Two single-sex secondary schools have again been confirmed as high-flyers with the grant of 'specialist' status for a further three years.

All-boys St Birinus School, in Didcot, first achieved technology status in 1997. Didcot Girls' School became a language college at the same time.

The moves resulted in substantial additional funding from Government and from local business and industry.

Specialist status is granted by the Department of Education for three years, after which schools must re-apply for a second phase of Government funding.

The specialist schools are seen as a key factor in the Government's bid to raise the standard of education. The decision to extend the Didcot schools' specialist status will mean an extra 360,000 for each school over the next three years slightly more for Didcot Girls' School because it has more pupils.

And St Birinus received a further boost in a report by the Technology Colleges Trust, showing it was the most improved school of the 76 in the country granted specialist status in 1997.

Schools standards minister Estelle Morris said the applications were assessed against a rigorous standard.

She added that applicant schools were required to demonstrate progress towards targets, and had to draw up development plans to extend and build on the curriculum in specialist subjects in the future. As part of the specialist schools' arrangement, the two schools must play a key role in providing a focus for raising standards, spreading the benefits of their extra resources and sharing good practice with other schools in the area.

Chris Bryan, headteacher of St Birinus, and Jeannette Hebbert, headteacher of Didcot Girls' School, said both schools' GCSE results had improved dramatically. They had also achieved the Investor in People award, recognising the importance of staff training.

Last year, the joint Didcot Sixth Forms managed the best state school A-level results in Oxfordshire.