Three south Bucks schools have made the list of "England's worst" after failing to meet the government's minimum standards. 

One in eight of England's mainstream secondary schools were under-performing in 2017, according to new statistics released by the Department for Education (DfE).

In Buckinghamshire, out of 37 schools, six of those - 16.2 per cent - are currently under-performing. 

The Beaconsfield School, The Royal Grammar School and Princes Risborough School all made the list. 

Elsewhere in the county, Buckinghamshire UTC, The Grange School and The Mandeville School - all in Aylesbury - also made the list. 

The DfE figures showed that a total of 365 schools across the country failed to meet the government's minimum standards. 

Schools can fall below the government's performance threshold if pupils do not make enough progress across eight subjects, particularly English and maths.

The DfE said the rise in under-performing schools - from 282 schools the year before - is because of technical changes to the points system used by the government to calculate a school's performance.

Rather than measuring a school’s success by the number of pupils gaining five good GCSEs, schools are now judged using a measure called Progress 8.

It looks at the progress a pupil has made between the end of primary school and the end of secondary, based on their results across eight GCSEs - called Attainment 8 - in comparison with the achievement of other pupils of similar ability.

Each individual grade a pupil achieves is assigned a point score, which is used to calculate a pupil’s Attainment 8 score.

Progress 8 was introduced in 2016. 

In response to the published scores, Philip Wayne, headmaster at Royal Grammar School told parents their Progress 8 score is "meaningless" because last year's Year 11 pupils sat IGCSEs - international GCSEs - for both English language and literature. 

The IGCSE is equivalent to a UK GCSE, but the curriculum is often considered more similar to O-Level rather than the UK national curriculums GCSE. 

Mr Wayne said: "In light of the new Progress 8 League Tables being published this week, may I just remind you that, as last year’s Year 11 sat IGCSE for both English Language and Literature, our Progress 8 measure is meaningless.

"Although IGCSEs are common in the independent sector, those schools are not subject to accountability measures. Do not be alarmed."

On the other hand, Amersham School's score put them in the "above average" category for progress, while Cressex Community School achieved the highest score in the Wycombe area for non-selective schools. 

David Hood, head teacher, said: "Our students made exceptionally good progress in a number of subjects, including English and Maths.

"We were well above national average for the new tougher benchmark of the percentage of students gaining passes at grade 5 or better in English and mathematics.

"We were delighted with these results and I pay tribute to the students and staff for their hard work, as well as to the students’ families for their support."