TWO Reading secondary schools have made it on to the list of the nation's worst.

Official figures show one in eight mainstream secondary schools did not reach the expected scores in 2017.

A total of 365 schools fell below the government's standards and among them were Theale Green School and John Madjeksi Academy in Reading.

Schools are considered to be below the government's performance expectations if pupils do not make enough progress across eight subjects. Significant weight is given to English and maths.

They are judged against Progress 8 which looks at the development a pupil has made between the end of primary school and the end of secondary school.

Education chiefs also look at pupils' results across eight GCSEs compared to youngsters with similar abilities.

Secondary schools are deemed below standard if pupils averagely score half a grade less across eight GCSEs than expected.

John Madejski Academy was below by 0.56 while Theale Green School was behind by 0.51.

School leaders said the new grading system affecting English and maths has complicated the way school performance is calculated, as it has to be worked out using a combination of old and new grading systems.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "As the DfE itself says in today's statistics, these changes are the main reason why there has been an increase in the number of schools which are deemed to be below the 'floor standard' for Progress 8.

"It is extremely unfair that more schools find themselves in this situation because of complex changes to the way in which this is calculated.

"Our message to the DfE, trust boards, governors and inspectors is to avoid leaping to judgement on the basis of these performance tables. They only tell us a limited amount about the true quality of a school."