Classroom standards in Kent's secondary schools improved again in 2008, with more pupils securing five or more good GCSE passes, according to the latest set of Government league tables.

But secondary schools fared less well when it came to the number of pupils who were regularly absent, with a new indicator showing that one in 10 pupils at 27 of Kent's secondary schools were not studying when they should have been.

~ Find out how schools in your area fared with our searchable league tables >>>

And new data shows studying a foreign language appears less popular than ever, with less than a third of pupils passing a modern language GCSE.

Official figures show that across Kent, close to 50 per cent of pupils achieved five or more GCSE passes including maths and English in 2008 at grades A* to C, the Government's favoured measure of performance. That compares with 48.5 per cent the previous year and once again outstripped the national average of 47.6 per cent.

The number of pupils achieving five or more GCSE passes at grades A* to C in all subjects also rose. Across the county's secondary schools, 67.4 per cent of students reached that level, a 2.5 per cent increase on the previous year. It is the 10th successive year the results have bettered the national average on this measure.

There was also some encouraging news for some of the 31 schools in the county identified by the Government last year as under-performing in relation to its new national target.

Eight of those on the National Challenge list have already reached the Government's target of having 30 per cent of pupils passing five or more good GCSEs by 2011. There were improvements at 14 others who have yet to do so but at the same time, however, standards fell back at nine on the list.

Meanwhile, in Medway, the number of pupils passing five or more good GCSEs at grades A* to C was 47.6 per cent while the number passing five or more GCSEs in all subjects was 66.5 per cent.

But while there was good news on results, there was less welcome news for county education chiefs on cases of persistent absence.

A new indicator reveals at least one in 10 pupils at 27 secondary schools were not in class when they should have been. And at four schools, the figure for 2008 was even higher with about one in five pupils persistently missing lessons.

The highest rate was recorded at Sheppey's Minster College, where 21 per cent of pupils were persistently out of school.

Two of Kent's newest academies also had some of the poorest attendance figures. At Folkestone Academy and the Marlowe Academy, nearly 18 per cent of pupils were regularly out of class while at Swanley Technical College, the figure was 19 per cent.

Kent's average figure for persistent absences was seven per cent - higher than the 6.6 per cent national average, and higher than the figure for neighbouring Medway, whose rate was in line with the national average.