Trio of Ribble Valley schools top league tables

St Augustine’s RC High School at Billington is the top mixed school in Lancashire and is positioned in third place behind Preston Muslim Girls High School and Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School with a well above average score of 0.78 in the latest set of league tables issued by the Government’s Department for Education.

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, meanwhile, is listed in sixth position with a well above average score of 0.61 and Bowland High School at Grindleton is listed in 13th position and deemed to be “above average” with a score of 0.34.

The new measure of school performance is Progress 8, which, as the name suggests, measures the progress that pupils make in schools using each pupil’s best eight GCSE results compared to their starting point from primary school.

The measure doubles the scores of English and Maths which reflects the importance which the Government places on these subjects.

A score of zero reflects the national average and a score of -0.5 indicates that a school has fallen below the “floor standard” expected by the Department for Education.

St Augustine’s headteacher, Mr Michael Wright said he is delighted with the school’s performance.

“These figures are a testament to the hard work of all involved with the school over the last five years; pupils, parents and staff,” said Mr Wright.

“A Progress 8 figure of 0.78 places the school as the top mixed school in Lancashire.

“The new measures count the performance of all pupils and, as a school with a comprehensive intake, we were extremely pleased with the progress of our most disadvantaged pupils, who achieved a progress score of 0.66.

“Everyone associated with the school can be very proud of these excellent results.”