AT home she loves Laura Ashley designs and interior decorating -- that's if she is not in the garden or walking. But at work she concentrates on raising standards for the 500 pupils at Lammack Primary school, Blackburn.

CLARE COOK spoke to head teacher Mary Lewis, above, about the role of teaching assistants. . .

How long have you been in teaching?

I began in 1969 after training in Liverpool. I am originally from the Midlands.

What makes Lammack special?

A recent Ofsted report was very favourable about the school and we are celebrating the school's 50th birthday at the end of September. The ethos here is excellent and very caring.

What about support assistants?

There used to be three support assistants when I started here. Now there are 20 of which seven are from Asian heritage. They perform a variety of tasks and are on different salary levels. One has an honors degree in engineering an is our literacy support assistant. It is frustrating that these highly skilled people should then be asked to perform photocopying.

Why are they so important to the school?

They are crucial in raising standards, are very focused and instrumental to the life of the school. The school's population has changed from 23 to 53 per cent Asian heritage so now we have highly trained language assistants that can work with teachers, pupils and parents.

What of the workload agreement then?

We have brought more involvement of parents to do the basic tasks like photocopying as we would not want to take the teaching assistants away from their key roles. I can hardly describe the difference they have made to the school. They are worth their weight in gold. Two are now progressing into teaching.

And how is it all being funded?

We are lucky in some ways being a bigger school so I can afford to take on extra secretarial staff. There is also New Opportunities Funding available to pay for some ICT assistants.