THE leading light of a Blackburn school has praised her dedicated staff for earning the school the Government's "beacon" status.

Headteacher at Shadsworth Infant School Mrs Barbara Booth is thrilled that the excellent work in improving the writing skills of young pupils at her school had earned national recognition.

She said: "This reflects the good practice and hard work of the staff.

"We have been improving in a steadily upward trend and this is one of our rewards. We have looked at every aspect of writing.

"We begin with role playing within the classroom where the children learn to speak in full sentences.

"Then we try to transfer that knowledge and skill to the written word so that their writing abilities improve from the most basic levels."

Shadsworth Infant School was one of 38 new beacons schools announced by the Government this week.

There are now 68 beacon schools across the North West region with a total of 588 expected to be highlighted throughout the country by January 2001.

Each has been marked by Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett for success in a particular area. Shadsworth is one of 300 schools which has undergone a transformation in improving writing skills.

Beacon schools receive extra funding of around £35,000 a year to provide other schools and teachers with a valuable and worthwhile learning experience.

Mrs Booth added: "We work on a partnership scheme through Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to pass on our expertise and help other local schools focus on improving the writing skills of their pupils.

"In the past our pupils have been judged to match the national average for writing skills and now we have youngsters who rate above the national average."

Picture: English co-ordinator Christine Redwood (centre) celebrates with Shaun Hargreaves, Katie Barrow and other Shadsworth pupils