A trust which runs three free schools in Suffolk has been ranked as one of the country’s top-performing multi-academy trusts (MATs) for last year’s GCSE results.

The Seckford Foundation Free Schools Trust, which runs Beccles, Saxmundham and Ixworth free schools, which all recorded a strong set of GCSE results last summer, was ranked seventh out of 62 MATs for student progression in the government’s performance league table published today.

The trust recorded a Progress 8 score of +0.45 for the 2017 GCSE results, which means that each student across the trust scored on average half a mark more in each subject than expected of them when they started secondary school.

The trust was the best in the country for its Progress 8 score for disadvantaged pupils (0.51).

Graham Watson, spokesman for the trust, said: “The Progress 8 measure demonstrates our ability to improve students’ outcomes, regardless of their starting point and we are thrilled to be one of the top-performing multi-academy trusts nationally. Our strategy of focussing resources on student outcomes has paid off.”

It was the first time the trust has been included in the MAT table, now in its third year, after running free schools for at least three years.

Mr Watson added: “We provide an excellent academic education as well as a broad range of enrichment activities which help to prepare students for life beyond school.

“We are incredibly proud of our students’ hard work and achievements during their time at our schools, and we look forward to building on our success for the future.”

Free schools, a legacy of former education secretary Michael Gove, are a type of academy funded by and accountable to the government. They are not run by local authorities.