THURROCK has been ranked as the second best area in England for improvements in GCSE passes.

The council joins Southwark and Westminster as the most improved areas for the percentage of pupils achieving five GCSEs including English and maths, at C or above, from 2007 to 2010.

Speaking at the last meeting of Thurrock Council’s Cabinet, Diana Hale, portfolio holder for education, praised the borough’s students.

She said: “Southwark, Thurrock and Westminster are the most improved local authorities in terms of percentage of pupils achieving five GCSE passes at A* to C including English and mathematics from 2007 to 2010.

“These latest results show Thurrock is in the top third of the 150 education authorities in England.

“Nearly 57 per cent of students recorded five or more A* to C passes, including maths and English, with an average points score per pupil at GCSE or equivalent level of 501.1.”

She added:“I want to congratulate every student, every teacher and every parent — well done!

“Too often people talk down the young people of our borough, but these results show that we should be proud of them and shout about their successes.”

However, the league tables haven’t brought just good news.

Grays School Media Arts College has been named among the 200 schools in the country with the lowest GCSE results.

The school, in Hathaway Road, is ranked the 123rd lowest school for the 2010 results, with just 30 per cent of pupils achieving five GCSE grades at C or above, including English and maths.

The Government benchmark is 35 percent, and the national average is 53 per cent.

Head teacher, Lynn Ibeji, said the school is making improvements.

She said: “Over the last three years The Grays School Media Arts School has been on a journey of improvement.

“Over the last four years our results have increased from 15 per cent to 30 per cent - which represents a 100 per cent improvement.

“However, it is always disappointing to be towards the bottom of a list and we know we can and must do better, especially with the English and Mathematics results.”

She added: “ This is our big focus for the next couple of years and there are already signs of improvement in both subjects.

“Our results last year suffered from eight students moving out of the school in the last few months of the year and not sitting any exams.

“This hits the statistics.

“Our percentage of pupils achieving five A* to C grades overall, was 60 per cent, which beat our target and matched our best ever results in this category.”