Bradford has slipped further down the national league tables for its performance in GCSE exams.

New figures out today reveal the district has fallen to 140th out of the 150 education authorities - a drop of eight places compared to last year.

But the number of teenagers in Bradford gaining the national benchmark of five 'good' GCSEs - grades A* to C - in last summer's exams has risen to 39.8 per cent compared to 39.6 last year, the highest ever, although still well behind the national average of 53.7 per cent.

And ten of the district's schools are among the country's 200 schools with the worst record for truancy.

The figures are published today after a turbulent year for Bradford's schools. The T&A has reported how many of the district's schools were facing debt problems with three facing deficits of around £1 million.

And 13 schools have been placed in special categories by inspectors because of concerns about standards.

The private firm Education Bradford took over the running of the district's schools after a damning Ofsted report in 2001 - the last time Bradford ranked 140th.

The multi-national conglomorate Serco won the bid to run the district's schools and set up Education Bradford with a ten-year plan to turn things around.

In 2002 the district rose to 133, and 132 in 2003, but now the district is back at ten places from bottom.

Bradford North Labour MP Terry Rooney said he was 'extremely disappointed' that Bradford was back at square one. He said: "After almost four years it's time that the Council looked at its relationship with Serco. These results show that things are far from improving, things are falling back.

"Serco is not delivering and it begs the question why the Council is considering relaxing its targets and giving them more money. They shouldn't be rewarded, they should be punished."

Mark Pattison, Education Bradford's managing director, said he was disappointed with the figures but said he was confident results would be better this year as it would be the same children who did well at Key Stage Three.

"We are disappointed with the LEA GCSE figure for 2004, but many schools in Bradford produced good Key Stage Two and Three results and we are confident this year will see significant overall improvement at GCSE," he said.

He said Education Bradford used data from the Fisher Family Trust which compares pupils performance with youngsters in other parts of the district from a similar background and of similar ability.

"Looking at these figures we know we are already doing better and are in fact nearly two per cent better than expected.

"This year's GCSE students will be the first cohort to have gone right through secondary school after the schools' reorganisation and the results are going to be better.

"It's difficult when you look at a year at a time to know how we really are doing but even though we have gone down in the league tables we have to say we have improved from last year and that's the third year running and we are improving much faster than the rest of the country."

Councillor Phillip Thornton, chairman of the young people and education improvement committee, hit out at Education Bradford's record as the committee met last night.

He said: "We are in the same position now that we were when Education Bradford came to take over in 2001. Although we have had improvements we are now in 140th place out of 150 - and that was the case in 2001.

"We have paid money to an organisation which has not delivered. Since then we have changed our expectations and they are getting more money now through the incentive system, yet standards have dropped again."

He criticised the methods being used to set new incentive targets for Education Bradford which would see the district measured against similar 'large city' local education authorities in England.

Coun Thornton said: "We are now coming up with a proposal which will generate a culture of low expectation by making things easier."

Despite the district's overall ranking in the national tables, some secondary schools had a lot to celebrate.

Dixons City Technology College, in West Bowling, is celebrating double success.

The Ripley Street school is among the top 200 selective and non-selective schools in the country and is eighth place nationally for its Key Stage Two to GCSE value-added performance.

Assistant head teacher Dwayne Saxton said the key was to 'tweak' the curriculum to help provide personalised learning.

"We are delighted with how well we've done and everything we do is part of an ongoing process to help students achieve," he said.

"For us the value added score is a much better way of seeing what we've done as we can see how well students achieve compared to what was expected."

The school is one of two in the district which have been recognised nationally as improving.

School standards Minister Stephen Twigg today praised the schools, saying: "Secondary schools in Bradford such as Feversham College and Dixons City Technology College have proved themselves to be among the highest achieving in the country.

"This is a real tribute to the hard work of teachers and support staff and it is a great achievement to be one of the best schools for making a difference to how well children are learning."

Feversham College, in Undercliffe - Britain's first state-funded Muslim girls' school - has the nation's top value added score for its Key Stage Two to GCSE performance.

The single faith school, with just 40 pupils, was singled out for praise today by Mr Twigg for showing what could be achieved "in areas of significant deprivation."

Bradford Cathedral Community College, in East Bowling, Bradford, has seen a dramatic rise in the number of pupils gaining the benchmark five GCSEs.

This time 26 per cent of students who sat the exams scooped at least five good grades compared to just five per cent in 2003.

Head teacher David Brett said it was the result of 'blood, sweat and tears'.

The school is also celebrating after coming out of special measures in December last year.

"What a remarkable and challenging time we have been through!" he said.

"The previous average for the previous ten years was eight per cent so 26 per cent is a great achievement, and at one time it was as low as two per cent.

"We have created a culture of achievement in the school and we will be continuing with that."

The Girls' Grammar School, Bradford, is also among the nation's top 200 schools for its outstanding A level results.

The 80 girls who sat A levels at the school last summer gained an average 400.5 point score.

Head teacher Linda Warrington said: "We are delighted we are maintaining our high standards and we are very proud of the hard work the girls have put in."