A COLLEGE which replaced one of the worst schools in the UK is on a new government list for poor pupil performance.

Blakewater College, Blackburn, is ranked 82nd worst in the country and the third worst in Lancashire for its performance at Key Stage 3 in government league tables published today.

Queen's Park Technology College shut after some of the worst GCSE results in the country.

It was re-launched as Blakewater in the same building, with 10 of the old school's 36 teachers in April 2005.

Key Stage 3 measures 14-year-old pupils' performance in English, maths and science.

Two months ago the school was on the government's list of the 100 best in helping children make progress from arrival to GCSEs.

Head Lee Harris remained buoyant: "We make a massive difference to our pupils' progression over five years, confirmed by being in the top one per cent of schools at doing this.

"However, this is not a linear process, and will not be shown by SATS results in year nine. Hence we do not place an emphasis on SATS results."

In Blackburn with Darwen the number of pupils getting the expected level in English rose from 68 to 70 per cent; maths rose six per cent to 76 per cent and science rose from 64 to 68 per cent.

But they are still behind the national average which in English dipped from 74 to 73 per cent; maths went up from 74 to 77 per cent, science from 70 to 72 per cent.

Coun Maureen Bateson, the borough's children's services boss, said she welcomed the continued improvement in all schools.

Pupils in Ribble Valley, Rossendale, Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle continue to match or do better than their UK counterparts.

The percentage of 14-year-olds hitting the expected level in English fell by two per cent to 73 per cent, maths went up by two per cent to 78 per cent and science also improved by two per cent to 74.

Coun Alan Whittaker, the county council cabinet memeber for schools, said he was "delighted" at the overall results.

Simon Jones, NUT Blackburn secretary, said league tables were "not worth the paper they're written on - you have a school trumpeted one month, then in the bottom 100."