TWO Islamic faith schools have been ranked in the top three schools in the country - knocking grammars down a new national league table for the first time.

The Muslim girls’ and boys’ schools in Blackburn, Lancashire, run by the Tauheedul Education Trust, beat off competition from London grammars to top the annual school performance tables coming first and third.

5 Islamic schools took top slots in the new ranking system Progress 8 Credit: Alamy

But official figures show pupils still make better progress on average in grammars than they do in comprehensives.

Almost every pupil at selective schools performs better than expected - compared to only half who go to comps - in a welcome boost to Theresa May’s plans for a grammar school revolution.

Under Progress 8 pupils are now measured by the progress they make through school rather than exam results alone - considered a fairer ranking system.

It means the best schools in England are now ranked as the ones that improve their pupils’ grades the most.

5 Progress 8 measures pupils by their progress through school rather than by exam results alone Credit: Alamy

Based on the best exam results only, the top performing schools were both grammars - Henrietta Barnett School in north London followed by Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston, west London.

Nine out of the top ten schools for attainment were grammar schools.

About 94 per cent of grammars achieve better or expected results for their pupils compared to less than half of comprehensives.

The figures also showed one in six secondary schools in the North West are “failing” children, according to the new national standards.

5 Muslim schools are believed to push their students hard and have high expectations Credit: Alamy

There was a continuing classroom divide across England with all six secondaries in Knowsley on Merseyside under-performing and 38.5 per cent in Oldham sub-standard.

The failure rate compares with a national average of one in ten under-performing schools.

The Islamic free schools, which opened in the mid 1980s, push their students hard and don’t accept background as “an excuse for failure".

The girls’ school hit the headlines three years ago following claims pupils were made to wear Islamic headdress and banned from using stationery containing ‘un-Islamic images’, but was later cleared by inspectors.

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Hamid Patel, chief executive of Tauheedul Education Trust, said he was proud of the results.

He said: “It is especially rewarding to see that some of our most vulnerable learners – those who join us from primary school behind the expected level of attainment and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds – have achieved such outstanding results.”

Jim Skinner, chief executive of the Grammar School Heads Association, said: “Grammar schools are doing an extremely good job of bringing pupils on. It’s clear proof of their success.

“It’s yet further evidence to support the Prime Minister’s proposals.”

Toby Young, director of the New Schools Network, said free schools were performing “exceptionally well".

5 Grammar schools still rank high in bringing pupils on Credit: Alamy

He said: “Free schools often have longer school days and more after-school clubs. A lot of them have used their freedoms to go back to basics with strong discipline, high expectations, and competitive sport and we’re beginning to see that pay off.”

Overall, 282 secondaries, educating 206,991 children, have fallen under the Government’s floor standard based on the new measures.

Schools that fall below minimum official standards face intervention or being taken over.

In 2015, under the old five A*-C system, 329 schools (11%) were below the target.

5 Less than half of comprehensive schools achieve better or expected results for their pupils Credit: Alamy

Schools minister Nick Gibb added: “These figures confirm that the hard work of teachers and pupils across the country is leading to higher standards, and for that they should be congratulated.

“As well as confirming that the number of young people taking GCSEs in core academic subjects is rising, the figures show the attainment gap between disadvantaged and all other pupils has now narrowed by 7 per cent since 2011.”

But Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: “Many schools are performing well and should be congratulated on their successes.

“However we cannot ignore that almost 300 schools are failing.”

Previously schools were ranked by the proportion of children achieving at least five GCSEs at grade C or higher, including in maths and English.

The new method looks at how pupils progress across eight subjects and has meant more children taking core academic subjects like maths, English and the sciences.

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, added: “Progress 8 is a fairer measure of school performance than the old measure of the proportion of pupils achieving at least five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and maths.

“It better reflects the fact that children start their secondary school education at different levels of academic ability and it aims to judge schools on the progress that all their pupils make, rather than an arbitrary measure of GCSE attainment.”