Thirty-five schools across the region have been identified as "outstanding" in a Government report on education standards.

The report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, also flags up the successes of a number of previously failing schools. All received inspections from education watchdog Ofsted in the period 2002-3.

County Durham had seven schools said to be outstanding and providing a high standard of education, while the local education authority in North Yorkshire had eight.

A total of 415 outstanding schools and colleges in the UK were identified overall as outstanding.

It was not all good news though as the number of schools overall judged to be still failing rose for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997 to 160.

Schools in this region removed from so-called 'special measures' -- aimed at avoiding closure -- after significantly improving their performance included Woodhouse Close Junior School, Bishop Auckland, and Starbeck Community Primary School, Harrogate.

David Bell said the schools included in the report had done particularly well, "virtually on all fronts", or had achieved highly against the odds.

Keith Mitchell, Durham County Council director of education, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have our schools mentioned in the report as examples of good practice and we are confident that many more would also have been identified had they been included in this year's round of inspections." Full story and list of schools in tomorrow's Northern Echo.