The complete ranked schools's league tables based on GCSE and A-level results 2007

More than half a million children are being taught in failing secondary schools that risk closure by the Government.

New GCSE league tables published today indicate that 639 of Britain’s 3,000 state secondaries have failed to meet the Government’s minimum target for 30 per cent of pupils achieving five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths. Last year, the Prime Minister vowed to shut down or take over schools that did not reach that level within five years.

Overall, the tables show that the rate of progress in improving GCSE results has almost ground to a halt. Fewer than half of pupils (just 46 per cent) last year achieved five GCSEs at grades A* to C, up just 0.7 percentage points on the previous year. Selective grammar schools continued to dominate the league tables, with the state Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex, at the top.

Yesterday Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that there would be no let-up in the pressure on low-performing schools, adding that 170 of the 639 were just a few percentage points from meeting the target.

“We owe it to parents to make sure low-performing schools turn around quickly. I share parents’ impatience for improvement not just in low-achieving schools, but in all schools,” he said.

He added that the Government would investigate whether to close the worst-performing schools or to “federate” them with neighbouring higher performing schools. Alternatively it could turn them into academies that are independently sponsored and run.

But, while results for academies are generally improving, today’s results show that 17 of the 40 academies reporting GCSE results were found in the league table of the worst 200 state schools in England.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said that the number of pupils at the bottom end of Britain’s long tail of underachievement was growing. The number of children not even passing five GCSEs with grade G, including English and maths, is now at 90,000, up 5,000 on last year. Almost 130,000 children are not getting even a single grade C at GCSE.

“Until we slash pointless bureaucracy, give teachers real powers to enforce discipline, and focus on the basics, we will fail another generation of our most disadvantaged children," Mr Gove said.

The tables also indicate that the number of immigrant children in GCSE classes who were unable to speak English has risen by 50 per cent over two years to 2,000. While this is a small proportion of the 600,000 or so pupils eligible for GCSE examination in England, teachers’ leaders gave warning that the influx was creating “huge turbulence” and disrupting classes. This would suggest a total of 20,000 non-English-speakers if extrapolated to the whole school system.

In science, the league tables show that only half of teenagers in England are reaching the required standard. A new measure, showing the percentage of pupils achieving at least two passes in science at GCSE, was introduced for the first time this year.

The results reveal that, nationally, only half of students (50.3 per cent) achieved two grade passes (A* to C) in science. These findings underscore concerns raised recently by employers and universities about the long-term fall-off in numbers studying science at A level and then undergraduate level.

Hilary Leevers, assistant director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, described the results as disappointing, but said that the new measure would help to track progress.

However, independent schools have fiercely criticised it, because it effectively places subjects such as physics, biology and chemistry on a par with options described by some as “pub subjects”, such as environmental and land-based science.

The top ten schools

School | Av A-level points per pupil

Colchester Royal Grammar School | 1323.5
Colyton Grammar School | 1271.9
Pate’s Grammar School | 1165.1
Chelmsford County High Sch (Girls) | 1147.8
James Allen’s Girls’ School | 1143.8
Lancaster Girls’ Grammar Sch | 1137.5
Colchester County High Sch (Girls) | 1130.5
Wilson’s School | 1126.4
Nottingham High School | 1126.0
King Edward VI Camp Hill Sch (Girls) | 1124.9

All the above schools had 100% of pupils achieving at least five A*-C GCSEs in subjects, including English and maths

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