THE headteacher of Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, has added his voice to the chorus of disapproval at widespread budget cuts which have ravaged schools throughout the county.

And he has called on parents to lobby the Government "on their grave concerns for the future viability of state education in this country."

At the school's annual prizegiving night, Mr Len Scott told parents that two teachers who had been at the school for around 20 years each, maths teacher Mrs Pam Hayes and science teacher Mr Les Lee, had taken early retirement because of the cuts.

But that was not the end of the sacrifices the school has had to make.

Mr Scott added: "We also had to lose one Technology and one English teacher, as well as three support teachers who were on temporary contracts.

"This gives a total of six equivalent teachers lost as a result of the budget cutbacks.

"The net effect of these cuts has been to increase the workload of our teachers and to increase class sizes throughout the school."

He added that the school had spent most of its reserves and there would be nothing left to cushion any further cuts this year, despite predictions from Lancashire County Council that worse is still to come.

On a brighter note, Mr Scott praised staff and pupils who placed Pleckgate top in the Blackburn and Darwen league table for pupils with five or more A to C grades at GCSE.

Special prizewinners :The school has also fostered links with Fort Dorchester School, in South Carolina and is optimistic about re-establishing its exchange scheme with Altena, Germany. SPECIAL Prize Winners - GCSE Prize, Sazida Bangue; English, Julia Hobman and Benjamin Holt; Aldwinckle and GCSE Mathematics, Imran Patel; Science, Farhan Patel and Irfan Patel. Modern Languages - French, Julia Cussans; German, Lucia De Osma; Urdu, Mohammed Rizwan; History, Luke McGrath; Geography, Alison Murray; Art, Aneesa Sidat; RE, Nazia Hussain; Music, Catherine Earnshaw.

Technology - Design and Technology, Imran Patel; Graphics Extension, Farhan Patel; Food Extension, Alison Murray; Textiles Extension, Aneesa Sidat; Core, Mark Wilson.

Sharron Cross Shield, Hannah Sheppeard; Joanne Leaver Trophy, Steven Logan; Peter Doidge Prize, Afzal Akram; Shabir Shahin Prize, Lukman Patel; Moss Charity Trophy Awarded to Year Seven, Daniel Selby; Trident Award, John Sumner, Nicola Ganley.

North West Water Award For Industry, Laura Towers; Barbara and Keith Walmsley Prize, Sarfaraz Mohmed; Margaret and Ray Howson Prize, Carley Guppy; Peter Taylor Award For Services To School Football, Paul Slater.

Blackburn and Darwen Cup Winners Trophy and League Winners Cup, Stephen Holmes; Blackburn and Darwen Swimming Champions - U14 Breaststroke, Graeme Swimby; U14 Butterfly, Andrew Marshall; U16 Breaststroke, Christopher Thomson. Blackburn and Darwen Badminton Singles, Christian Clarkson.

Sporting Awards for pupils who have done well over the previous 12 months - Year Seven, Christian Clarkson and Angela Lightbown; Year Eight, Keith Frankish, Joanne Ramsdale; Year Nine, Farah Adam and Wahid Malik; Year 10, Lydia Jeffery, Steven Peat and Yasmin Riaz; Year 11, Lisa-Marie Hunt, Christopher Thomson. Incentive Awards - Year Seven: Liane Connor, Samina Hussain, Arif Munshi, Nagina Azam, Christian Clarkson, Fazila Dehgamia, Katie Ainsworth, James Dewhurst, Paul Howe, Stuart Parry, Hafizah Patel, Wagar Sultan, Simon Houghton, Mickayla Townes.

Sadia Undre, Samera Hussain, Steven Smith, Alison Thornber, Tabassum Hussain, Carrie Johnson, Jonathan Williams, Adam Bhamji, Libya Qadir, Daniel Selby, James Earnshaw, Lindsay Murray, Sahina Ougrader.

Incentive Awards - Year Eight: Aysha Badat, Andrew Haworth, Riffat Quraishi, Sarah Ashworth, Kellymarie Fraser, Minhajjudin Patel, Marie Dilworth, Alatka Ferhatbegovich, Amar Khan, Hammad Abharam, Nazia Parveen.

Mansoor Undre, Deborah Aspin, Rauf Khan, Philip Sellars, Christopher Ashton, Amanda Bradlow, Munira Khalifa, Graeme Higginson, Sumayya Patel, Robin Sultana, Shila Asghar, Johnathan Holmes, Mobeen Hussain, Sarah Holden, Lukman Patel, Sanaullah Patel, Sarah Waddington.

Incentive Awards - Year Nine: Tanzela Akram, Nafisa Iqbal, Lakvinder Singh, Tameena Hafiz, Chrostpher Hartley, Rosemin Karim, Ansar Baig, Michelle Dunkinson, Abida Kalsoum, Sanam Asghar, Atfah Ditta, Simon Peacock, Neil Gillerade, Nazya Khan.

Emma Whiteside, Saima Ashraf, Imran Gulma, Nazneen Hussain, Mubina Ahmed, Hannah Kershaw, Wahid Malik, Zeeshan Hussain, Robeil Tufail, Adam Young, Zaheer Aslam, Rakesh Dayal, Naheem Hussain.

Incentive Awards - Year Ten: Khatija Bobat, Zaid Dasu, Towfeek Phansa, Suhail Kowariwala, Shabbana Malik, Imran Patel, Ditta Akhtar, Shenaz Karim, Imran Patel, Matasher Hussain, Tasaddaq Ilyas, Shahid Riaz, Nazaqut Hussain, Lisa Smith, Catherine Trueman.

Bahder Akram, Nicholas Riley, Khadija Sarwar, Shamim Ibrahim, Imran Patel, John Sumner, Ruby Choudry, Umran Rafiq, Amir Shafiq, Zahena Abdul-Latif, Rizwan Anwar, Majir Asghar.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.