EDUCATION bosses have congratulated teachers and pupils across Warrington for their hard work after the fledgling authority notched up another performance table success.

Warrington's schools were well above average in the tables coming 27th in England. One school, St Oswald's in Padgate, broke into the top 200 in the country.

And there are pledges of help for another school whose poor showing in the tables puts it in the bottom 200 in the country.

Brook Acre Primary School, also in Padgate, scored just 19 per cent in maths, and 28 per cent in science and English in the tables, compared to national averages of around 60 per cent.

Education chiefs have praised teachers and their pupils across town for the good showing in the tables, which detail how many year seven pupils achieved level four or above in the three key subjects.

But they also warned parents not to set too much store by the results.

Warrington's education chief Malcolm Roxburgh said that unlike the secondary school tables, where there are 200 pupils in a school year, these tables dealt with classes as small as 15, which means that just one child failing to reach level four can radically affect the percentage.

But he added: "When you concentrate on the borough as a whole, with a year group of 2,500 children, what you see is that we are beating the national average in every subject. It does show a significant improvement at authority level and that is very pleasing."

And he warned those parents choosing schools not to go solely by the tables. "They only give a part of the picture," he added. "I would hope that parents would look around at least three schools before making a decision."

And the town's head teachers said they had reservations about the tables too. Warrington secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Littlewood said: "The tables show some flaws, as in previous years, which cause concern to head teachers. There is no bench marking, so it is impossible to tell where the school has started from and where it has arrived. There is no credit given to children who have reached level three, which could be a major achievement for them.

"And the thing that really annoys schools is that if a child is absent, the child is counted as not passing the test."

Warrington Borough Council's chief executive, Steven Broomhead, said he was pleased with the borough's overall performance and commenting on Brook Acre in particular, he said: "We will be giving the school intensive but positive support over the next few months.

"We believe in this school despite its position in the tables. We believe it's a good school and it's a school we can support and improve."

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