Lewisham Council has been criticised for the borough’s “failing” secondary schools after its schools poor performances in the latest GCSE results.

Progress 8 is a new way of calculating pupil achievement across eight qualifications, and Lewisham’s schools scored below average compared to those nationally.

Chris Maines, Lib Dem mayoral candidate for Lewisham, said: “Lewisham has more failing secondary schools than almost every other borough in London.

“As a result, many of its children aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. This is a tragedy for them and their parents.”

Four mainstream secondary schools in Lewisham have a Progress 8 score that is “well below average”: Addey and Stanhope School, Forest Hill School, Prendergast Ladywell School, and Sedgehill School.

Mr Maines said: “A priority for the new Mayor must be to introduce an action plan to address Lewisham’s failing schools.

“All schools have been struggling with funding cuts and new demands from central government. But in Lewisham School standards are faring worse than in neighbouring areas.

“Without action, Lewisham parents will be sending more and more children to schools outside the borough.”

Lewisham Council pointed out that school’s figures had improved since 2015, but admitted that the progress needed to be sped up.

A Lewisham Council spokesperson said: “As a council working in partnership with all our schools, we have not shied away from recognising that improvements are needed in the attainment and progress in our secondary schools.

“As a result we set up Lewisham Secondary Challenge in the summer of 2016 with the declared mission of improving the provision for all out pupils across all our schools.

“Since then we have seen an improvement in the Ofsted gradings of our secondary schools, improved school attendance, reduced exclusions and improvements in our GCSE attainment.

“Lewisham Secondary Challenge’s programme of improvement began last year and will operate at scale this year to improve outcomes for all Lewisham pupils.”