300,000 school-leavers had poor 3Rs

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One in five secondary schools is failing to make sure at least 30% of their pupils score at least five C grades in GCSE subjects including English and maths.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set a target for no school to be in this position by 2012.

The Government stressed that the picture was better than last year and a dramatic improvement since 1997, when more than half of secondary schools were failing to give pupils a good education in the three Rs but Schools Minister Jim Knight acknowledged that weak state comprehensives must be driven to improve.

"Many of the schools with poor results are improving quickly and their pupils progress well compared to pupils in schools in similar circumstances," he said.

"But we owe it to parents to make sure low performing schools turn around quickly."

Mr Knight said failing schools would face closure or being merged with other more successful neighbours.

They could also be turned into privately-sponsored academies, with more freedom to introduce innovative teaching.

But 26 of the Government's existing academies were among the 639 schools failing to meet the target of 30% of pupils achieving five C grades including maths and English and 17 of the 40 academies reporting GCSE results were found in the league table of the worst 200 state schools in England.

Overall, 46.7% of the 649,000 pupils in Year 11 scored five C grades or better in subjects including maths and English in 2007. This meant about 346,000 pupils failed to make the C grade target in five subjects including English and maths.