LAVINGTON School near Devizes maintained its achievements in last year's GCSE results.

A total of 70 per cent of pupils passed five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, compared to 71 per cent the previous year. The school's added value score is 101.4.

Lavington School headteacher Martin Watson, said: "We are very pleased we have maintained the high standard and it includes pupils with special needs who have excelled themselves.

"The value added score shows we are doing better than expected at Key Stage 3 and 4.

"We put a lot of energy into developing a good attitude to learning in our students, along with good quality teaching. In Years 10 and 11 the students are expected to work hard and therefore they are motivated to try and do their best."

At Devizes School 54 per cent of its pupils got five or more GCSEs at grade C or higher, the same percentage as the previous year. Its value added score was 97.1.

Malmesbury School was given a value added score of 101.8 and 70 per cent of pupils achieved grades from A* to C in last year's GCSE results.

Headteacher Malcolm Trobe said: "We are pleased with our results at GCSE. They show a good improvement over previous years.

"We are also pleased from the point of view of our value added result which is in the top 25 per cent of the national results.

"Last year's Year 11 worked very hard to achieve their success and the head of year and tutors did an exceptional job of staying focussed and the subject teachers put in a great deal of work to ensure the students' success."

Headmistress of Grittleton House School, Kate Whitney, said: "We were all delighted with the excellent results which last year's Year 11 achieved. They were a very hard-working group and deserved their success."

"Much credit goes to their own endeavours, but also to the staff who supported and encouraged them throughout their time at Grittleton."

Tony Cleaver, headteacher of Sheldon School in Chippenham, said he was generally very happy with the school's performance in the league tables, which show it has maintained its high standard in GCSE grades A-C.

However, he did express dissatisfaction with the way in which the value added measure is currently worked out.

"This figure only gives progress from the last two years of education, from SATs to GCSEs," explained Mr Cleaver.

"So a school that performed badly in its SATs appears to have made very good progress two years later in its GCSEs.

"Fortunately, the DfE has informed us of its plans to calculate the measure next year from progress made between the ages of 11 and 16 which would be much more helpful."