WORRYING literacy and numeracy levels in some Merseyside schools emerge today from this year’s GCSE league tables.

Parents can for the first time see which schools are best at getting students through the core subjects of GCSE maths and English.

Knowsley schools have finished bottom in the entire UK for GCSEs, including maths and English, with an average score lower than any other authority.

Their A-Level results are also the UK’s worst.

In Liverpool, just 1% of pupils at Parklands High School, Speke, achieved five GCSEs at Grade C or above in subjects including maths and English – the worst results in the UK.

In recent years, millions of pounds have been invested in state-of-the-art facilities at Parklands, as part of a major Public Finance Initiative (PFI).

The school has about 800 pupils who live in one of the most deprived council wards in the country.

Headteacher Alan Smithies said: “We had a particular issue with maths and English results last year which was disappointing, and have taken steps to provide additional support for pupils including extra members of staff and one-to-one tuition to ensure it cannot 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.”

Responding to Knowsley’s poor results, Elaine Ayre, Knowsley’s service director for children’s services, said: “It’s not a position that anyone would want to be in.

“It doesn’t reflect the hard work that’s gone in.”

Knowsley’s average GCSE score puts them 20% adrift of the national average.

Just 26.7% of pupils achieved Gordon Brown’s baseline standard of 5 A* to C grade GCSEs, including maths and English.

Even when functional skills are taken into account, which assesses rudimentary numeracy and literacy, Knowsley’s average rises to just 36%. That means two thirds of school leavers do not have sufficient ability in English and maths.

But the authority claims the numbers in either further education or employment after school are consistently rising.

Mrs Ayre added: “We are successfully placing young people in further education or employment.”

“Our children enter school with very low levels of language development, so constantly through school we have contingencies in place.

“But it’s still not good enough for us and that’s why English and maths are a major focus for us.

“Those basic skills improve their life chances. It’s about our young people achieving their own economic wel lbeing and then only in that sense can they make a positive contribution to their communities.”

The educational landscape in Knowsley is set to change.

In January, 2009, the first of seven Learning Centres will open in a £150m overhaul of the borough’s schools. All 10 of Knowsley secondary schools will close and pupils will transfer to the new centres.

Nationally, in proposals outlined by the Prime Minister in November, schools that fail to meet the target of 30% of pupils achieving the baseline standard will be taken over or shut down.

Under those criteria, 41 Merseyside schools would face intervention or would be forced to close their doors.

But the year’s results have not been without success stories.

Liverpool’s only grammar school, Blue Coat, in Wavertree, was ranked top school in the city and 30th best state school nationally.

All 120 pupils got five top GCSEs, while 92% of them had five top grades including maths and English.

Headteacher Sandy Tittershill said: “We are delighted with the GCSEs. very pleased and very proud of them.”

“Exam results are a very important matter at this school, our highest and most important priority.”

Schools Minister Jim Knight sent his personal congratulations to some top performers.

"I want to congratulate pupils and teachers in Liverpool and St Helens for their excellent performance.

“The results for Cardinal Heenan and Archbishop Beck in Liverpool, and Cowley language college in St Helens show they are among the top performing schools this year based on sustained improvements in five or more A* to C grade GCSEs, including English and maths.”

Other notable successes include The Academy of St Francis of Assisi, Notre Dame, Bank View, Bellerive, and De La Salle, in Liverpool, and Hillside and St Ambrose, in Sefton.

These schools all managed top 100 places in the contextual value added table, which assesses how a school improves its students’ performance.

At Cardinal Heenan Comprehensive school for boys, in West Derby, headteacher Dave Forshaw has spearheaded a remarkable turnaround in results.

The school was previously criticised for poor performance in maths by Ofsted, but the school’s GCSE results increased by 25 percentage points on last year.

A Liverpool City 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.”.

“Back in 1999 Liverpool education was failing and 18 of our schools were in special measures.

“We are determined to continue the rise in standards and are investing almost half a billion pounds in new and replacement secondary schools which will provide a top quality hi-tech learning environment for pupils.”

The council is hoping that such heavy investment will go some way to tackling a truancy problem.

Liverpool reports the second worst figures for absenteeism in the region with 2.1% half days lost. The lowest level of truancy is in Sefton, with a rate of just 0.8%

In GCSEs, Cheshire was the top-performing authority in the region.

On average, 51.5% of school leavers in the county achieve the national baseline standard and no schools in the county fell short of the PM’s target.

Cowley Language College, in St Helens, is ranked eighth- best school in the country for added value, which measures how much a school improves its pupils’ results.