BURY'S primary schools have put in another table-topping test performance.

Results for the Standard Attainment Tasks (SATs) for 11-year-olds in the borough's 67 schools show a marked improvement on last year, when they were in the country's top five.

And although no official national tables have yet been published, early indications are that Bury will be in the top two or three this year.

The performance tables were made public this week by England's 132 Local Education Authorities.

Bury's average score has leapt from 66.9 per cent of pupils achieving the required level to 74.1 per cent. The national average is ten per cent lower.

Coun David Ryder, Bury's chairman of education, said the results were "a great credit to the hard work of Bury's early years and primary teachers".

He added: "It is true that these levels of high performance have been reached against a background of under-funding and sharply declining resources.

"If we had the same financial support for our schools as is seen in other authorities, who knows what we could achieve." In last year's tables - the first to be published - Bury's achievements put them fifth in the country.

But a survey of last year's top five by the Bury Times yesterday revealed that Bury are almost certain to be even higher up the table.

Of last year's top five only one, Richmond-upon-Thames in London, had better results than Bury this time. Last year their average score was 75 per cent. This year they scored 76.9 overall.

Mr Harold Williams, borough education officer, said: "Because of the improvement in our performance I would expect Bury to at least maintain its standing nationally."

But he said Bury could only hope to keep improving, and working towards nationally-set targets, "with a substantial injection of financial support" from the Government.

The figures in the tables are based on the Standard Attainment Tasks (SATs) taken by 11-year-olds last summer. They measure the percentage of pupils who achieve level four - the average level for that age group - in the core subjects of English, maths and science.

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