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Abraham Moss High School was among those praised by schools minister Estelle Morris in a review of the Manchester and Salford partnership launched almost a year ago.

The area is one of six in the country to pilot the project aimed at tackling problems in secondary schools including under achievement, truancy and discipline.

The minister said the project had helped to transform secondary education by driving up standards to match those found in the best schools in the country.

She added: "City parents and city children must expect and gain as much from their schools as their counterparts anywhere else in the country. That is the vision and it is already becoming a reality."

Abraham Moss High was noted as one of the first school's to win City Learning Centre status. The partnership had also appointed 85 learning mentors to help pupils achieve more.

There are also 30 learning support units to help children with behavioural problems return to mainstream education.

The minister said: "Learning mentors and learning support units are already making inroads to reducing fixed-term and permanent exclusions.

"They are helping our young people tackle problems which, unresolved, mean under performance, poor attendance or risk of exclusions for themselves and disruption for their classmates."