GCSE league tables: how our schools performed

Top of the class were Blessed Trinity RC College, in Ormerod Road, where there was 9% increase in the number of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grade A* to C and Sir John Thursby Community College, in Eastern Avenue, which saw an 11% improvement.

Blessed Trinity continued to have the best results in 2015 with 65% of pupils attaining five or more A* to C grades, up from 56% the year before.

At Sir John Thursby the figure was just 36% in 2014 rising to 47% last year.

Shuttleworth College in Padiham also saw a small increase. In 2014 34% of pupils at the school left with five or more A* to Cs but this increased by 3% to 37% last year.

But not all of the town’s saw an improvement. At Hameldon Community College, the number of pupils attaining five A* to C grades dropped by 20% from 56% in 2014 to just 36% last year. Unity College also saw 4% fewer pupils achieving the top grades, down to 38% from 42%.

The number of pupils attaining five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths, was 66% at Blessed Trinity, 42% at Hameldon, 37% at Shuttleworth, 49% at Sir John Thursby and 44% at Unity.

Blessed Trinity headteacher Mr Richard Varey praised the young people involved as well as their families and teachers: “We are delighted with the performance of last year’s Year 11. It was down to the hard work of pupils, staff and parents and it was well deserved.

“We are looking forward to doing even better this year, it’s down to the attitude of the children and really good teachers.”

Mr David Burton, headteacher at Sir John Thursby, added: “We are pleased our GCSE results continue to rise. We expect our results to be even better this summer and all our students study their option choices for three years. Every pupil who left us last summer had a place in education, employment or training.

“We are oversubscribed and our students in lower years are expected to surpass the achievement of this year.”

According to latest A-level league table results, 88% of students at Burnley College and 66% at Thomas Whitham Sixth Form achieved at least three A-levels grade A* to E.