Pride for school as it comes out top of tables

By Laurence Cawley Monday, January 30, 2012
9:03 AM

THE headteacher of a west Suffolk school has told of his “pride” after his students topped this year’s Suffolk league tables for both GCSEs and A Levels.

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St Benedict’s Catholic School, in Bury St Edmunds, has sat at the top of the A-level tables for the past three years. But this year the school claimed the GCSE crown as well. It is understood to be the first time a school has been ranked top for both sets of exams. The news comes just weeks after it learnt it would not be taking in two new year groups from the town’s St Louis Middle School, which was saved from closure by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

Head teacher Hugh O’Neill said: “It’s a source of enormous pride that St Benedict’s should have achieved this remarkable level of success. Clearly, this reflects the tremendous efforts made by all concerned – students, teachers, support staff, parents; it really has paid off this year.”

Overall, Suffolk was ranked 121st out of 152 local authorities in the Department for Education’s Key Stage Four league tables – a drop of nine places from 112th the previous year and once again below Essex, in 72nd place, and Norfolk, which was 115th in the table.

Across the county 54.7% of pupils scored the required five grades, including English and maths, which was up from 51.7% the year before. The national average was 58.9%. St Benedict’s achieved a score of 81%.