REASSURANCES were made last night about the future of two Darlington secondary schools following the Government's controversial decision to release a list of "failing" schools.

Parents and teachers feared schools on the Government's "hit-list" could close - and two North-East headteachers are now demanding a meeting with Children's Secretary Ed Balls.

Other education officials in the region are known to be concerned about the timing of the list's publication, coming so close to today's local elections where Labour is braced for losses.

The list was released by Mr Balls on Monday.

He said the Government was targeting 638 secondary schools in England, including 22 in the North-East and North Yorkshire, which had not yet hit the target set for 2009 of a minimum of 30 per cent of pupils gaining five A* to C grades at GCSE, including maths and English.

In Darlington, the list included Longfield School and Haughton School, and yesterday education officials moved to ease anxiety about their future.

Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for children's services, Chris McEwan, reassured parents that standards were improving and said the authority was committed to keeping all seven of its secondary schools open.

Longfield School had 29 per cent of pupils gain five A* to C grades last year, while Haughton had 24 per cent.

Councillor McEwan said: "Darlington is perfectly placed to ensure we go from strength to strength, with all seven of our secondary schools contributing to our improvement."

Last year, Darlington schools achieved their best cumulative GCSE results, and education officials expect further, significant improvements in examinations being taken this year.

Elsewhere in the region, headteachers hit out angrily at the Government and said that judging schools purely on how many children passed five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including maths and English, was damaging to schools and pupil morale - and told only half the story.

They said no consideration had been given to how much progress students had made, how many other GCSEs they had gained, or the background of students and the areas they were from.

Stephen Taylor, headteacher of Hall Garth Community College, in Middlesbrough, where only 16 per cent of pupils passed five GCSEs at A* to C grades last year, said: "This whole thing is a farce. Our student progress for last year was in the top three or four in the North-East.

"Our student progress will compare to anywhere in the country.

"I worked for 15 years in leafy Somerset, where we got 85 per cent passing this benchmark every year, but I believe Hall Garth is better."

Georgiana Sale, headteacher of Blakeston Specialist Sports College, Stockton, said she was so angry that she had emailed Mr Balls to request a meeting.

"I'm absolutely determined to go," she said.

"If I have to go and camp out outside his constituency office, I will do it. I am going to speak to him, no matter what."

Mr Taylor said he would accompany Ms Sale to a meeting with Mr Balls.

Ms Sale added: "It's just not fair. I'm not against people using some sort of measure to show how we are doing - but they ought to be using some sort of value-added measure, showing progress, not just a number.

"It's like saying unless you have a 38D bust, you have not got a bust."

Mr Balls said he would be inviting education leaders to a Whitehall summit to discuss how improvements could be made to head off a threat to close failing schools.

Schools that do not have 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A* to C grades, including maths and English, in three years, would close or be taken over by another school.

Of the 638 listed by the Government, there are four in Middlesbrough, four in County Durham, four in North Yorkshire, three in Redcar and Cleveland, three in Stockton, two in Darlington and two in Hartlepool.

Ms Sale said that despite having only a 25 per cent pass rate in English and maths, Blakeston had surpassed the upper target given by the Fisher Family Trust, which was adopted by the Government.

It sets average and upper targets for schools, based on the level pupils were at when they entered the school, socioeconomic issues, and how disadvantaged the area was.

Ms Sale said: "Blakeston is not a failing school - it's a thriving school."

A spokesman for the Department of Children, Schools and Families agreed value-added progress was important, but said that was not what employers looked at. He said: "We want every school to be a good school. "I think we are the first to recognise when schools are improving, but it's a case of having to set a coherent benchmark that pupils, schools, and employers can understand."