STUDENTS and staff are celebrating remarkable progress during their time at secondary school.

According to rankings released by the Department For Education, students who took their GCSEs at Clacton County High School made the most progress of any cohort in Essex.

The school achieved the highest Progress 8 score in the county - which is a new benchmark measurement used to track pupil’s predicted progress when they first arrive at the school compared to their actual grades.

Principal Neil Gallagher said the score of 0.7 was a remarkable achievement and believed it was also one of the top scores in the whole Eastern region and means students on average achieved an extra 0.7 of a grade per subject.

He said: “We are all extremely proud of the students’ achievements this year.

“These incredible outcomes are down to the hard work of the students and the unrelenting commitment of teachers and support staff; we are so pleased for the students and their families”.

The next highest progression came from Colchester County High School For Girls, who achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.57.

Headteacher Gillian Marshall said: “We are delighted for the students, their parents and the staff at the school - everything we do is for the girls here.

“Progress 8 is a good measure because of course we do select students but clearly something good happens to them whilst they are here because they end up achieving even more than expected.

“But is is just one measure, there is a lot more to schooling and it has to be taken with a pinch of salt.”

Students at Thurstable School in Tiptree achieved an average Progress 8 score of 0.43 meaning the pupils achieve approximately half a grade extra than predicted at the end of Key Stage Three.

Headteacher Miles Bacon said he was delighted at the achievement.

He said: “Everyone is very pleased.

“It comes down to good quality of teaching, good quality of care and an absolutely ferocious determination every single pupil will achieve every single grade they are capable of.”

Mr Bacon believes all the Progress 8 system is not perfect, it does offer a better view of progress rather than simply the amount of students gaining five A* to C grades.

He said: “It is definitely better.

“The old measure would only really show the C/D boundary, while this takes into account both the less able pupils who push themselves and achieve much more than expected and the students who come out with several A*s.

“Before their achievements would only count as being above C for the school’s performance but now it does really help.

“It also takes in more subjects.”