JUST 8.2 per cent of pupils in Wyre Forest achieved the new English Baccalaureate introduced by the Government, England's league tables show.

It is a measure of how many children achieve good passes in English, maths, a language, geography or history and two science qualifications.

Across England, about one in six pupils achieved the new target according to the figures - 16 per cent.

For the district, the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSE A* to C, including English and maths, was also below the national average, at 49 per cent.

Forty-one per cent of pupils achieved the Government benchmark at Wolverley CE Secondary School, 50 per cent at King Charles I School and 40 per cent at Baxter College.

Independent Wolverley school, Heathfield School, however, claimed joint top spot in the Worcestershire league tables in the category, with a 96 per cent pass rate.

Headmaster Roger Brierly said: “I would like to congratulate all the pupils and staff on their hard work, which resulted in another excellent set of grades.”

At The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre, 63 per cent of pupils achieved the benchmark while 22 per cent achieved the new English Baccalaureate.

Meanwhile, at Baxter College the pass rate for the new Government target was four per cent, at King Charles I School 11 per cent, at The Stourport High School and VIth Form Centre three per cent and at Wolverley CE Secondary School four per cent.

For the county, the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSE A*s to C, including English and maths, was higher than the national average and higher than last year’s figures.

In Worcestershire, the figure for 2010 was 54.9 per cent, up 6.1 per cent from 48.8 per cent in 2009. Nationally, the figure was 53 per cent.

Conservative Marcus Hart, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member with responsibility for education, said: “While there is a way to go, I am delighted that the improvements, many of which the council has supported, are showing up.”

For A level results, the average point score per student for 2010 was highest for Baxter College, at 769.2 and lowest for Wolverley CE Secondary School, at 586.7.

Colleges and schools across the county had a mixed performance last year. In Worcestershire, the overall total point score for 2010 equated to 704.5, which had dropped slightly from 707.7 in 2009.

It was also lower than the average point score nationally per candidate who entered for level 3 qualifications, which stood at 732.9, that average being lower than the previous year’s national figure of 739.3.

The persistent absence rate was 7.3 per cent at Baxter College, where there was also a 7.8 per cent rate of overall absence.