EAST Lancashire schoolchildren are leading the way in a new £220 million education package unveiled by the government.

Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett has announced plans for 6,000 homework clubs and out of school hours study centres to be created across the UK for children who find it difficult to work at home.

He also ordered every school in the country to create home-school agreements, specifying school rules on homework, discipline and behaviour, by September 1999.

The news comes as homework centres in Blackburn and Darwen enter their fourth year with more than 450 children attending one of the seven clubs between September, 1997, and July this year.

And Lancashire County Council, which regulates education policy outside the unitary authority, are not far behind with many schools also operating their own out of school study groups.

The centres operated by Blackburn with Darwen Council are spread across the authority, with six in Blackburn and one in Darwen.

They are open to any secondary school pupils in the area and offer support from professional tutors, a comprehensive library, access to a multi-media computer and a Certificate of Achievement for every child who attends. A spokesman for the council said: "The certificate can be used as part of a child's on-going Record of Achievement to show they not only work hard in school but are dedicated to their studies outside the classroom too.

"We welcome the extra money earmarked for similar schemes and are pleased that many of the initiatives in the packages have already been established in this area. It means we have experience in setting these clubs up and can offer help and support to individual schools who want to do the same."

Outside Blackburn and Darwen, homework centres also operate in Colne, Brierfield, Nelson, as well as through the Pendle Pakistani Welfare Association.

Edge End High School, Nelson, also runs a similar group.

Headteacher Martin Burgess said: "Since our homework clubs started four years ago some of the children who attend them have made enormous leaps in academic achievement, especially those who don't have a secure environment to go home to."

In Mr Blunkett's plans the homework clubs and study centres will also target primary school children as young as seven, while soon every pupil in the country will be asked to sign a contract, along with their parents, agreeing to abide by rules on homework, behaviour and bullying policies, in a bid to forge links between home and school.

General secretary of the National Association of Headteachers David Hart said: "We welcome the endorsement as an opportunity to reinforce the partnership between home and school."

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