A HEADTEACHER claims the league tables used to judge a school's performance can be divisive and demoralise whole communities.

And Steve Iredale thinks the obsession with results in 'core' subject areas is damaging to youngsters.

The controversial league tables for primary schools were released last week but Mr Iredale, who runs Athersley South primary school, says there are better ways of judging a school's performance.

He said: "At best they are misleading and at worst they are completely divisive because you do not see the context behind them.

"Every class is different and that is a frustration. When parents see league tables they see a ball park figure and may not understand what is going on behind that."

Being at the bottom of the table can be devastating, he said. "The damage it causes to communities is massive. It knocks morale, particularly for the schools that sit in the bottom ten.

Mr Iredale has been a headteacher 16 years and is also the regional representative of the National Association of Headteachers. He said his school is currently sitting higher in the league tables than might ordinarily be expected.

But even so, he said the tables do not reflect all the work that goes on at the school - just how well pupils have done at exams.

"The key thing is progress. You can turn a statistic to suit whatever audience you have. It should be about the children and about them making progress. The insistence on forcing kids down a route of English, maths and science is damaging kids because it is at the expense of other things."