SCHOOLS across the Epping Forest District are showing good progress in the latest league tables.

For the first year in some time, no schools in the district have fallen below the Government's target of 30 per cent of pupils attaining five A*-C GCSEs including maths and English.

The Government rates any schools below that level as “failing” and last time round King Harold School, in Waltham Abbey, was placed in that category with a 26 per cent rating.

That rating has now improved to 36 per cent after it was given National Challenge status and extra resources through the Kemnal Trust.

Newly appointed headteacher Denice Halpin said: "Obviously King Harold School has had a bit of a checkered history, but it is going in the right direction and last year's results prove that."

The Kemnal Trust has been credited with the turnaround in fortunes at Debden Park High School, in Loughton, which in 2007 had a 23 per cent A*-C pass rate.

Under the latest figures it has improved that to a 44 per cent pass rate.

Headteacher Christian Cavanagh said: “I can't speak for every head for every head, but I know all of us are working extremely hard to raise standards. It' something every local should be proud of.”

The lowest rate in the district now belongs to St John's School, in Epping, which has gone down from 36 per cent to 33 per cent.

Headteacher George Yerosimou said that rating didn't reflect other improvements the school had made and he hoped for greater success this year.

He said: “We're a bit down on last year, but overall results were better than before. We are looking for that to be a lot higher this year. In June we had our second consecutive good Ofsted.

“League tables sometimes don't reflect the progress schools are making.”

The stand-out result in the district is once again from Davenant Foundation School, in Loughton, which finished with a 77 per cent pass rate, down from 85 per cent the year before, but still the second highest rating for a comprehensive in Essex.

Roding Valley High School, in Loughton, scored a pass mark of 43 per cent, up from 39 per cent, while Chigwell's West Hatch School scored 56 per cent, up from 55 per cent.

The overall pass rate for Essex is 50.2 per cent while the national average is 49.8 per cent.