THE tributes heaped today on education chiefs in Blackburn with Darwen by government inspectors for turning round struggling schools are not so much glowing, but positively dazzling -- and fully deserved.

For the schools watchdog body Ofsted says: "This is a remarkable, unique record that is not paralleled anywhere else in the country."

Yet truly impressive as the achievements are -- and let it be acknowledged that they are not just those of the education authority, but of heads, teachers, support staff and pupils also -- what really distinguishes their performance is where they started from.

Even before the new Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority came into being, with education among the prime tasks among its new responsibilities, the state of schooling in the borough was abysmal -- with so many schools failing and under-achieving that it was expected to be among the bottom five education authorities in the country when the council gained independence the following year in 1998.

Fifteen of its schools were in need of 'special measures' or had 'serious weaknesses' and the problems were compounded by high levels of children being excluded and the high costs of providing for children with special needs.

But evidently this small and new education authority was not daunted by the challenge. Indeed, they seem to have been inspired by it.

Now all the 15 struggling schools have improved and taken out of special measures and several were classed as "good" in later inspections. GCSE results have improved in seven out of nine high schools, with marked increases in the percentage of pupils gaining upper grades in five or more subjects. And gains have been recorded in the 26 primary schools Ofsted has inspected twice.

And so outstanding is this turnaround that Blackburn with Darwen is now being called on to help and advise other less-successful education authorities.

Well done! Now, let us press on so that this excellence is underlined by our schools routinely appearing at the top of the schools league tables.