Hear informed debate: Closure hangs over 33 schools as league tables are published

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League tables in full

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Ministers have warned that schools which cannot get 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A* to C passes including English and maths by next year could be replaced by academies.

League tables published yesterday show 42 secondary schools in the region fell short of this floor target last year.

Nine of these have already been shut but 33 more remain on the Government's hit list for closure or intervention.

Under the National Challenge initiative one of the Government's options for transforming struggling schools is to replace them with independently run, state-funded academies.

But the latest GCSE figures show that seven of the 12 academies in the region, which sat GCSEs last year, missed the target. Children's Secretary Ed Balls has already intervened to demand improvements at Sheffield Park Academy which was placed in special measures last year.

Nationally there were 41 academies among 301 schools which failed to get 30 per cent of pupils to the benchmark. Across the country 54 secondaries which failed to meet this target have now closed.

Six of the schools which failed to meet the Government's GCSE target in Yorkshire closed last summer to be replaced by academies. They were Rhodesway and Wyke Manor in Bradford, Northcliffe High in Doncaster, Pickering High in Hull, South Leeds High School and Parkwood School in Sheffield.

West Leeds High and Wortley High were also amalgamated into one new school while the notorious Ridings School in Halifax closed without a replacement being provided.

In Leeds two more which fell short of the expected standard, Primrose and City of Leeds, could be set to close as part of a plan to create two new academies in the city.

Education Leeds chief executive Chris Edwards said: "More young people than ever before achieved five or more qualifications and less than ever left school with none at all. These are fantastic achievements.

"There is, however, still room to improve and we've already taken steps to make this happen. We've agreed with the Department for Children Schools and Families how we propose to meet the Government's National Challenge to ensure at least 30 per cent of pupils achieve five or more GCSEs in every school in the city.

"Schools which have not matched previous years' successes are also being targeted to ensure there are improvements in the future."

Nationally, league tables show around half of 16-year-olds leave schools without five Cs, including English and maths.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker defended Labour's record on education, and added: "The main points of this are that there has been a huge drop in the number of schools under the National Challenge benchmark.

"We've got down to 247 schools, so a massive drop from 439. That's a really big drop, we are really pleased with that and it's congratulations to all the teachers, head teachers and schools who have made that possible."

The losers and the winners

Hull was ranked second from bottom in a table of 149 education authorities across the country based on GCSE results.

More than half of the region's academies missed the GCSE floor target of 30 per cent of pupils achieving five passes including English and maths.

More than 40 secondary schools across Yorkshire failed to achieve this target and could be closed next year.

Yorkshire had five schools in the worst 20 in the country – with four from Leeds, based on GCSE results.

Heckmondwike Grammar had the fifth-best GCSE results in the country.

North Yorkshire had the best GCSE results in the region.

Ministers say 100,000 more pupils achieved A* to C grades, including English and maths, nationally than in 1997.

Kirklees was the region's best performer at A-levels while Barnsley was the worst.

Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton achieved the best A-level grades in Yorkshire.