SCHOOL league tables are, at best, treated with a health warning.

There are so many indicators of a good, or indeed outstanding, school apart from achievement data.

But the fact remains that the league tables are seen as a guide of how good each one is.

And when parents, and the young people, are looking to choose where to study, there’s no doubt the tables play a key part.

Last summer saw a major change for exam data and the introduction of Attainment 8, as we report today on page 4.

This basically means that more focus is now placed on how much progress each pupil makes from Year 7 to Year 11.

So it is pleasing to report that schools in Brighton and Hove are performing above the national average in GCSE subjects.

The Attainment 8 score is the average of all the pupils at a school, and it came into force in 2017.

It sees points added to GCSE grades from 1 to 9, with 9 being the equivalent of an A*.

Dorothy Stringer is the highest ranking state school followed by Cardinal Newman in Hove. Blatchington Mill is third out of our nine state secondary schools on the list. Private school Brighton College is top of the overall table while Brighton Aldridge Community Academy in Moulsecoomb, which used to be Falmer High, is bottom, despite having a good rating from Ofsted.

The new system is supposed to be fairer to schools in more challenging areas because of the key emphasis on progress.

We salute the schools who have done well. But obviously there remains room for improvement in some, and that has to be the main focus looking forward.