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A similar exercise is then conducted to show how much they then go on to improve by the time they take

A similar exercise is then conducted to show how much they then go on to improve by the time they take GCSEs.Headteachers argue that today’s “raw data” league tables and the Government’s tough regime of targets for GCSE passes (15 per cent of pupils with at least five A* to C grade passes in at least one of the past three years by 2002, 20 per cent by 2004 and 25 per cent by 2006) simply lead to an annual “naming and shaming” of schools that fail to reach the targets.John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said of the targets: “We have been angry about this policy right from its inception. It completely undermines those schools who work in some of the most challenging circumstances.”We regard five A* to C grade passes as being the wrong way to measure these schools – a lot of whom have a very mobile school population who won’t be with the school for long enough for it to have made a difference by the time exams come along.”Also, the expectation that there will be annual rises in the five A* to Cs every year is completely at odds with reality.”This year’s tables show that nearly half of the schools failing to reach the 15 per cent target had passed this hurdle last year.Ministers are planning to introduce a national “value added” formula for every school next year, which is aimed at helping parents to see the difference teachers have made to a pupil’s performance. To this end, they will also be publishing the results of national curriculum tests at 14 for the first time.Their target-setting agenda won backing from local education authority officers yesterday. One senior official working with inner-city schools said: “It does help It can also help restore morale. You should see the joy on some teachers’ faces when they reach a demanding target.”Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, said: “Schools across the country have made good progress this year.

With 104 out of a total of 150 education authorities increasing the percentage of their pupils achieving five or more good GCSEs, we are making excellent progress across every region.”Meanwhile, two comprehensives that were relaunched in a blaze of publicity under the Government’s FreshStart scheme have the worst truancy and absence rates in England, according to the tables. East Brighton College of Media Arts saw its truancy rate almost double this year, while pupils at Firfield Community School in Newcastle upon Tyne, which was closed and reopened with a new name, missed the most lessons through authorised absence, where parents vouch for them having time off – 22.4 per cent, equivalent to a day a week The school will close next year.. More than 10 per cent of secondary schools must improve if they are to meet minimum government targets for GCSE results by 2006, exam league tables show today. The tables show 373 schools fell short of that figure this year, and nearly 200 fell short of a target of 20 per cent by 2004. In addition, 26 education authorities, a sixth, failed to meet a 2004 target of 38 per cent.Up to 40 of the worst performers – those where fewer than 15 per cent of pupils got five top grades for two years running – face closure next year if they fail to improve.But teachers’ leaders said the targets were hampering efforts to improve standards. David Hart, National Association of Head Teachers’ general secretary, criticised the “constant naming and shaming of schools in the most deprived areas of the country”.Ministers took heart from the rise in the overall pass rate in GCSE’s and A-levels.

And Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, said the new specialist schools had outperformed other state schools.. The point score is the average per pupil score for 17 or 18-year-olds at the school sitting A/AS/AGNVQ/VCE exams (for instance, at A-levels an A = 10 and an E = 2) 1King Edward VI High School for Girls, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2UB. (0121 472 1834)38.22Wycombe Abbey School, Abbey Way, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP11 1PE. (01494 520381)38.13Withington Girls’ School, Wellington Road, Fallowfield, Manchester M14 6BL. (0161 224 1077)36.64Nottingham High School, Waverley Mount, Nottingham NG7 4ED. (0115 978 6056)36.55The Lady Eleanor Holles School, Hanworth Road, Hampton, Middlesex TW12 3HF. (020 8979 1601)36.56St Swithun’s School, Alresford Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1HA.

(01962 835700)36.37King Edward’s School, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2UA. (0121 472 1672)35.68Hampton School, Hanworth Road, Hampton, Middlesex TW12 3HD. (020 8979 5526)35.59Westminster School, 17 Dean’s Yard, London SW1P 3PB. (020 7963 1000)35.310Loughborough High School, Burton Walks, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 2DU.