THE headmaster of an independent Malvern school says he is furious with the publishing of performance tables in national newspapers because they have left a "distorted" view.

Hugh Carson says Malvern College would have been at least 100 places higher if the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) results had been taken into account.

But the alternative curriculum to A-levels was missed off the school's total performance and left them floundering at 454 in the tables, published in The Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail on Saturday.

The figures had been agreed to be included by the Independent Schools Council Information Service.

"Many of our brightest pupils take the IB as an alternative to A-levels, which we also offer, and if their results are excluded it completely distorts the picture," said Mr Carson.

"If the IB figures had been included, as had been agreed, then Malvern College would be more than 100 places higher than has been stated.

"Other schools that offer the IB, which is welcomed by universities, have been similarly disadvantaged.

"The Daily Telegraph reported our results, put us in one of their awful league tables and failed to mention half of our pupils. They got good results.

"We feel this can damage the school."

Around 75 students at the school - about half of the Year 13 group - took the IB and averaged results equivalent to ABB.

"When our results are so good we would have been so much higher," said Mr Carson.

"Some parents see where schools are and decide to send their children to them based on performance tables.

"We, and other independent schools, feel they are very often unsatisfactory. They only tell half the story. These results would have made quite a difference."

He said many school heads thought that too much emphasis placed on league tables encouraged schools to concentrate exclusively on classroom work.