LEAGUE tables have revealed how many local schools are still falling short of Lancashire exam pass rates. The county average of 44 per cent of pupils achieving five or more GCSE passes at grades A to C stumbled in Darwen, where Darwen Vale and Moorland High Schools obtained just 26 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

In Blackburn, grant-maintained St Wilfrid's C of E recorded a 62 per cent success rate, while St Bede's RC scored 55 per cent.

Tauheedul-Islam Girls' School notched up 56 per cent, while Our Lady and St John achieved just 38 per cent.

Pleckgate's 36 per cent, Beardwood's 33 per cent, and Witton Park's 27 per cent also fell below the county average.

And there were mixed emotions at Queen's Park High where, despite being named as one of the country's 200 most improved schools, they achieved a pass rate of just 16 per cent. At Blackburn's independent schools Westholme and QEGS, rates of 98 per cent and 92 per cent, were achieved respectively.

In Hyndburn, only St Christopher's C of E beat the county average, with 56 per cent. Other percentages were: Mount Carmel RC, 40; Hollins, 29; Rhyddings, 28; Moorhead, 25 and Norden, 23.

Westholme and QEGS sixth forms' success rate helped them take first and third places, respectively among the 14 East Lancashire further education and sixth form colleges.

St Mary's College, in Blackburn, came eighth, while Blackburn College came tenth, closely followed by St Wilfrid's sixth form. Accrington and Rossendale College was placed 13th, above last-place Burnley College.

Mark Pattison, Blackburn with Darwen's new education and training director, said: "I would ask parents to look at the progress their own child has made and the improvements made over the years by the school, not just these raw results. I am delighted with the progress they are making."

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