SECONDARY schools in the St Albans district were among the best in the county at both GCSE and A-level, according to new tables released last week. For the third year running, Herts has improved its number of five or more passes at Grades A*-C GCSE with 6

SECONDARY schools in the St Albans district were among the best in the county at both GCSE and A-level, according to new tables released last week.

For the third year running, Herts has improved its number of five or more passes at Grades A*-C GCSE with 67 per cent of students achieving that figure, up more than two per cent on last year and well above the national average of 62 per cent.

That success is mirrored in the measure of GCSE attainment which must include English and Maths results which showed 56 per cent of Herts students gaining A*-C grades compared to 47 per cent nationally.

Among the state schools which were above average in the district using that criteria were St George's with 88 per cent, Loreto with 87 per cent , St Albans Girls with 76 per cent, Sir John Lawes with 75 per cent, Sandringham with 71 per cent, Beaumont with 67 per cent and Verulam with 61 per cent.

Nicholas Breakspear was also singled out for making significant and consistent progress over the last three years under the same criteria.

Independent schools St Albans and St Albans High achieved 100 per cent and 99 per cent respectively for five or more A*-C GCSE results.

Herts is in 14th place nationally in the measure of five or more A*-C grades and 13th in the results for five or more A*-C including English and maths. In its statistical neighbour group - similar authorities used routinely for comparison - the county is ranked third.

The upward trend is also reflected in A-level results with the average points score per candidate increasing this year by 18 points.

Loreto College achieved 931.6 average points score closely followed by Roundwood Park with 931.2 and Sir John Lawes with 917.4. St Albans School scored the best results in the county with an average points score of 1054.3 with St Albans High School achieving 908.4.

Sir John Lawes was one of seven mainstream schools which had high value-added measures between Key Stage 3 tests at 14 and GCSE exams at 16 together with three special schools - Heathlands School for Deaf Children and Batchwood in St Albans and St Luke's in Redbourn.

Keith Emsall, executive member for education and culture, said: "These results are a credit to everyone concerned and show that the county council's schools are continuing to improve year on year. Yet again Hertfordshire's attainment and progress are well above the national average.