CHESHIRE Oaks High is celebrating a big improvement in its GCSE results.

But that success has been dampened by figures revealing the school to have the third highest rate of absence in the county.

The latest Government league tables, which were released last Thursday, showed that the number of pupils at Cheshire Oaks achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE last year, including English and maths, had risen from 13% in 2007 to 27% – still well below both the England and Cheshire rate.

The school’s progress, which is measured by a contextual value added score, was 1003.1, which was higher than the county average.

However, the overall absence rate of 9.7% at Cheshire Oaks was well above both the England and county average, which was 6.9% and 7.4% respectively.

Elsewhere, the number of pupil achieving five A*-C grades at Ellesmere Port Catholic High and Neston High was higher than the England average, but slightly lower than the county pass rate of 52.9%.

Whitby and Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts (EPSSPA) came in below both averages with a pass rate of 44% and 27% respectively.

Figures also showed EPSSPA to have a higher than average rate of absence with a percentage of 8.4.

The remaining borough schools were below the average county rate of 6.9%.

The league tables also revealed A-level success, and it was the Catholic High who were the star achievers in the borough.

The average number of A-level points gained by students was 790, which was well above both the England and county rate of 739.

Whitby had the second highest score with 642 followed by Neston with 617.1, EPSSPA with 506 and Cheshire Oaks with 418.

West Cheshire College’s A-level pass score rose from 592.5 in 2007 to 661.5 last year.

Lead member for children’s services, county councillor David Rowlands, said: “I’d like to congratulate our students for attaining results above the national figure. It reflects also on the hard work of teachers and parents. The results remain amongst the best in the country.”

To see the table of results for Ellesmere Port and Neston schools please click here