Students at two schools with the worst exam results in Brighton and Hove are being offered cash to pass their GCSEs.

More than 260 students at East Brighton's College of Media Art (Comart) and Falmer schools are eligible for the £12,000 scheme introduced to raise pass rates at the schools.

Last year, the pass rate was 21 per cent at Falmer and 13 per cent at Comart, which is being closed down because of falling pupil numbers.

A similar incentive scheme introduced at Bristol's City Academy in 2002, led to 25 per cent of students achieving five or more A* to C GCSEs instead of a predicted 13 per cent. It was the school's best result.

To qualify for the scheme, students have to complete all of their course work and attend every exam.

They will then be able to spend their vouchers on anything sold by WH Smith, including books, CDs and mobile phone top-up cards.

The voucher scheme is being introduced through the Pupil Potential programme, which aims to turn around a culture of under-achievement among East Brighton's young people by employing extra staff in schools.

The scheme is funded by eb4u, which is the Government regeneration project charged with improving education, employment, health and community in East Brighton.

Pupil Potential is about achieving long-term change in attainment by improving behaviour and attendance but the voucher scheme means the generation of students about to leave school can reap the benefits early on.

Results from the scheme will be monitored closely and if the scheme is a success it will be repeated.

Teresa Goulding, eb4u education co-ordinator, said: "We suggested introducing the voucher scheme to the schools because we had seen how much of an impact similar schemes in Bristol and other parts of the country had made.

"This is how a regeneration project can work to provide benefits for the education of local children. Part of our remit is to research initiatives that have worked elsewhere and find the money to try them."

Sara Caton, deputy head teacher at Falmer School, said: "Our parents and Year 11 students are all 100 per cent behind this scheme and we'd like to thank eb4u for trying the scheme out at our school."