GCSE marks on the rise

Stourport High School and Wolverley High School both posted "dramatic" improvements while results at Heathfield School, also in Wolverley, and Kidderminster's Holy Trinity School were described as "excellent" and "outstanding" respectively.

But beleaguered Harry Cheshire High School, the first in Worcestershire to be cited as under-achieving, saw 17.3 per cent of pupils score five grade A* to C passes against a national average of 57.9 per cent.

The school is looking forward to a brighter future as it is being relaunched next month as Baxter College for Business and Enterprise thanks to a £700,000 county council boost and help from education consultants.

Stourport head Liz Quinn said the school had seen a 16.2 per cent improvement on last year.

The top scoring student was Kim Ward with six A*s, three As and a B.

Results also improved for the fourth consecutive year at Wolverley High School with an 11 per cent rise in pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades to 48 per cent.

Ninety-eight per cent of pupils got five A* to G passes while a whole class of year 10 students, entered a year early, passed their English GCSEs. Seventeen out of the 27 achieved As or A*s. Star student was Sara Goodwin with three A* and eight A grades.

Other early passers were year 10 RE pupils at Holy Trinity, who all achieved A* to C.

All of the girls in the school notched at least seven passes in the same bracket, while a quarter gained nine or more A and A*s. Kiera Dale was the cream of the crop with seven A* and four A grades.

And nine out of the 10 candidates at Heathfield School scored at least five A* to C grades. Five A*s and four As were the reward for Kerry Vale, while no-one scored lower than D.

At Hagley's Haybridge High School 84 per cent of pupils passed at A* to C while Kidderminster College singled out students studying Italian, all of whom passed with at least A grades.

Students studying English notched an 83 per cent A to C pass rate.