PUPILS at three of the Vale's secondary schools have achieved top exam results in key stage three league tables.

Prince Henry's High School, Evesham High School and Pershore High School all rank high on the results tables for Worcestershire which show exam results taken by the pupils two years before their GCSEs.

Prince Henry's has 1275 pupils on the roll, of which 308 are eligible for key stage three testing. The school achieved a 102.7 progress rate between 11 and 14, the highest result in the county.

Bernard Roberts, headmaster at Prince Henry's, said: "This is the highest value added in the county and although I don't particularly like these tables, I suppose it's better to appear at the top of them."

He added: "The results relate to English, maths and science exams and refer to last year's summer exams and so now the pupil's are a year on.

"We have excellent teachers and the pupils respond well to them but these results are also a great credit to the middle school teachers."

Evesham High School has 962 pupils on the roll with 264 eligible pupils for key stage three. The school achieved 101.8 progress.

David Kelly, the school's headmaster also gave credit to the area's middle schools and high praise for his own school and Prince Henry's: "I am very pleased that both high school's in Evesham achieved the number one and two positioning respectively in value added.

"Our Ofsted report actually puts us in the top one per cent nationally for progress from key stage two to key stage three," he said.

Pershore High School, which has 1237 pupils on role of which 250 are eligible for key stage three, achieved 101.1 progress.

Headmaster Clive Corbett said: "I would like to congratulate Bernard Roberts and David Kelly and our contributory school colleagues on this success. Clearly, although not the only measure of a school's success, it is one clear indication of the flourishing Evesham and Pershore pyramids."