Despite a drawn out Ofsted controversy that saw St Benedict’s Catholic School downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’, the school has been “vindicated” by high flying league table results, its headteacher has claimed.

The Bury St Edmunds school is the second best in west Suffolk, behind County Upper, and eighth in the county for pupils receiving five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.

The school’s sixth form is the best performing in the country when ranked by points scored per pupil. Headteacher Hugh O’Neill said he hoped the success will continue into this year.

He said: “We are very pleased with our results and have been waiting a while to see our position in the league table confirmed.

“The A-level results show that we are the best in the country and it is great to see our GCSE results back to where they were before. It is great for us, the teachers and also the parents and pupils.”

The school was downgraded by Ofsted after a no-notice inspection last year. The original report highlighted concerns that pupils were not aware of the dangers of extremism, something that the final report made no mention of.

Mr O’Neill said: “The results vindicate the work we do here. I think you will find that there is a disparity between schools’ Ofsted ratings and their position in the league table across the county.”