EAST Lancashire has six of the best when it comes to schools - government education chiefs have revealed.

The super six feature among 1,476 UK schools on Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools' Annual Report, which lists schools branded outstanding by government inspectors during the academic year.

Outstanding, the highest standard, is a status given to establishments providing an excellent quality and a consistently high standard of education.

The local schools are: Turton and Edgworth CE Primary School, Turton; Tor View Special School, Haslingden; Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Stacksteads; Staghills Nursery School, Newchurch; Bowland High School, Clitheroe and Edisford Primary School, Clitheroe.

Turton and Edgworth CE Primary School was visited in December last year and inspectors concluded: "It provides a very high quality of education in an extremely positive atmosphere where expectations are very high. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Pupils love learning and they make excellent progress academically and in their personal development."

After visiting in December, Ofsted officials concluded Tor View School in Haslingden is "in no area less than good and in most it is exceptional. Most importantly it opens up pupils' lives through vastly improving their communication, personal and social skills and offering them a wonderful range of learning experiences."

Holy Trinity Stacksteads CE Primary School was inspected in April and Ofsted officials said: "In all major respects it achieves well and reaches levels of performance that are at least good and mainly outstanding. Children make rapid progress and at the end of both key stages reach standards which are above national levels."

Following a visit in November, Edisford Primary School, Clitheroe, was named "an excellent primary school with an exceptional community spirit in which staff and pupils work and learn together."

Staghills Nursery School in Newchurch was given a gentle ticking off during an Ofsted visit in April for "modestly assessing itself as good, but it is outstandingly effective. Children achieve above average standards and love coming to school." And after a January inspection, Ofsted found achievements of pupils at Bowland High School, Clitheroe, "are exceptionally high".