PRIMARY schools within Leigh Education Action Zone are celebrating a staggering success story.

Statistics just released show soaring achievements in attainment - towering above local and national target figures.

The dramatic development in both English and mathematics has delighted Zone officials.

Leigh EAZ project director Gareth Williams said: "This achievement shows how hard the pupils and teachers of Leigh have been working over the last few years.

"The EAZ has really had a major impact and the children in our schools have proved they are second to none."

The startling summary of figures clearly shows a rollercoaster rise with pupil performance covering the Zone's 26 schools improving since 1998 by a whopping 18 per cent in English and mathematics.

And, across Leigh EAZ, targets set by teachers indicate they now expect to achieve a startling 20-25 per cent improvement in the five-year period through to 2002.

The success story does not stop there.

Investors in People awards have gone to 12 Leigh EAZ schools with Westleigh Methodist the latest to be honoured.

A further 17 Zone schools have enrolled on an Investors in Excellence course:

14 Zone headteachers have an additional national qualification or have started training and 11 Zone schools have teachers who are undertaking or have been conferred with special awards for senior managers.

There have been positive Ofsted inspections since 1999, eight schools having been inspected of which five were found to have "good/very good" management, a further two showing up well on second inspections.