heralded as a pace-setting authority for education when it was awarded Beacon Status, officials said the figures should be treated with caution.

Only two schools in the LEA reached the mean score of 100 between Key Stage 2 and 3, for 11 and 14-year-olds, while three schools reached the mean score between Key Stage 3 and GCSE.

For the first time the Department for Education and Skills has published what are known as "value-added" scores for every secondary school in England.

Unlike tables showing the raw exam results achieved by pupils, the value-added versions are supposed to show how much of a difference individual schools make to children's education, regardless of their abilities.

The statistics reveal that pupils in just one third of schools in East Lancashire have shown above average progress between leaving primary school and working at secondary.

And only a quarter showed improvement between Key Stage 3 and GCSE examinations or equivalent.

If a school scored around 100 on the DfES's value-added scale, its pupils made more progress on average than their peers in similar secondaries in other parts of England.

If the score was below that level, they made less than average progress.

Each point above or below 100 equalled a term's worth of progress made or lost for 14-year-olds, or a GCSE/GNVQ point either way for 16-year-olds, said the DfES.

Officials said a school could get good results but if its value-added score was low, that would suggest it was "coasting".

One of the best performing independent schools in terms of value-added scores between Key Stage 2 and 3 is Westholme in Blackburn.

"These statistics are a true reflection of our work," said head teacher Lillian Croston.

Norman Bradshaw, assistant head teacher at St Wilfrid's, where pupils received record Key Stage 3 results, put success down to staff hard work and said: "We are absolutely delighted and the value added scores really show how pupils improve when they are with us."

And the National Association of Head Teachers has welcomed the tables saying parents needed more than SATS alone to judge a school.

David Fann, NAHT council member for Lancashire, said: "Overall these indicators have been welcomed among head teachers as they show a clearer indication of how pupils improve in any particular school.

"Exam results alone are not enough and this is a new measure which should help parents widen their view of schools."

But concerns have still been voiced over the tables. John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "The scores give a better idea of the schools that are adding most value, but they should not be used to produce a rank order. The warning to parents must be don't read too much into these tables. There is much more to the performance of schools than can be reported in a single statistic.

"There are lies, damn lies and league tables.

"Statistically, some large schools with lower scores may be adding more value than small schools with higher scores, since the score depends partly on the number of pupils in the year group.

NUT general secretary Doug McAvoy said: "League tables are a flawed system for assessing schools. Making them value added' tables merely adds a sophistication to that flawed system.

A spokesperson for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "'Value added' has been used for the first time and so needs to be read with some caution. The complicated nature of value added and the context of pupil mobility and lack of year on year data means that some caution is needed."

Take a look at the Department for Education and Skills site...