THE headteacher of an award-winning grammar school today issued a public warning over standards and cash as it prepared to go back into local authority control.

And Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said standards had to be maintained at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and it must not be allowed to suffer when it went into "the melting pot" with other state schools.

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School is set to switch back to Lancashire Education Authority control in September following the end of grant-maintained status.

The school is noted for high academic standards and the number of pupils gaining places at top universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. It was recently given Beacon status by the Government and named an Outstanding School by Ofsted inspectors. But in a statement headteacher Stuart Holt warned that any reduction in funding would not allow academic standards to remain at their present level.

He said: "We were recently nominated a Beacon School by the Government and I am absolutely delighted for staff and students. It's difficult to see what more we can achieve. This is our third major award.

"These awards have been achieved while the school was grant-maintained, when we were given our budget share and decided how it was to be allocated.

"In September, we move back under Lancashire Education Authority control, but unless we are funded at our present rate or above we cannot maintain this outstanding record. "We have used every penny carefully and wisely for the benefit of our students, but we need more funding to compete with this excellent track record. We are competing with the best in the country," he said.

Mr Evans claimed the school was the jewel in the crown in Lancashire education provision.

"It is not only one of the best schools in the county, but one of the best in the country. Since losing grant-maintained status, it is now in the melting pot with everyone else and I am looking to the Lancashire Education Authority to make sure its funding is maintained."

A spokesman for Lancashire Education Authority said: "The school is currently being funded in line with Government regulations for grant maintained schools.

"Lancashire County Council is committed to raising the standards of education provided for all children and improving the performance of schools throughout Lancashire."

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