TABLES published today show the majority of Basingstoke's schools fell below both the county and national averages for GCSE achievements last summer.

The findings are in attainment tables published by the Department for Education and Skills. Many of the figures confirm those previously published in October last year, but the tables also compare schools' performances against national and county averages and include measures such as truancy rates.

Seven secondary schools in the town failed to meet the Hampshire average of 60.9 per cent of pupils who sat GCSEs achieving at least five A* to C grades. The England average was 57.1 per cent.

And six of the same seven had higher-than-average truancy rates when compared with Hampshire and England. The Hampshire average for truancy was 1.2 per cent and the England average was 1.3 per cent.

Aldworth Science College, Costello Technology College, Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College, Fort Hill Community School, John Hunt of Everest Community School and The Vyne Community School all failed to meet the local and national averages for both GCSE results and truancy rates.

The worst-performing school in Basingstoke was John Hunt of Everest Community School, Popley Way, where 15 per cent of the 60 Key Stage 4 pupils got five or more A* to C grades at GCSE last summer. John Hunt also recorded the second-worst truancy rate (excluding special schools) in the county - and the worst in the borough - for the 2004 to 2005 school year, with 4.2 per cent of half-days not attended.

And Costello Technology College, Crossborough Hill, Basingstoke, had a high truancy level compared with other schools in the borough, with 2.7 per cent of half-days missed without authorisation.

Other schools boast more successful figures in the league tables.

The private Lord Wandsworth College, Long Sutton, is top of the league for GCSE results in north Hampshire, with nearly 99 per cent of the 88 pupils there gaining five or more A* to C GCSEs last year. The school also recorded no unauthorised absences.

The King's School, Sarum Hill, Basingstoke - another privately-run establishment - also performed impressively in the tables, with 88 per cent of the 24 students getting five or more A* to C grades at GCSE.

Bishop Challoner Roman Catholic Secondary School, St Michael's Road, Basingstoke, was another top performer in the town. Here, 82 per cent of the 125 pupils passed five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C.

And Robert May's School, West Street, Odiham, ranked highly, with 76 per cent of the 238 students achieving five or more A* to C grades in last summer's GCSEs.

Brighton Hill Community College, Brighton Way, Basingstoke, beat the local and national average, with 70 per cent of its 249 pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades.

So too did Testbourne Community School, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch, where 73 per cent of the 135 students achieved the same.

AS and A-level attainment tables are also revealed today.

The best performer in north Hampshire was again Lord Wandsworth College, where 67 students took AS and A-levels and achieved an average point score of 356.1 per student against a Hampshire average of 287.9.

The average for England was 277.6 points.

At Queen Mary's College, Cliddesden Road, Basingstoke, 692 students took AS and A-levels and the average point score per student was 284.4.

The AS and A-level results at Basingstoke College of Technology are shown as the worst in the county in the tables, but students there who take an AS-level do so alongside their vocational qualifications.

Here there was an average point score of 68.2 per student. But 85 per cent of the students achieved their vocational qualifications, against a county average of 88.6 per cent, and 82 per cent passed their intermediate vocational qualification, against an average of 82.8 per cent across Hampshire.

Judith Armstrong, principal at BCOT, said: "We only had 17 students taking A or AS-levels and these students would have only taken one AS-level alongside their main vocational qualifications.

"It is therefore inevitable that the average point score per student will be very low compared with colleges where students take three, four or even five A-levels."

For full copies of the tables, log on to www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables

First published: Thursday, January 19, 2006