Hackney has been ranked amongst the top 10 local authorities in England for the quality of its state schools.

The school takes seventh place in the list compiled by thinktank Centre Forum.

The study sought to highlight school quality by adjusting for factors including poverty, ethnicity, a child’s first language and gender, which tend to skew exam performance.

The research looked at GCSE results for more than 600,000 pupils who sat exams in summer 2010, combining this with data about the children’s achievement in earlier years.

Once the differences are taken into account, pupils in London appear to perform significantly better than at first sight based on exam results alone.

Nine London boroughs are placed in the top 10 list, with Kensington and Chelsea taking first place.

Although only 46 per cent of pupils in Hackney achieve their GCSE targets, the youngsters are considered to be “overachieving” by 13 per cent.

“Some of the poorest kids in the country are achieving great results,” said Gill Wyness, author of the report.

“The level of overachievement in local authorities like Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets is nothing short of remarkable.

“What worries me is that children with similar backgrounds from other parts of the country do not seem to be performing as well.”

Portsmouth, Sandwell, Hull, Barnsley and Bradford were the five local authorities that did worst in the analysis, with children “underperforming” by as much as 11 per cent.