BOLTON School boys’ division has found itself at the bottom of the secondary school performance tables — despite posting some of the best results in the country.

The government has once again decided not to include IGCSEs in its five or more A* to C GCSEs including English and maths.

Last year the school came top of the borough – when the government did include the qualifications. The school recorded a near perfect score of 99 per cent of pupils achieving the grade.

But espite achieving the same pass rate this year, the school is now bottom of the table.

Headmaster Philip Britton described the government’s ruling as "odd" — but said its curriculum would not be dictated by “current league table fashion”.

He said: “The political push to recognise only certain qualifications, aimed at achieving international comparisons, seems odd when it leads to the exclusion of International GCSEs.

“When a league table produces results which are self-evidently nonsense then, unfortunately, the system can be discredited.

“That is a shame as there is much to celebrate in the 2014 results for the young people both at Bolton School and across Bolton.

“We always choose the courses that best inspire the boys in each subject, whatever is the current league table fashion.”

Bolton School boys’ division follows the IGCSE course as do other independent schools as they think it is better than the standard GCSE in some subjects and provide a better grounding for A-level studies than the current exams.