High-achieving pupils have helped to place Sheldon School in Chippenham near the top of this year’s league tables.

The school was ranked sixth within Wiltshire for its GCSE scores and 72 per cent of pupils gained five or more A* to C grades at GCSE including English and maths.

It also scored well for its A-Level scores, gaining third place within Wiltshire.

Pupils taking their GCSE exams collected an average of 463.2 points and pupils taking their A-Levels collected an average of 947.6 points.

Headteacher Neil Spurdell said: "Sheldon comes out very well, as we would expect, both for sixth form and for year 11.

“We were particularly delighted with the progress and attainment of our students last summer in their GCSE examinations. This is reflected in a positive value-added score and in the overall headline figure of 72 per cent five A* to C grades, including English and maths.

“Obviously, we are very pleased with this, but I would always encourage parents and prospective students to come and see the school in action to get a feel about what is going on here that cannot be measured in data terms.

“My view has always been that performance tables provide parents with some interesting figures about general trends in schools, but that there is far more going on behind the scenes that cannot be adequately explained in data measures."