A CATHOLIC school in Liverpool has been named as the joint sixth most improved in the country.

In 2004 only 22% of pupils attending Cardinal Heenan High School for boys achieved five or more good GCSEs including Maths and English, but in 2007 the school gained a 47% average.

Dave Forshaw, headteacher at the West Derby school, said the core subjects covering basic literacy and numeracy were crucial to the school’s success. He said: “In previous Ofsted inspections Maths was heavily focused on as an area we needed an intervention strategy on.

“Traditionally it is the middle bands which fall behind in bigger classes so it’s concentrating on them in classes of 23 to 24 rather than the comprehensive norm of nearer 30 that has worked for us.”

The newly-formed Belvedere Academy was omitted from league tables despite recording a 100% rate of pupils attaining 5 GCSEs at A* to C 100% including Maths and English.

Because of its the school changed from independent to academy status its results have not been published by the Government, though the school’s own figures rank it as Liverpool’s second-best performer behind only Wavertree’s Blue Coat.

Other successes include The Academy of St Francis of Assisi and Notre Dame Catholic College which both tied 20th position nationally for the added value score.

This takes into account the varying starting point of each pupil and adjusts school’s scores to accommodate factors outside its control such as levels of deprivation.

At the other end of the league ladder, Parklands High in Speke registered just 1% of its pupils getting more than five or more good GCSEs including Maths and English.

Gordon Brown has suggested any school below 30% may be shut down or taken over.

Headteacher Alan Smithies said: “We have taken steps to provide additional support for pupils including extra members of staff and one-to- one tuition to ensure it can not happen again.

“The Government’s most recent value-added league tables show we are one of the best performing schools in the country when you take into account the very challenging social circumstances in the local area.”

The picture generally across Liverpool is still improving, says the city council, though the score for five GCSEs including Maths and English was 37.1%; the national average was 46%.

A council spokesman said “School pupils in Liverpool are getting the best ever exam results, and the number of children getting five good GCSE grades has virtually doubled in the last few years. “Truancy rates in the city have been steadily declining for the last decade and we are working hard with schools and parents to make sure that children do not skip lessons.”

Croxteth Comprehensive fared the worst in the borough on absenteeism with 7.3% missing without consent.

TOP Five Schools: 1 Blue Coat School , 2 Belvedere Academy*, 3 St Edward’s College, 4 Liverpool College, 5 King David High. (*own figures)