There was reason for celebration at St John’s in Marlborough after it was ranked in the top five in Wiltshire state schools in this year’s league table.
The school was ranked 11th within Wiltshire, including private and grammar schools, for its GCSE and A-level results.
Teachers were overjoyed with the 100 per cent GCSE pass rate despite a seven per cent drop in the number of students achieving A*-C grades, excluding maths and English, which stood at 79 per cent this year.
An impressive 69 per cent of pupils gained five or more A* to C grades at GCSE including maths and English.
There was a slight reduction in the proportion of top GCSE grades at St John’s, which was down by five per cent, but still almost 30 per cent of the academy’s grades are at A* and A.
Principal Patrick Hazlewood said: “In some ways league tables aren’t all that important, what is important is that are results are constant and every year we are hitting around the 70 per cent mark for students getting A*-C grades at GCSE in maths and English.
“When you think about the range of abilities at a state school to be getting 70 per cent of students with those grades is a fantastic achievement.
“We are constantly aiming to do better every year, we want everyone who comes here to do very well.”
A-level students left the school with a record-breaking set of results with the school experiencing a 100 per cent pass rate and 16 students gaining at least three A* to A grades.
The number of students gaining A*–C grades up three per cent from last year to 85 per cent and 57 per cent achieved A*–B which is a four per cent improvement on last year’s results.
Pupils taking their A-Levels collected an average of 810.5 points, more than 100 points higher than nearby Abbeyfield School in Chippenham which ranked 24th in the table.
Dr Hazlewood said: “The grades the school achieves is due to a combination of factors, we’re very lucky here that we have students that want to learn and want to do well.
“We also have a great teaching staff that is excellent at A-level teaching.
“The parents are also key, without their encouragement the students wouldn’t do as well as the do.”
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