LARGE class sizes in primary schools and below average GCSE results are among the problems facing education bosses at Lancashire County Council according to local authority league tables published today.

The 1997-98 performance indicators report published by the Audit Commission reveals that the Local Education Authority at County Hall has more primary school children in classes of 30 pupils or more than almost any other county council in the country.

And the number has risen by more than 10 per cent since the figures for 1996-97 were released despite a drive by the government to reduce infant classes to below 30 by September next year.

The number of secondary school pupils gaining five GCSE grades A* to C in the county in 1998 is also below the average for similar authorities despite an improvement in results from the year before.

But the council has performed better in other areas of the report and provides above average services in many aspects of education including the percentage of three and four-year-old children in council-run nurseries, the number of adults in education and the amount of money spent per secondary school pupil.

The number of secondary school pupils in the Blackburn and Darwen education authority area achieving five GCSE grades A* to C is below the average for other new unitary authorities at 33 per cent while the number of primary school pupils achieving level four at key stage two is also below the average at 57 per cent.

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