BURY'S schools have slipped down the performance league tables with worse GCSE results than last year - but they remain above the national average.

Using the figure for five or more GCSE passes at A*-C grades as a benchmark, Bury scored an average of 47.8 per cent, a fall of 0.8 per cent on last year. Nationally the average was 45.1 per cent, an improvement of 0.6 per cent on last year.

In the national league tables they have dropped to 32nd in the country, their lowest position since league tables were first produced.

And the borough's chairman of education, Coun David Ryder, said that cash cuts imposed in April were starting to bite in local schools.

"We have already seen a very slight drop this year," he said. "Now we urgently need the extra funding we have been asking for in order to maintain the standards that have been set."

Coun Ryder said that despite the drop, local schools were doing "exceptionally well" and added: "The results are a credit not just to the pupils but to all the heads, teachers, governors and parents who have made it possible."

Coun Ryder said: "As a council we are committed as ever to supporting our education service. We are currently campaigning, with the support of our MPs, for that additional funding which is needed, and we will do that for as long as it takes."

In the actual tables, independent schools, unsurprisingly, score highest at both GCSE and A-level. Manchester Jewish Grammar in Prestwich had 100 per cent of their Year 11 pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades, Bury Grammar Girls had 99 per cent and BGS boys 97 per cent. The state school topping the local league table for the fourth time in the last five years was Prestwich's St Monica's RC High School, which had a score of 64 per cent A*-C grade passes.

A delighted deputy head Mr Bernard Swarbrick said: "The boys' results were worthy of a special note: 58 per cent got five or more A*-C passes, which is 23 per cent above the national average for boys, and 13 per cent above the national average for girls."

Boys traditionally do worse than girls at GCSE, but St Monica's did seem to buck the trend in a record year for results. Six pupils got a clean sweep of A* or A grades, the school's highest ever figure.

Mr Swarbrick also applauded the achievements of less able pupils, pointing out that children on the Special Needs Register had gained 39 A*-C passes between them.

Also released in the tables are the A-level results, with Holy Cross College doing best of the state sector.

Vice-principal Mr Dave Gardner said: "Like many schools and colleges we treat league tables with caution as there is so much they don't show.

"However, our score this year is our highest since league tables began, and we are especially pleased because this was our highest ever entry."

The A-level scores are based on points, with ten points for an A grade, eight for a B and so on.

Again the independent sector led the tables, with Manchester Jewish Grammar scoring an average of 27.3 points for students with two or more A-level; entries. BGS Girls scored an average 29.1, and the boys' school 26.1. Holy Cross had an average score of 15.6, Darul Uloom Muslim college in Holcombe had 15.5 points and Bury College 15 points.

Broad Oak High in Bury scored 19 per cent in the five or more A*-C passes, and was at the bottom of the Bury table.

But in a league table to be published this weekend in the Observer Newspaper, Broad Oak will be named as fourth best school in the country taking into account the so-called "value added" component, where factors such as social deprivation and number of pupils who do not speak English as a first language are considered.

The Government has said it will include value added information in next year's league tables, and Mr Peter Jefferies, head at Broad Oak, said that was the only way to truly measure a school's performance.

"What the Observer has done is brilliant for us here," said Mr Jefferies.

"It shows the hard work we put in, and the fact that we are doing well. That hard work just isn't reflected in the school league tables as they are now."

He added: "The problem with the current league tables is that they encourage head teachers to only think of high achieving pupils, but all children are important."

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