Education Reporter

Schools in North Yorkshire and York are at the forefront of the Government's crusade to raise standards in the classroom, despite education chiefs spending less per pupil than the vast majority of other authorities in the country.

Figures published by the Audit Commission today reveal big variations in school performance between areas with similar levels of poverty and affluence.

In the first report of its kind, the local government watchdog's findings back Government claims that some education authorities who plead a lack of cash are not doing enough to raise standards.

Comparing the 15 most deprived areas in the country, auditors found some of these councils and their schools achieve almost twice as good exam results as others.

At the other end of the spectrum, they also compared the results of the 15 most affluent areas in England.

They found North Yorkshire County Council is in the top three of similar prosperous regions in terms of academic success.

And in a boost for the county council, auditors claim affluent but poorer performing councils should learn from the likes of North Yorkshire to achieve better results.

The report also states that despite education bosses in the county spending less than the national average per pupil, the percentage of 11-year-olds achieving level four - the Government recommended level - in English, science and maths tests and assessments is higher than any other county council.

North Yorkshire is also the second highest-performing county council and well above the national average in terms of the percentage of pupils achieving five or more A-C grade GCSEs in 1997. The county's director of education, Cynthia Welbourn, said: "Education matters to hundreds of thousands in this county and the Audit Commission's report shows they are getting high performance at comparatively low cost thanks to the standards set in the county council's schools and other educational establishments."

She said work was in hand to tackle issues where the authority compares less well with some other county councils, including the number of nursery places available for children under five.

Likewise, both City of York Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) have shown cash is not necessarily the main ingredient for success.

York is the top achieving unitary authority in terms of GCSE success and comes joint fourth with ERYC in terms of primary school achievements, outstripping national averages while spending well below the average cost nationally.

Philip Wells, assistant director of education for City of York Council: "The results in York speak for themselves and show that an awful lot is being achieved in our schools at a remarkably low cost.

"The council is seeking to improve how much is spent in our schools. Our standard spending assessment is very low compared to other authorities and is hard to justify."

Answering the Audit Commission's report which shows the percentage of children under five in council nursery education is below the national average, Mr Wells said since the city council became a unitary authority three new nursery units had been built with a fourth in the pipeline.

Auditors also show nearly 30 per cent of all primary school classes in York have more than 30 pupils, higher than the national average.

But Mr Wells said the council had this year increased school budgets in real terms, giving primary schools an extra £50 per pupil.

On top of that, the council had received a Government grant to help bring class sizes down.

See COMMENT Best of the best

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.