TWO Darlington schools were last night named as among the worst performing in England.

Eastbourne Comprehensive and Haughton Community School both appeared on a list of the bottom five per cent of schools in England, as the Government published its league tables for 14-year-olds.

The list measures the value that schools add to pupil performance, rather than just the level of attainment, and is widely believed to be a fairer way of comparing schools.

The Unity Academy in Middlesbrough was also shamed on the list - as it was named the third worst school nationwide.

Another five Teesside schools and Wellfield Community Comprehensive School, in Wingate, County Durham, were also on the list.

Last night, there were calls for the Government to scrap its flagship academy programme - after more than half the city academies were named in the bottom five per cent.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "It must be a great disappointment to the parents who believed the Government's publicity that just calling a school an academy and bringing in a commercial sponsor would result in substantial improvements in performance.

"The Government should be concentrating its efforts on improving all our schools rather than going in for cosmetic exercises which end up misleading the public - and parents in particular."

The criticism comes as Darlington Borough Council is bidding for money to turn Eastbourne Comprehensive into a Church of England-sponsored academy.

Meanwhile, another of the town's troubled schools, Branksome Comprehensive, which was deemed to be failing and placed in special measures by inspectors a year ago, outperformed half of the other six secondary schools in the local education authority area. It achieved better results than Eastbourne, Haughton and Longfield schools.

Last night, a council spokesman said: "We have some excellent schools and we are delighted with the achievements of those that have scored highly. In terms of the value-added tables, we are doing all we can to address the issues faced by Haughton and Eastbourne schools, and have clear improvement plans in place for them."

Across the region there were some remarkable successes. In County Durham, Sedgefield Community Sports College was named the 38th most improved school in the country.

Headteacher Lynne Ackland said: "We knew we had done well, but this is fantastic. We have worked really hard to make the improvement sustainable. It is not about quick fixes, we have slogged. This is down to the hard work of the teachers and the kids and has given us a real boost."

In North Yorkshire, Ripon College was named the sixth most improved school in England and neighbouring Ripon Grammar School was named the best school in the county and one of the top 200 in England.

Ripon College deputy principal Suzanne Henderson said: "We are absolutely delighted. It is great news for the college and the students. In 1997, eight per cent of pupils left with five or more A*-C grades at GCSE. Last year, it was 41 per cent. Our target for 2008 is 65 per cent."

Across the region, North Yorkshire was the top-performing authority, followed by, in descending order: Northumberland, Darlington, Gateshead, Durham, Hartlepool, North Tyneside, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Newcastle and then Middlesbrough.