THOUSANDS of parents, teachers, school governors and various interested parties will be spending a few hours today poring over the latest set of league tables issued by the Government.

These in-depth figures cover a vast range of disciplines and are published today on pages 16 and 17.

From these it is clear that education chiefs in the two counties are pleased with the results.

These particular tables are based on the results of the 2004 GCSE, AS, A Level and NVQ results.

Worcestershire was ranked among the top third in the country - a very satisfying result.

However, lurking in the detail are what are known as "value-added" figures.

For many in education these are increasingly becoming the main yardstick by which to judge progress in schools.

And it is in this area that Worcestershire has been most impressive.

Among these high-flyers, Worcester's Bishop Perowne High is singled out for additional honour: Grade A rating - the highest available under the value-added format.

Very well done to them.

But, as readers will be aware, these results must be seen in the context of the continuing battle to gain "fair" funding from the Government for the county.

It is obvious that Worcestershire educationalists are doing a great job, within their limited resources.

It begs the question of what they could achieve with decent support from the Government.