COUNTY education managers are celebrating after getting top marks from Government inspectors.

North Yorkshire County Council's education service was inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) in January.

Their report, which was published yesterday called the service, 'effective, well-managed and impressive' and identified no weaknesses, making the department one of the top local education authorities in the country.

Yesterday, council leader John Weighell and director of education Cynthia Welbourn were at the new £1.1m Middleton Tyas primary school to celebrate the report.

Miss Welbourn said: "The most pleasing aspect is that it is strong all round. It is not much comfort if you are good at some things but not very good at some others.

"It means that all the parents, the grandparents and the carers can all be confident that wherever their child is, we are all doing a good job for them. I think that adds to the real quality of life in the county."

The report identifies major strengths in all parts of the county council's education work, including leadership, strategic planning, special educational needs and work for vulnerable children.

It praises the council for giving high priority to funding school budgets and for keeping its own costs very low.

There is recognition for services for individual children who are vulnerable, and support to their parents.

Inspectors also highlight the fact that North Yorkshire is England's largest county, saying that the service knows its 400 schools and 300 early years settings extremely well.

Council leader John Weighell said the report strengthens his campaign for creating a single unitary authority to cover the whole county following this autumn's possible local government shake-up.