Secondary school league tables: How did your child's school rank?

Statistics show that nearly 300 schools in England are falling below a new Government floor target that measures pupils' progress and achievement over eight GCSE subjects.

However Schools Minister Nick Gibb said figures, based on last summer's GCSEs, showed hard work is leading to higher standards.

Headteachers warned the results had been achieved 'against a national backdrop of a funding and recruitment crisis'.

For the first time this year, schools have not been judged on the proportion of pupils scoring at least five C grades at GCSE, including in English and maths.

Instead, ministers have introduced a new headline measure called 'Progress 8'. This looks at the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school.

It compares pupils' results with the achievements of other youngsters with the same prior attainment, and measures performance across eight qualifications.

The Government has argued that this measure is fairer

because it takes students' previous achievement into account, and recognises the results of all youngsters, not just those on the border of C and D grades.

Overall, 282 secondaries, educating 206,991 children, have fallen under the Government's floor standard based on this new measure. This is around 9.3 per cent of secondary schools. Schools that are considered under-performing face intervention, and could be taken over.

In 2015, under the old five A*-C system, 329 schools or 11 per cent were below the target. Mr Gibb said: "Today's figures confirm that the hard work of teachers and pupils across the country is leading to higher standards, and for that they should be congratulated." But the new measures introduced by the government have left some parents and schools baffled.

But Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "It aims to judge schools on the progress that all their pupils make, rather than an arbitrary measure of GCSE attainment."

Wolverhampton Girls' High School has been revealed as the top-performing school in the city based on the achievement of its pupils at GCSE.

The school recorded an 'Attainment 8' score of 73.5 out of 80 – well above the national average of 48.5.

The new measure is based on GCSE results from grades A* to G across eight subjects.

It was also revealed in the latest school data that all 108 students achieved A*-C grades in both English and maths. The Royal Wolverhampton School came in second place with a score of 59.8, followed by Heath Park School which scored 54.3.

A total of 81 per cent and 70 per cent of students at each school respectively achieved A*-C grades in both English and maths. Across the city 58.8 per cent of pupils achieved A* to C in the two subjects. That was the highest proportion of any area across the Black Country. Although Wolverhampton has the highest rate of schools now classed as under-performing. Progress 8 scores for The King's Church of England, Moreton Community School, North East Wolverhampton, St Matthias and Wednesfield High Specialist were below the expected 'floor standard' of minus 0.5 set.

Education chiefs in Staffordshire believe more needs to be done to ensure each pupils achieves their potential following the publication of the latest school league tables.

The county ranked 101st of 152 local authority areas based on its 'Attainment 8' score – one of the government's new headline measures which has replaced the old one of the proportion of pupils getting five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

It measures the achievement of pupils across eight qualifications, including maths and English. Just four of 55 schools across the county were judged as under-performing based on another of the new measures, which looks at the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. It also compares pupils' results with the achievements of others that have the same prior achievements.

A total of 59.7 per cent of pupils in the county's schools recorded a grade C or higher in English and Maths. Staffordshire pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 48.9, just above the national average of 48.5.

County Councillor Ben Adams, Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills said: "With the phasing out of the old performance measures and the introduction of the new Attainment 8 score amongst others, it is difficult to compare the latest set of results to previous years.

"Even so, the results today show that Staffordshire children are continuing to perform above the national average and this is something we are keen to build on over the next few years.

"What I want to see now is an improvement in the progress of students, so schools are ensuring each pupil achieves their potential.

"It is clear that more needs to be done at A Level so we will continue to work with sixth forms, colleges and training providers to ensure results improve."

Schools across Sandwell performed the worst across the Black Country in last year's GCSEs according to the new league tables.

Borough-wide schools scored an average 'Attainment 8' score of 45.1, falling far below the national average which is now pegged at 48.5.

The next weakest area in the Black Country was Dudley which scored a total of 47.6 out of 80.

Attainment 8 scores are based on GCSE results from grades A* to G across eight subjects.

The best performing school in the borough was Sandwell Academy in West Bromwich.

Its Attainment 8 score was 50.5 and 60 per cent of pupils achieved A* – C in both English and maths. But the poor performance across the borough was such that despite its score Sandwell Academy would not have entered the top five in any of the other Black Country areas.

Wood Green Academy, also in West Bromwich, also performed well with an Attainment 8 score of 50.3.

Other high performing schools across the Sandwell area were Q3 Academy, Great Barr; George Salter Academy, West Bromwich; and Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy, Oldbury, serving hundreds of pupils between them.

Average GCSE grades in Dudley fell well below the national average according to new government measures.

This year's league tables used new headline measures for the first time labelled 'Attainment 8' and 'Progress 8'.

Out of 152 local authority areas across the country, the borough ranked 128th based on the former measure.

It records the achievement of a pupil across eight qualifications including mathematics and English, which are double-weighted, three further qualifications that count in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) measure and three other qualifications that can be GCSEs or any other approved equivalent qualification.

The average score across the country was 48.5 out of 80 – but in Dudley the average score was 47.6.

The top performing school in the borough was Old Swinford Hospital in Stourbridge, which scored 63.1

Redhill School, Bishop Milner Catholic School, The Dormston School and The Kingswinford School & Science College also performed well.

Pupils at a Willenhall school have been celebrating after recording a high score under the government's new achievement measure.

Pool Hayes Academy was given an 'Attainment 8' score of 51.9 – ahead of the national average which was 48.5.

The score is based on GCSE results from grades A* to G across eight subjects.

Andy Lawrence, the school's Vice Principal, said: "I am tremendously proud of our students and the results that they have achieved.

"I am really pleased how we work with parents at this school and I am grateful to our fantastic staff and all their hard work."

The tables published yesterday revealed 57.4 per cent of pupils in Walsall achieved A* to C in both their English and maths GCSEs during last year.

The best schools based on the new Attainment 8 measure in Walsall were Queen Mary's Grammar, Queen Mary's High, Hydesville Tower, Walsall Academy and Barr Beacon School. However Walsall has a high rate of under-performing schools.