Even when social factors are taken into account, the education league tables do not record pupils' progress -- according to one town head teacher.

Hawksmoor Upper School head teacher Phil Tompkins was commenting this week on the Government's latest league tables for secondary schools at GCSE, published last week.

In a list of Hertfordshire's 78 state secondaries, Hawksmoor was placed 7th from bottom and Hillside Upper School was 6th from bottom, according to students' average points score.

With GCSEs in the summer, Hawksmoor students scored 29 points on average and Hillside pupils notched up 28.

However, in a list published in The Observer on Sunday, which takes into account social factors, Hawksmoor leaped more than ten places to 57th, but Hillside dropped to fourth from bottom.

Each school's average GCSE points score was taken as a starting point with factors such as the number of pupils with special educational needs and those eligible for free school meals taken into account.

Hawksmoor's "Observer Score" was published as minus 3.06, compared with Hillside's score of minus 7.57.

But Mr Tompkins said he had no idea how The Observer had done its sums for his school, because the statistics the paper said it had used had not been released.

He said, according to his sums, his school's Observer Score was plus 0.5 this year, compared with plus 0.29 last year.

That score would have placed Hawksmoor just below half way down the Hertfordshire league table in The Observer's list.

"We scored a positive figure last year and this year we've doubled the positive," Mr Tompkins added.

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