PRIMARY schools in Swindon have recorded some of their worst ever exam results falling further behind the national average this year league tables published today show.

But as they were published, Education Secretary Estelle Morris revealed spending will rise by £130 per pupil in 2002-3. Swindon Schools are among the worst funded in the country and the Evening Advertiser has been calling on Miss Morris to make spending fairer.

The gap has widened to nearly nine per cent and the town ranks 112th out of 150 local authorities.

Despite the apparently bleak picture portrayed by the figures, which follow similarly unsettling secondary school results released two weeks ago headteachers and politicians today insisted there is no cause for concern.

The overall average for the town's results for 11-year-olds has fallen by 1.6 per cent on last year's results, while the national average has risen by two per cent. This follows a gradual rise in recent years from a 190.4 per cent pass rate in 1998 to a 226 per cent pass rate last year.

Andrew Nye, the chairman of the Swindon Association of Primary Headteachers, said league tables should always come with a "health warning".

He said: "I genuinely don't believe they have a great deal of use in terms of identifying general trends. Human beings often find lists of figures and tables fascinating, but common sense would tell you there's more to a school than a set of numbers."