SCHOOLS in the district are celebrating outstanding performances in newly published league tables which show how students are performing at GCSE level, however, many have also questioned the validity of the data.

The statistics, published on Thursday by the Department for Education, are the first to be complied under new guidelines which stipulate only first attempts at GCSEs count. Vocational qualifications the government deems to be “poor quality” have also been stripped from the rankings.

Some schools saw their results plummet as some combinations of English GCSEs and some international GCSEs, known as iGCSEs, favoured by many top private schools, also don’t count in the rankings this year.

Every education authority in Yorkshire saw a fall in the number of pupils achieving five good GCSEs, including English and maths, compared with last year’s tables.

The Bradford district has found itself tied with Blackpool, in joint second bottom place nationally, with only Knowsley, in Merseyside faring worse.

But while students’ overall performance at GCSE may have slipped in the Bradford district, Ilkley Grammar School is proving to be top of the class.

The school, which has 1,541 students, is one of the top performing state schools in the district for the percentage of students achieving five or more A*-C grades including Maths and English, coming second only to Bradford Girls’ Grammar School. IGS headteacher Ms Helen Williams said she was delighted that the school’s success had been recognised.

“We are one of the top performing state schools in the district for the percentage of students achieving five or more A* - C grades including Maths and English,” she said. “We achieved 82 per cent and are extremely proud of our position. We are also pleased with our improving performance against nationally similar schools, (schools with students with similar prior attainment at Key Stage 2) as there is no statistically better performing similar school within a 75 mile radius of Ilkley Grammar School.”

Headteacher of Prince Henry’s Grammar School, Janet Sheriff, was one who expressed a frustration with the way the league tables were complied.

She said: “At Prince Henry’s we deliver a broad curriculum with high academic standards at the core. This means that our school fared quite well in the new league tables.

“It is frustrating, however, that some of our students’ qualifications in English and mathematics have been ignored in the calculations, simply because their best grade was achieved at the second attempt.

“The league tables report that 67 per cent of our students achieved five A*-C including English and maths, when actually 76 per cent achieved this, the best ever results for Prince Henry’s.

“These new league tables are likely to be confusing for parents and members of the community, not least because for some schools they publish headline figures that don’t reflect how well students actually did.”

St Mary’s, Menston, was also ranked highly in the national league tables, delighting headteacher Darren Beardsley, who added: “There is a lot of debate nationally regarding the validity of the league tables this year and it is important to remember that central to all of this debate is the life chances of the young people who take these examinations.

“The work at St Mary’s was recognised in our ‘outstanding’ Ofsted inspection in November, where it was highlighted that all groups of students at Key Stages 3 and 4 make outstanding progress.

“This is the reward for the hard work of all members of the school community and I am confident that this success will continue as the school moves from strength to strength over the coming years.”

In Leeds, students at Horsforth School have done better than ever before, despite the national changes.

Headteacher Dr Keith Bothamley said its results at both GCSE and A-levels were the best of any state school in Leeds.

He argued it was difficult to compare this year’s tables to last year’s because a change introduced by Michael Gove meant that first exam results only are now included in the tables.

He said many schools changed their entrance policy because of this and pulled children out of exams but Horsforth school stuck to its guns and carried on as usual.

“We knew that our tables would appear as though they had gone down but it fact they have done better,” he added.

At Horsforth a total of 80.5 per cent achieved five or more A* to C grades, including English and Maths, at GCSE.

“That is the highest performance in the school’s history and highest results of any Leeds state school,” he said.

Horsforth also achieved the highest performance of Leeds state schools at A-level, with 61 per cent gaining A* to B.

“We were very pleased with how students did,” Dr Bothamley said. “It was a very good year for students in the school.”

Guiseley School deputy headteacher Paul Clayton said: “The school league tables reflect a very creditable examination performance from our year 11 cohort in what are volatile times for the examination system.

“This included some excellent performances by individual students including a large number of students gaining more than 7 A*-A grades. Also reflected in the tables are the excellent results gained by our A-level students. It is nice to see the hard work of students, staff and parents recognised in the high place the school occupies in the league tables.”