The complete ranked schools's league tables based on GCSE and A-level results 2007

Seven years ago, Moreton School was named and shamed as one of the 50 worst in the country.

Today it boasts an outstanding Ofsted report and tops the Contextual Value Added table. This measures how well pupils have progressed since primary school, taking into account a range of individual circumstances, such as gender, age and deprivation.

Tony Leach became head teacher at Moreton six years ago when the 800-pupil school was in special measures and only 12 per cent of children got five good GCSEs. Now the rate is 77 per cent.

“It comes down to creating a ‘can do’ culture in school where nothing is impossible. Children are now proud of the fact they come here and have a huge amount of self-belief,” Mr Leach said.

About 50 per cent of pupils take free school meals and Mr Leach describes it as being in an area of “multiple and massive disadvantage”.

Bartley Green School, in Birmingham, which is second in the CVA table, has made slow but steady progress since Chris Owen because headteacher 13 years ago.

Then, just nine per cent of pupils gained five good GCSEs, now it is 77 per cent.

“We monitor the children closely and intervene so they can’t fail,” Mrs Owen said.

“The ethos of staff was to make this school good enough for our own children to come to. We use rewards as well as discipline, with lots of trips to theatres, educational visits and sports coaches.”

CVA scores above 1,000 signify that pupils have made more progress than similar pupils nationally; scores below suggest less.

The top 50 or so schools in our table are all above the national average and therefore can be considered 'effective' schools according to the CVA measure. But the data comes with a health warning.

Research from Dr Deborah Wilson and colleagues at Bristol University notes that while the CVA scores can give useful information about individual schools, the range of values for each school is so wide that the scores are not reliable for comparing schools.

And because so many schools have similar scores, small differences between about half of schools in the middle of the tables can leave schools hundreds of places apart in the rankings.

Also, CVA scores cap each pupil’s attainment at their best eight GCSE results. As many top schools enter pupils for more exams than that, capping artificially holds down their CVA indicator.

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