Mixed-race teenagers living in the North East and South East of England do better in their GCSEs than white pupils from the same areas, government figures out today indicate.

The comprehensive view of educational attainment of 16-year-olds indicates that, overall, pupils from the south of the country do better in their exams than those from the north but a breakdown by ethnic group challenges some ethnic and regional stereotypes.

In the South East and North East mixed-race children do better than their white counterparts at GCSE level with more of them gaining the Government's benchmark of five good GCSEs including English and Maths.

GCSE results for 2006/07 indicate that 49 per cent of mixed-race pupils from the North East gained five good GCSEs with English and Maths compared to 42 per cent of white pupils living in the same area. In the South East 53.9 per cent of mixed race pupils reached the benchmark compared with just 49.5 per cent of white children.

More than a third of teenagers sitting GCSEs in 2006/07 failed to gain five good grades in any subject.

Black pupils living in the South West of the country came out bottom of the GCSE results pile with just 26.1 per cent obtaining five good grades including English and Maths.

But students of Chinese origin living in the South East did the best with 77.8 per cent reaching the Government’s benchmark.

Across the board pupils of Asian origin performed the best with 48.1 per cent of those in England gaining five good grades including in English and Maths.

Ethnic Group Percentage Achieving 5 A* to C including English and Maths

Asian 48.1

White 46.0

Mixed 44.0

Chinese 42.4

Black 37.0

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