A RIBBLE Valley college is to see a record intake this September after a six per cent rise in pupil numbers.

Stonyhurst College will then have 410 day and boarding pupils on its roll, which also shows a significant rise in the number of girls.

Headmaster Adrian Aylward said: "There is a very high level of interest in the college from day and boarding pupils for the next school year.

"Demand for places from girls is particularly strong and we anticipate that by September we will have 112 girls, compared with 88 this current year."

Both Stonyhurst College, for 13 to 18-year-olds, and St Mary's Hall, which teaches youngsters aged from four to 13, are Catholic co-educational boarding and day schools in the Jesuit tradition.

The growth in the college's popularity reflects a national trend, highlighted in a new reported by the Independent School's Council, released yesterday, which shows that overall pupil numbers in Britain's independent schools have increased for seven years in succession.

Nationally, the 2002 ISC census shows a 1.7 per cent rise in pupil numbers at members schools last year, with these schools representing more than 80 per cent of all children in the independent sector.

There are around 2,400 independent schools in the UK and Eire, educating more than 610,000 children. Schools within the ISC represent around 60 per cent of schools, but educate more than 80 per cent of the pupils.