Even by their own high standards, Jewish schools have performed spectacularly well at GCSE, according to provisional figures released by the Department for Education this week.

Five Jewish schools were in the top 50 state schools in England for their Progress 8 score, assessing how well pupils did at GCSE in terms of their ability when they entered the school.

For a second year, Menorah High, a Charedi girls’ school in Hendon, topped the Jewish table, ranking sixth out of 6,530 state schools in England with a Progress score of 1.36.

Yavneh College in Borehamwood was placed 13th nationally with a score of 1.27, closely followed by another Charedi girls’ school, Beis Yaakov High in Salford, at 15 with 1.25. A third Charedi school, Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls in Stamford Hill, was ranked 20th with 1.21 and JFS in Kenton, 44th with 1.02.

Yesodey Hatorah’s Progress grade contrasts with its inadequate rating earlier this year by Ofsted, which criticised the school for censoring library books.

Yesodey Hatorah principal Rabbi Avrohom Pinters saidm "This is a spectacular achievement for our hard-working students, dedicated and talented staff and the community as a whole.

"Despite the disruption and distress caused by Ofsted, whose approach left many of our students visibly shaken, Yesodey Hatorah persevered and once again, our excellence has been recognised by the UK Government. I would like to pay tribute to every member of the faculty for their vision in educating the young women of the future.”

A Progress 8 score of one or above means pupils are achieving at least a grade higher at GCSE than would have been predicted when they started at the school. Only Menorah last year gained a score above one — 1.26.

Also ranked “well above average” were Hasmonean High School in Barnet with 0.92; King David Liverpool with 0.83 and Lubavitch Senior Girls’ School in Stamford Hill with 0.76.

Three other schools are classified as above average — JCoSS (0.47); Manchester King David High (0.45) and Kantor King Solomon High in Redbridge (0.31).

Jewish state schools collectively achieved a Progress rating of 0.83, behind the 11 Muslim schools which were the best performing faith school group with 1.20. The national average for state schools is 0.01.

The full performance tables for secondary schools are due to be published early next year.