THOUSANDS of pupils across the North-East and North Yorkshire are crossing county boundaries for their schooling, figures reveal.

The most popular local authority in the region is North Yorkshire, where almost 5,000 pupils from neighbouring local authorities are "imported" every day to go to its schools.

The pupils come from Darlington, Durham, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton, Leeds, Bradford, and as far afield as Lancashire, Cumbria, Doncaster and Wakefield.

However, despite North Yorkshire's excellent academic track record, every day about 2,000 pupils are also "exported" -that is, they leave the county to go to school elsewhere.

The most popular authority in percentage terms is Redcar and Cleveland, where about 1,500 more pupils are imported. At secondary level, it accounts for an extra 7.1 per cent of pupils.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's cabinet member for education, Councillor Steve Kay, said: "We are very proud of all our schools and I'm not surprised that people want to come here for their education. We have fantastic facilities and standards, as borne out by recent Ofsteds.

"There are a handful of cross- boundary schools, which may partially explain the figures."

According to the figures from the Department for Education and Skills, the North-East's least popular authorities at secondary level were Middlesbrough, which loses 6.4 per cent of pupils, many to Redcar and many because of cross-boundary schools, and Newcastle, which loses 4.3 per cent.

Middlesbrough councillor Paul Thompson, executive member, education and skills, said: "This is part of a wider problem of population loss that Middlesbrough has suffered from for decades and which we're tackling on a broad front - improving housing and local facilities, for example.

"There is an additional factor that children who attend three of our primary schools fall into the catchment zone of a large secondary school - Nunthorpe - in our neighbouring borough of Redcar and Cleveland."

He said that in the next five years more than £90m would be invested in Middlesbrough's secondary schools.

The number of pupils crossing authority boundaries for schooling is much higher at secondary level than in primary schools.

John Watson, executive member for children and young people for North Yorkshire County Council, said: "The main reason why we have such a high number of pupils coming in from other local authority areas is because our schools have a deservedly high reputation for quality of education. Wherever possible, we try to accommodate children from outside the county."

Nationally, the figures show that urban authorities are losing out pupils to rural areas.