STANDARDS continued to rise at East Lancashire primary schools, according to league tables published today.

Lancashire County Council schools were ahead of the national average for the numbers of 11-year-olds passing level four English, maths and science tests.

But the headteacher of the area's top school said the league tables were misleading.

At Trawden Forest Primary School, Colne, all the children passed all three tests, placing the school at the top of the class.

But headteacher Frank Royle said he still disagreed with the league table system.

He said: "I am pleased for the kids and the staff but there have been years when we have worked just as hard and have not come as high up the table.

"League tables can be terribly misleading. "We feel it's just as valid for children to be able to express themselves on a mountain bike or through music as by getting academic qualifications."

He said he believed results were improving nationwide because teachers and parents were becoming more used to preparing children for the tests.

The percentage of children passing tests this summer rose by four per cent to 76 per cent for English, by two per cent to 74 per cent for maths and by seven per cent to 85 per cent for science, compared to national averages of 75 per cent, 72 per cent and 85 per cent.

Councillor Hazel Harding, education and cultural services committee chairman, said she was pleased with the schools' steady improvements but said achieving level four tests was not the only measure of a school's success.

She said: "Each school has a different intake and because a school has a lower proportion of pupils achieving level four does not imply that it is performing less well.

"It may be performing very well and have a high proportion of pupils for whom attaining level three is a major achievement."

Picture: Head Justine Chadwick and her pupils at St Mary Magdalene in Accrington celebrate