Boys’ schools in Neasden and Harlesden are the poorest performing in the borough

Schools in Neasden and Queen’s Park have topped last year’s GCSE tables with 100 per cent of pupils achieving the five A* - C benchmark.

The Swaminarayan School in Brentfield Road, and Islamia Girls’ High School, in Salusbury Road, both independent schools, topped the tables in Brent.

The figures, released today by the Department for Education (DfE) show the number of pupils who achieved A* - C including English and Maths in last summer’s exams. It also provides a comprehensive breakdown of how each school ranked it its local authority.

The Crest Boys Academy in Crest Road, Neasden, and Newman Catholic College in Harlesden Road, Harlesden, were the poorest performing schools for GCSE’s.

At The Crest Boys, 33 per cent of pupils met the target while at Newman Catholic College, also a boys’ in school, the number was 35.

Last year the government increased the benchmark for schools achieving five A*-C or more from 35 per cent to 40 per cent.

This year has also seen the introduction of a new benchmark set by the DfE for A-Level scoring whereby the percentage of pupil’s achieving two A’s and B (AAB) was also released.

The Swaminarayan School, an independent school which caters for the borough’s Hindu community, again topped the list with 33 per cent of pupils achieving the daunting target.

The next best performing school was JFS in The Mall, Kenton, which came second with 14 per cent of pupils.

Earlier this year the Times reported how stringent changes to the grade boundaries in English and Maths had led to some schools feeling their results had been significantly altered.

Brent Council have since issued a challenge and have requested a judicial review into the increases.