Education officers have defended Oxfordshire's education system after only one state school from the county was rated in the top 400 in a national survey.

The Cherwell School, in Oxford, was the only one to be included in The Sunday Times league table of the top 400 state secondary schools in Britain, which was based on the percentage of pupils achieving grades A-C at GCSE and A-B at A-Level.

This compares unfavourably with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, which have 14 and nine schools respectively in the top 400.

Education chiefs at Oxfordshire County Council said the poor performance was due to the county's comprehensive education system.

A spokesman said: "The Sunday Times table is very misleading. It takes no account of the fact that selective schools are being compared with non-selective schools -- like is not being compared with like. It is inevitable that grammar schools from LEAs which operate a system of selective entry will, on average, do better than comprehensive schools from non-selective LEAs."

Erica Draisey, acting headteacher of The Cherwell School, in Marston Ferry Road, said that the improvement in all children's education was more important than exam results, and agreed that league tables did not fairly represent Oxfordshire schools.

"That is the nature of comprehensive education," she said. "Selective schools are creaming off the best children which we don't agree with or approve of.

"To compare our schools with others you need to look at value added statistics, not the raw school results.

"We set very challenging targets for our students, and our A-Level results are better than many public schools."

Mrs Draisey said streaming at the school ensured that brighter pupils were not held back.

She said: "Our teachers cater for students of different abilities, so brighter students will be given extension work.

"We also group children according to ability in maths, English and the sciences from year 10 (14- to 15-year-olds), to allow brighter pupils to progress at a faster rate."

"The comprehensive system gives students the opportunity to progress at different rates at different times."

The top primary school in the county in The Sunday Times's tables was Sibford Gower Endowed Primary School, near Banbury.