SCHOOLS in York have given their Local Education Authority (LEA) a truly positive New Year message - you are the best.

In a survey of schools carried out by the Audit Commission, York LEA was shown to be performing well and, for the second year running, continuing to improve.

The average score from the 70-question survey put York in the top 25 per cent of LEAs on all but six questions, and in the top ten LEAs nationally on all but 13 questions.

Judged by the number of questions on which the LEA was rated in the top ten, York ranks as the best performing LEA in the country.

Carol Runciman, City of York Council's executive member for education, said she was delighted with the survey results.

She said: "This is absolutely what people think, that's what makes this so heartening.

"The schools aren't obliged to say anything nice, but they did - that is very rewarding.

"It's very important that we know that schools are happy and satisfied with the service that the LEA gives them.

"We are a high-performing LEA, we got an outstanding Ofsted report earlier this year, but we need to know that we are giving the schools what they want and what they need.

"This unbiased opinion is very important to us and very important to me, as the elected member."

This is the third year in which the Audit Commission has conducted a national survey to find out what schools think of the services provided by their LEA.

Schools were asked to complete a lengthy questionnaire with 70 questions divided into five section, by ranking the quality of the service on a five-point scale from very poor to very good.

The survey was carried out on a password-protected website and there was a 57 per cent return rate by schools in York which is lower than last year's 83 per cent, but higher than the national average of 39 per cent.

The survey showed there was improvement in areas such as planning of school places and co-ordination of the admission process, which were disappointing last year. Within the area of special educational needs, the LEA was rated among the top ten on every question.

Coun Runciman said despite the encouraging results it was important to continue improving.

She said areas such as electronic communication between the schools and the LEA needed to be worked on and the recruitment and retainment of teachers could become a priority in the future.

Updated: 09:42 Monday, January 03, 2005