COMPETITION between neighbouring schools to attract pupils could increase under a radical shake-up of the education system.

The Government plans to introduce independent-state schools, known as Trust schools, which will have powers to set admissions policy and curriculum.

But in Bolton, headteachers are championing the spirit of collaboration, rather than competition.

Every high school and college in the borough is working as part of an "excellence cluster" to raise standards and achievements of pupils in Bolton.

Headteachers meet regularly to exchange "good practice" and now heads of departments from each school are working together to learn from each other.

Bolton was one of the first local authorities to set up an excellence cluster.

Schools in the borough have been split into four regional clusters.

Turton, Sharples, Smithills, Canon Slade, Withins and Thornleigh Salesian College and Firwood Special School are working together in the north.

The south cluster consists of Harper Green, George Tomlinson, Little Lever, Mount St Joseph, St James CE and Hayward School.

The west is made up of Rivington and Blackrod, Westhoughton, Ladybridge and St Joseph, and the last cluster is Bolton Sixth Form College and Bolton Community College.

Each cluster has a full time co-ordinator, paid for partly by the schools and the local education authority.

John Porteous, headteacher at Turton School, is the current chairman of the north cluster and Jim Cassidy is the co-ordinator. Both say headteachers meeting regularly is much more than a talking shop.

Mr Porteous said: "Bolton was one of the pilot schemes of this project.

"The clusters were established to improve achievement in Bolton and promote inclusion. It is time-consuming, but effective. We have achieved real friendship between the schools and there is a real professional element.

"The time spent on the cluster, which is effectively a networking group, has achieved genuine collaboration in sharing good practice.

"A considerable amount of progress has been made. Pupils' results have improved and the number of children excluded from schools in Bolton has fallen.

"There has also been a change in attitude from competition to collaboration. There was a time when we would never have thought of working with other schools.

"Who would have thought Turton would share ideas with Canon Slade and vice-versa?"

Since the formation of the clusters, teachers have been going into the neighbouring schools to support different departments.

Mr Porteous explained: "Each school has different strengths and it is about neighbouring schools being able to tap into these strengths.

"Thornleigh, for example, has a very strong geography department. This cluster can use its strengths to raise academic achievement in the subject across the borough.

"Sharples has a very strong science department, so teachers from there come in here. On the other hand, Turton has a strong media arts department, which children at Sharples can use.

"It is about finding a pathway for every child to follow.

"It is not the case of attracting pupils to Turton Sixth Form, our numbers have more or less stayed the same. The idea is to open up different opportunities for pupils so they can find something they are interested in."

Heads of department from the north cluster recently came together for a special training day to discuss how to raise standards on numeracy and literacy. Recent figures showed that the number of pupils attaining five good GCSEs in English and maths in Bolton was below the national average.

Mr Porteous said: "English, maths and information communication technology are skills for life and teachers are working closely on the best ways for raising the numbers of pupils achieving these."

Schools in the north cluster are looking to match timetables to allow pupils to use different schools' facilities with little disruption.

Mr Cassidy said: "Some schools have already done that and it is something we are looking at here.

"The benefits of the cluster are huge, from teachers working together to implement Government initiatives to standardising policies on issues such as drugs and truancy. This means young people know exactly the standards expected of them and are not confused by differing policies."