THE former Ramsgate School in Thanet had the lowest GCSE pass rate and highest truancy levels in Kent last year, it has emerged.

The school did not feature in the Government’s official league tables released in January because it re-opened as the specialist Marlowe Academy last September.

At the time the national results were issued, the Department for Education said it had not published those for the Margate Academy because officially, the school no longer existed. Meanwhile, Kent County Council said it did not have them.

However, as a result of request made by the Thanet Extra under the Freedom of Information Act, Kent County Council has now provided the provisional data for the school collected at the time.

This shows that 14.8 per cent of pupils at the former Ramsgate School passed five or more GCSEs at grades A to C - a small drop on the previous year’s results of 15 per cent and a 45 per cent below the average for Kent.

However, Ian Johnson, the headteacher of the new academy, said the actual pass rate had moved up to 18 per cent after an appeal over the school’s pass rate in business studies.

In 2004, the school’s GCSE pass rate rose significantly to 15 per cent from just four per cent in 2003 following a massive injection of extra cash from the county council to help lift standards and get it off special measures.

Mr Johnson said the results had to be considered in context but conceded that the academy faced a significant challenge if it was to meet its target of a 25 per cent pass rate this year and a 35 per cent pass rate in 2007.

"An 18 per cent pass rate is three times what it was. Unfortunately, my challenge is all the more greater because we simply have to get up to a significantly higher level than that. However, our data is suggesting that youngsters here are making good progress."

The introduction of a longer school day, with pupils staying in school to do their homework was producing results. "The fact is that a lot of students do not do homework outside school. This way, we have to set it and mark it," he added.