The headteacher of Kesgrave High School is celebrating after the academy became the joint-second best state-funded school in the county.

East Anglian Daily Times: Kesgrave High School Head Teacher Nigel Burgoyne is pleased his school got good scores.Kesgrave High School Head Teacher Nigel Burgoyne is pleased his school got good scores. (Image: Archant)

This summer the school saw a jump of nearly 20% in the number of pupils gaining five or more good GCSEs, including English and maths. The pass rate leapt from 55% to 72% – the school’s best result ever.

Yesterday the Government published provisional GCSE results tables and Kesgrave was among the top in Suffolk.

Headteacher, Nigel Burgoyne, said: “This is a combination of very positive attitudes from students and the impact of having a broad-based curriculum as well as the dedication of staff.”

The worst performing Ipswich school, from the results made available, was Ipswich Academy, former Holywells High, with 23% – an improvement on 2014’s figure of 18%.

Suffolk has moved ahead of the national average for GCSE results and leapt almost 20 places in a league table for teenagers getting five or more good grades.

Provisional results see the county move from 124th out of 151 local authorities to 107th – and 0.6% above the national average of 52.8% for students getting five or more A*-C grades, including English and maths.

While Suffolk’s results are improving, nationally standards are falling – the average last year was 53.4% and the previous year it was 59.2% .

Suffolk County Council, responsible for improving standards in the county, hailed the results which include state schools and special schools as well as academies, free schools and independent schools not in its direct control.

Lisa Chambers, cabinet member for education and skills, said the results reaffirmed that the council’s education policies were right and are raising attainment.

“It’s extremely encouraging that these provisional results show Suffolk above the national figure,” she said.

“It is also very pleasing that progress has continued in the core subjects of English and maths.

“These latest figures show that students, parents and schools are working well together to achieve positive outcomes for our young people.”

There were improvements in expected levels of progress in English and maths – Suffolk climbed from 110th to 75th in maths and from 119th to 87th in English.

Graham White, secretary of Suffolk’s NUT, said the results were testament to the hard work of teachers, parents and pupils.

“We have to congratulate pupils for some really good results but we have to bear in mind that results are not the be-all and end-all. They are a ticket for the next stage, but we must not forget that the academic route is not necessarily the right route for all pupils, vocational [results] are not included in the statistics.”

The Department for Education has published the figures for the first time in October in order to give parents more information about high schools before the October 31 deadline for Year 7 applications.

However, Suffolk, which is on 53.4%, is behind the neighbouring counties of Norfolk, which is on 53.8% and Essex, on 57.6%.

Final results are expected in January.

Kesgrave High School

Kesgrave High School’s headteacher has called on the Government to give Suffolk schools a better financial deal if they are to continue to improve.

Nigel Burgoyne made the appeal following what he described as the school’s “best-ever GCSE results”.

The academy became the joint-second best state-funded school in the county when its results for students getting five or more good GCSEs, including English and maths, jumped almost 20% – from 55% to 72%.

The Department for Education allocates about £4,200 per pupil in Suffolk for their education – around half of what is made available for children in some London boroughs.

Mr Burgoyne said: “[It’s] a big issue for the county to be fairly funded with other schools in counties which are part of the F40 group.

“We just do not have the resource that they will have in other parts of the county.”

The F40 education group represents the 40 worst-financially supported counties in the country.

Education bosses warned in the summer that some schools would have to lose teachers because they were inadequately funded.

The Government said schools had been given more time to prepare to meet costs, including rising staff pay and pension contributions.