​Figures released by the Government this week have confirmed that GCSE students in Bath achieved the best results in the South West.

The latest statistics reinforce previous releases from the Department of Children, Schools and Families outlining the achievements in the area.

Last summer 59.9 per cent of students in Bath and North East Somerset gained five or more A* to Cs, including English and maths.

This was higher than last year’s percentage of 57.2 per cent and considerably higher than the national average of 49.8 per cent.

It means that 98.9 per cent of Year 11 pupils left school last summer with at least some sort of qualification.

The top performing state school in B&NES was Oldfield School, where 77 per cent of youngsters achieved a C or above in five subject, including English and maths.

This was followed by 74 per cent at Beechen Cliff School and 66 per cent at St Gregory’s Catholic College.

Beechen Cliff has also been recognised as showing one of the greatest levels of improvement in GCSE results in the country.

Over the past four years it has seen a 21 percentage point increase in the proportion of students gaining five or more C grades or above, including English and maths.

In the private sector pupils at King Edward’s School performed exceptionally well, with 100 per cent achieving th expected standard.

Over at Kingswood School the figure was 98 per cent and at Prior Park College it was 94 per cent.

The news was less positive for A-level and AS-level results, with B&NES coming well below the national average and pupils performing worse than in 2008.

The average point score per pupil in B&NES was 694.5, lower than last year’s average of 712.9 and lower than the national average of 739.1.

The top performing state sixth form was at Beechen Cliff School, where the average point score per pupil was 786. This was lower than the school’s average score last year of 824.3.

To see a full list of figures for the local authority and individual schools go to www.dcsf.gov.uk/news.