THE HEADTEACHER of an Ellesmere Port high school has admitted GCSE performance figures released this week are ‘disappointing’.

But Kevin McDermott, principal of the University of Chester CE Academy, said he was confident results would improve over the next year.

According to 2011 GCSE School Performance Tables released by the Department for Education on Thursday, only 32% of Academy pupils achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths, compared to 38%in 2010.

The result was the lowest in Cheshire West and Chester and fell short of the national state school average of 58.2%.

The figure was 57% at The Whitby High School, 59% at Ellesmere Port Catholic High School and 64% at Neston High School.

Only 2% of Academy pupils achieved all English Baccalaureate subjects, meaning they passed GCSEs in English, maths, science, a language and a humanities subject.

And just 36% of pupils had made the expected progress in maths, although 98% of students gained at least one qualification.

A third of GCSE-level pupils at the academy were classed as disadvantaged children – those on free school meals or in local authority care for at least six months.

This figure stood at only 6% at the Whitby High School and 8% at both the Catholic High School and Neston High.

Mr McDermott said: “In the two years the Academy has been open there has been a rapid improvement in overall attainment. Students with 5+ A*-C with English and maths has increased 9% since 2009 with 15% more achieving 5+ A*-Cs.

“Although aspects of the 2011 GCSE results were disappointing, we are confident that the 2012 results will be much better and continue to demonstrate improvement.”