NORTH-East schools performed well in the latest Government league tables - with Darlington's A-level results putting the town second out of England's 150 Local Education Authorities.

Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, in Darlington, was among the top ten state colleges in the country and helped rocket the town to the lofty position in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) A-level league table.

As well as A-level and AS-level, the tables also assessed performances in GCSEs and vocational equivalents.

GCSE results at schools in England's toughest areas improved twice as much as the national average, the figures showed.

And, as the grammar schools versus comprehensive debate rages on, the second year of "value-added" tables - which chart how much pupils have improved between the ages of 14 and 16 - revealed that non-selective secondary schools did the most to help pupils do better at GCSE in 2003.

However, at A-level it is private schools that continued to dominate the top of the tables, with only grammar schools penetrating the upper reaches from the state sector.

The region's independent schools, including Yarm School, Teesside High School for Girls, both in Stockton, Polam Hall School, in Darlington, and Harrogate Ladies' College, all ranked within the top 200 schools nationally for A-levels.

Skipton Girls' High, a grammar school, was top in the region for GCSEs, followed by Ripon Grammar, while one of the Government's new city academies - Emmanuel College, in Gateshead - also featured in the top 200 schools.

In Darlington, the Queen Elizabeth's results secured its position among the best of similar colleges nationally.

Principal David Heaton said: "We are delighted at yet another improvement in our already very high level of performance.

"We have also recently been inspected by Ofsted and look forward with great eagerness to the publication of the report in the spring. In the meantime, I hope the people of Darlington are very proud of Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College."

Darlington performed less well in the GCSE tables, coming about halfway down the tables nationally, but it saw dramatic improvements at Eastbourne Comprehensive, which was placed in special measures in November 2002 after being deemed by Ofsted inspectors to be "failing".

Following a rigorous action plan to raise standards rapidly, and a federation with successful Hurworth School, Eastbourne elevated itself to third out of Darlington's seven schools in the value-added rankings.

County Durham fared less well, with two schools - Durham Gilesgate and Dene Community School, in Peterlee - coming in the bottom five per cent nationally at GCSE level.

Middlesbrough was bottom in the region in both GCSEs and A-levels, with the town's new Unity City Academy and Ormesby School figuring in the bottom 200 for GCSEs.

Thornaby Community School, in Stockton, also featured in the bottom 200.

The Government came under fire last night for its ranking methods.

Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, said the tables did not show the true achievements of schools.