Cheshire schools’ exam results league tables were published yesterday. NAOMI DUNNING reports

HELSBY High School celebrated its top scores at both GCSE and A-level in school league tables out yesterday.

Three quarters of pupils at the school achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent and pupils gained an average of 888 A level points, pipping other local state schools to the post. The school was the second highest state school achiever in the county.

Deputy head Steve Capstick said: “The school welcomes the excellent achievements of its students. The results demonstrate all the hard work our pupils have put in and the strong support the pupils have received from both parents and teachers.”

Chester independent school The King’s School topped the county for GCSE results in Cheshire, with 100% of pupils achieving five A* to C grades. The low scores in the table of both The King’s School and The Queen’s School are due to the schools offering pupils the opportunity to take international equivalent qualifications which do not appear in the league tables.

The Hammond school also achieved highly, with 79% of its pupils obtaining five A* to C GCSE grades.

Tarporley High school pupils achieved 71% at A* to C grades and an average A-level point score of 795.5, putting it within the top ten schools in Cheshire.

League tables also reveal the school whose pupils have made the most progress. Blacon High found out in December that it came top of the league in Cheshire, with a contextual value added (CVA) measure of 1030.4. This placed it in the top 5% in the country.

Ella Brett, headteacher of Blacon High, said: “The school and community are really proud that Blacon High has come top in Cheshire in terms of the progress students make, with a CVA score of 1030.4. This is down to excellent learning and teaching and is also attributable to the hard work of students, staff and parents.

“We are delighted that our progress puts us in the top 5% of schools nationally.”

The Catholic High School in Chester also scored a high CVA score of 1023.6, indicating that its pupils had also progressed exceptionally well.

Overall, secondary school pupils in Cheshire have topped the national average, with 52.9% of pupils achieving such success, more than five percentage points higher than the national average of 47.6% of pupils achieving the same grades. To see the table of results for Chester's schools please click here