Liz Coates HIGH schools across the borough are striding forward with improved GCSE results, newly published league tables reveal.Standards have generally improved on the previous year at all the borough schools, helping them to climb the rankings for GCSE successes.

Liz Coates

HIGH schools across the borough are striding forward with improved GCSE results, newly published league tables reveal.

Standards have generally improved on the previous year at all the borough schools, helping them to climb the rankings for GCSE successes.

Acle High School leads the local schools in the league table of exam results published last week. The tables show Acle is 16th in the county out of more than 60, with 62pc of pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades including maths and English - the government's preferred measure to sort the best from the rest and its so-called “gold standard.”

At Caister High School headteacher George Denby said he was pleased with his school's performance, which saw 43pc of pupil achieve the gold standard, 7pc more than last year. But better than that was the 61pc who achieved five or more A* to C grades in subjects other than maths and English, a figure which valued a broader range of pupil attainment. He added that although the results were good, putting it 44th in the county he

was by no means complacent.

Mr Denby said the level of improvement across all the borough's schools was something to celebrate, adding: “Hopefully we will continue to raise these standards because all the teachers and parents have all worked hard together to improve their performance.”

Oriel High School in Gorleston, one of the government's national challenge schools, remains in the bottom ranks at 57th but has recorded an improvement on last year, with 21pc of students leaving with the five benchmark good GCSEs including maths and English.

The results reflect well on headteacher Paul Butler, who said they showed the school was moving towards its target of 30pc in three years. “We are on track to go through in the timescale and we are trying to make substantial improvements. It is a lot of pressure on everybody,” he said, adding that a new curriculum was expected to drive those improvements forward.

Persistent absence remains a problem at Oriel, where 12.9pc of pupils are classed as persistent absentees, although the figures are higher at Great Yarmouth High (14.2pc) and Stalham High School (13.9pc). All three are in the bottom 200 in England for attendance.

Key results follow showing the percentage of pupils getting five or more A* to C grades including maths and English in 2008 with the previous years in brackets followed by its ranking.

Acle High School, 62pc (45), 16

Caister High School, 43pc (36), 44

Cliff Park High School, 44pc (42), 41

Flegg High School, 50pc (49), 29

Great Yarmouth High School, 46pc (39), 38

Lynn Grove High School, 53pc (53), 27

Oriel High School, 21pc (19), 57

Stalham High School, 42pc (35), 47