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White British children are performing worse at GCSE than children whose first language is not English, official figures show. Government statistics released today revealed the Average Attainment 8 score per pupil, which measures the achievement of a student across eight different subjects.

White British children scored 45.9. It was a drop on last year's score of 49.8 and means they performed worse than students whose first language is not English, who scored 46.8.

Chinese pupils topped the table, with an average score of 62.6, while Indian students came second on 55.4.

Students from a Black Caribbean background scored 40.5 and Gypsy/Roma students came bottom on 18.

The average for all students was 46.3. 

The figures come amid major changes to England's exams system, including the introduction of a new grading system, which has meant the data includes English and maths GCSE results awarded new 9-1 grades while other subjects received traditional A*-G grades.

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.

One in EIGHT secondary schools in England falls below minimum standard - with 80 more that last year failing to make the grade

More than a quarter of a million children are being taught at under-performing secondary schools, official figures show.

One in eight of England's mainstream secondaries - 365 in total - fell below the government's minimum standards in 2017, according to new statistics.

This is up from 282 schools, just under one in 10 - the year before.

According to Press Association analysis of the data, it means 260,783 schoolchildren are now being taught at under-performing secondaries - about one in 12 (8.6%), compared to 206,991 (6.8%) in 2016.