Bradford remains in the worst 20 education authorities in the country for the performance of 14-year-olds, new figures reveal.

The district has dropped three places and is now ranked 17th from the bottom in national league tables published today.

The figures measure the results of key stage three standard assessment tests in English, maths and science sat by pupils last year.

Bradford is ranked 132 out of 148 authorities across the country despite its best-ever performance by 14-year-olds.

And six of the district's secondary schools have been named among the bottom 200 in the nation.

But there was also reason to celebrate as several local schools were named among the best performing or most improved schools in the country.

Education bosses have hailed the results as the district's best-ever performance by 14-year-olds.

But the results mean Bradford is in the bottom 20 education authorities in the country for test and exam results sat by 11, 14 and 16-year-olds last year.

And Bradford North MP Terry Rooney (Labour) has hit out at the private company which runs Bradford schools for the district's low league table rankings.

Education Bradford, which is part of Serco, was formed to take over the contract for providing education services from Bradford Council in 2001.

Mr Rooney said: "This is just further proof that Education Bradford is a failing organisation and should be put out of its misery.

"The fact is that all education authorities are improving but they are improving faster than we are.

"And at the end of the day we are talking about children's life chances and they only get one chance and Education Bradford seem incapable of delivering results.

"Rather than getting out the begging bowl and asking for more money I think this contract is at the end of the line. It is time to sever the contract and bring in new arrangements."

However Councillor Dale Smith, Bradford Council's executive member for education defended the latest results.

He said: "We are pleased and we do actually think there are signs of Spring and that Education Bradford, Bradford Council and schools are becoming an effective team that is raising the level of achievement across the district."

He also criticised Mr Rooney's remarks adding: "I am surprised he doesn't recall the appalling Ofsted inspection of the then Labour-controlled Council which was critical of the council's lack of internal capacity and of political interference."

Anthony Mugan, Head of Bradford Council's Education Client Team, said: "Bradford schools have achieved their best ever results at Key Stage Three.

"Since 2001, results have risen faster than the national average in the core subjects of English, maths and science.

"Much hard work remains to be done to continue to improve results further in the future."

Heather Rushton, Education Bradford's director for school improvement said: "These results clearly show an improvement year on year which is good news. However what is far more important is the upward trend of the key stage three figures over the past five years. This shows Bradford secondary schools are improving at a faster rate than secondary schools nationally."

Six Bradford schools were named in the worst performing 200 in the country, based on the average point score per pupil.

They are Belle Vue Boys School, Rhodesway in Allerton, Bradford Cathedral Community College, Carlton Bolling College in Undercliffe, Greenhead High School in Keighley and Tong School in Westgate Hill Street.

However Dixon's City Technology College in West Bowling was named in the top 200 schools in the country for key stage three results.

Ermsyted Grammar School, Skipton Girls High School and Heckmondwike Grammar also finished in the top 200.

Dixons, which transferred to city academy status in September last year, finished 195th.

It is the fourth consecutive year that the school has been named in the country's top 200 performers.

The school's principal Nick Weller said: "This is another very good result for Dixons. It is these successes that we want to build on as we move forward as a city academy.

"The Year 9 students have worked very hard and they have been well supported by our staff. Everyone is very proud of this achievement."

Three secondary schools were also celebrating being named in the top 100 most improved in the country.

The league table measured the success of schools which have improved their key stage three performances year-on-year since 2002.

Nab Wood School, Challenge College in Frizinghall and Carlton Bolling College in Undercliffe all finished in the top 100.

Nab Wood's assistant head teacher Rob Parker said: "The school is proud of the success it has had over the last few years in raising achievement at key stage three. This has been due to the hard work of both the students and staff in partnership with the parents."

Challenge College's head teacher Sian Harris said: "The rate of improvement at Challenge is significantly stronger than Bradford or national rates.

"It has been down to the level of talent of the teachers. Our head of maths Sara Brumhead, head of science Jules Porter and our head of English Jo White are all wonderful.

"Our critical skills methodology is also worth mentioning. It is not just the curriculum we also give pupils the skills to make them more effective learners by focusing on decision making, organisation, taking the lead and team building."