Black Country and Staffordshire secondary school league tables revealed

Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton each had a higher proportion of underperforming schools than the national average.

However Dudley, alongside Staffordshire, came out above the average.

The latest figures were released by the Department for Education, which tracks how well pupils aged 11 to 16 are performing in Britain’s schools.

Figures show Wolverhampton improved from the past year in the ‘Progress 8’ category, which tracks pupils progress from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4.

In the national table, Wolverhampton moved from 83rd up to 79th. Walsall moved up from 134th to 118th and Staffordshire moved up from 107th to 99th.

But Dudley moved down from 98th to 112th and Sandwell from 124th to 139th.

• Figures below show schools average point per pupil

Dudley

A total of 10.5 per cent of schools were underperforming, meaning Dudley beat the national average by 0.9 per cent.

Oldswinford School, located in Stourbridge, topped the leaderboard in Dudley for best GSCE grades.

Overall, its pupils scored 57.7 per cent across eight qualifications, which beat the national average.

The average score for schools in Dudley is 43.4 per cent and the national figure is 44.5 per cent.

Headteacher Paul Kilbride told the Express & Star: "I would like to pay many congratulations to our pupils and teachers for their hardwork.

"They have gone the extra mile and this just shows in the GCSE grades achieved."

Dudley, as a local authority, also topped the leaderboard in the Black Country for its GSCE attainment rate - with council bosses welcoming that statistic.

Councillor Sue Ridney, who is the cabinet member for children’s services at Dudley Council, said: "It is great that our pupils and schools are working so hard.

"We all want to see our children do well and raise their aspirations."

“Due to the changes in GCSE exams it’s impossible to make comparisons year-on-year. However, we have a strong relationship with all our schools and we remain confident that they offer the best start in life for children, leading to higher standards in the future.”

Sandwell

Almost one quarter of Sandwell’s secondary schools are underperforming.

The national average is 11.6 per cent. But in Sandwell, the figure is 23.5 per cent.

Four out of 17 schools have been ranked as under-performing.

Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “The council is obviously disappointed with the overall GCSE performance in Sandwell this year. However we were pleased that some of our schools and academies continued to perform well in terms of the progress that students make over time.

“We were also pleased that some others have improved their progress this year. However we have a group of schools and academies whose results continue to be significantly below national average and we will continue to work with school leaders and their academy groups to ensure that they improve quickly in the future.”

Walsall

In Walsall, 22.2 per cent of secondary schools are under-performing.

The figures show four out of 18 schools in the borough are failing to make the grade.

Wolverhampton

In Wolverhampton, 17.6 per cent of schools were under-performing, which was three out of 17.

Wolverhampton Grammar School is ranked among the bottom five in the city as it runs international GCSE courses which are not included in DofE tables.

Councillor Lynne Moran, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “The results released today paint a positive picture of improving education standards in our city; pupils have again performed well at Key Stage 4, with the proportion of students securing GCSEs in the all-important subjects of English and Maths increasing once more.

"This is testament to the hard work of teachers, pupils and parents, and also shows the impact being made by our School Standards Team and local schools to raise educational standards still further.

“We won’t, however, rest on our laurels and will continue to work closely with local schools to ensure they can deliver the best possible outcomes for our children and young people.”

Staffordshire

In Staffordshire, 11.3 per cent of schools were under-performing.

County Councillor Philip White, Cabinet Member for Learning and Employability said: “The new GCSEs have proved challenging for many pupils, including those in Staffordshire and parents will want to speak to their headteachers and governors to understand what they are doing to improve the performance of their school.

"Today’s results set a benchmark to schools upon which to improve, and in our role as a champion of learners in Staffordshire, we will be supporting schools to rise to the challenge of tougher tests and help them give pupils a solid foundation for the future.”