THE headteacher of a secondary school in Worcester has refuted claims that school sixth forms fail to perform as well as separate colleges.

New figures released by the Government this week suggest that the smaller the sixth form, the worse its exam results will be.

The findings led John Brennan, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, to warn against schools getting their own small sixth forms.

"In order to make sure young people get the very best deal the Government should be very cautious in encouraging more small school sixth forms," he said.

That could be bad news for Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, in Timberdine Avenue, off Bath Road, Worcester, which has been fighting to establish its own sixth form at the school for some time now.

Headteacher Sean Devlin said the figures were an unfair representation of sixth form education in schools.

He said: "There are many outstanding sixth forms within schools. And, of course, there are some that are not so good, as there are with colleges. I don't see how the Government can actually come to this conclusion without there being a rigorous value-added system in place, which there is not at the moment."

Mr Devlin said the school was continuing to pursue its ambition to provide a sixth form despite being refused permission by the Learning and Skills Council last year.

He said: "We believe strongly in this and we will discuss it further when we go for re-designation as a specialist maths and computer college in 2008."

The figures were released by the Government following a parliamentary question from Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins.

Mr Hopkins said: "In order to provide the best service to learners and parents, and the best value for money for the taxpayer, the Government should look again at its policy in relation to new school sixth forms.

"Bigger really is better when it comes to exam results."

The data showed that the average points scored in sixth form groups of 50 students or fewer was considerably less than sixth forms of 250 students or more. In 2006 students in the smallest sixth forms got an average of 571 points compared with an average of 847 for those in larger centres. The points are calculated on exam results; one A-level grade A is worth 270 points while distinctions in a BTEC National Diploma, for example, score 810 points.