READING the latest school league tables, the first thing that strikes us yet again is how lucky North Yorkshire parents are.

We are blessed with many excellent schools which produce good examination results and provide an environment where most pupils thrive. The latter point is clear from the low truancy rates.

For this, we must thank the hard work of teachers and the education authorities.

When it comes to exam results, the tables bring no surprises. At least 90 per cent of all York's fee-paying school pupils achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C. Well done to Huntington School for giving them a run for their money.

Nationally, grammar schools and church schools have scored notable successes, while Tony Blair's city academies, backed by private cash, have done comparatively badly. That is a blow to his agenda of public service reform based on private investment.

Generally, however, the tables seem to deliver good news for the Government. But can they be trusted?

Independent schools today criticised the new points system which offers more credit for a distinction in cake decoration than an A in GCSE physics.

State schools, meanwhile, point out a fifth of all pupils who achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C did so without passing English and maths.

The lesson?

Parents should still rely on traditional ways to judge the worth of a school: friends' recommendations, a personal tour and parental instinct.

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, January 13, 2005