SEVERAL East Lancashire schools have been named among the best and most improved in the country, in a Government report.

Local primaries and secondaries are included in a list produced by the Office for Standards in Education after inspections in 1998/99.

The schools are also praised in HM chief inspector's annual report on quality and standards in education.

Among the 273 singled out for national praise and named as outstanding or good in this year's report are Chorley Southlands High, St Mary's CE Primary in Newchurch-in-Pendle, Walton Lane Nursery, Nelson, and Woodfield Nursery, Brierfield.

Intack Primary and Wensley Fold CE Primary, both Blackburn, join Cribden House School and St Peter's RC Primary, both Rossendale, Our Lady and St Anselm's RC Primary, Whitworth, and Spring Hill Primary, Accrington, in a list of substantially improved schools removed from special measures during the year.

Chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead said Ofsted inspections were undertaken at more than 4,500 schools in England, including 650 secondary, 3,550 primary and 300 special schools.

He went on: "I am identifying a number of schools which are shown by inspection to be providing a good quality of education and achieving high standards.

"All the secondary schools listed have achieved outstanding Ofsted reports while others have excellent GCSE results and others have good results given the circumstances of that particular school."

Intack Primary School teacher Hilda Harris and deputy head David Crowther are pictured with pupils Mateem Khan, Scott Darbyshire and Ashleigh Holmes.

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