The number of schools failing to achieve minimum requirements in examination passes has fallen, with 440 schools remaining part of the so called National Challenge, down from 638 last year.

Figures published today show that 300,000 teenagers left school last year without five GCSEs including English and maths.

One in seven schools is still underperforming, with less than 30 per cent of pupils failing to achieve at least five C grades including the two core subjects. The Government has said that schools below this target by 2011 will face closure or be turned into an Academy.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said that the latest figures show that the 2011 target can be met. “We now need to continue to concentrate on the remaining schools and ensure we are giving them the support and challenge they need to make sure no child is left behind.

“This is no time for excuses — I want every child to go to a good school and that means every school getting above 30 per cent. We are putting in the extra resources to help heads reach this and local authorities will shortly be announcing their plans to make sure all schools reach this target by 2011.”

In an increasingly competitive job market internationally, today's figures show a marked lack of foreign language skills among British teenagers. Half of pupils leave school without a GCSE in a foreign language. Of those that took a language, only one in three managed to get a C or above.

There was a sharp rise in the numbers of pupils achieving A*-C in science GCSE up from 52 per cent last year to 59 per cent this year. Girls continued to outshine boys in the core subjects of English and Maths particularly at the higher grades — 69.9 per cent of girls achieving five or more grades A*-C compared with 60.9 per cent of boys. Male pupils dominated the three main sciences with, 11 per cent achieving A*-C in Physics compared with 9 per cent of girls.

At A level the number of passes continued to rise, with 95.3 per cent of candidates getting at least two passes, an increase of 0.1 per cent from 2007. The number of top grades achieved at A level also rose with 12.1 per cent of candidates gaining three or more A grades, up 0.2 per cent from last year.

GCSE figures show that 47.6 per cent of the 653,045 pupils who sat the exams last summer achieved five or more good GCSEs (A*-C) including English and maths, meaning about 340,000 did not reach this benchmark.

At the 63 academies where pupils took exams in August, 35.6 per cent of pupils achieved this target, while 60.4 got five C grades in any subject.

The statistics show that at all schools, 65.3 per cent of pupils achieved at least C grades in any five subjects, while 91.6 per cent of pupils are gaining five or more GCSEs grades A*-G, which is considered a pass.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said: “The record results in English and maths and the sharp rise in entries in biology, physics and chemistry are particularly welcome. The overall increase in pass rates and top grades builds firmly on improvements in the key subjects of English and maths

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