Wiltshire secondary schools have been celebrating as league tables for Key Stage 3 results show the county is doing better than the national average in science, maths and English.

Bob Wolfson, Wiltshire County Council's director of education, said: "Wiltshire pupils are continuing to perform above national averages in all three core subjects, and they are moving further ahead of these averages year on year.

"I am delighted with the progress being made and with the excellent work been done by schools in Wiltshire."

Tony Cleaver, headteacher of Chippenham's Sheldon School, said he was delighted with the school's excellent results, achieving 37.4 average point score it's best ever result.

The Value Added score was also high at 101.5.

"We got superb results and added value," he said. "I think the staff have worked hard with the pupils."

He said the results in maths and science were very good, with 88 per cent achieving level 5 or above, and results in English were particularly pleasing as staff had worked hard to bring up the score.

"On the whole our pupils are well motivated and work hard. The results are a very good indicator for GCSE results in two years' time."

Hardenhuish School in Chippenham achieved an average point score of 34.3 with a Value Added rating of 99.7.

Headteacher Colin Smith said: "The concentration on our performance has been at Key Stage 4 and Sixth Year and it has certainly paid dividends in recent years.

"If we can sharpen our focus at Key Stage 3 then it will lead on to even greater success, eventually opening more and more doors for students at 16 plus.

"To achieve this, we are planning various strategies, a key one of which is the rationalisation of our assessment practices so that all pupils in years 7, 8 and 9, their teachers and parents, are clear about pupil targets and how to meet them."

John Akers, acting head of Pewsey Vale School, said he was generally pleased with the performance of Key Stage 3 pupils.

Mr Akers, who has been in charge for a term since the head, Judith Plante-Cleale, took early retirement on health grounds, said the Pewsey pupils had performed up to expectations.

He said: "I believe that the children attained what they were capable of getting and in some cases there were some exceptional performances by particular children.

"The main thing we evaluate on is the value added concept and if they have done what they should have done in comparison with their Key Stage 2 performance, and we believe they did."

Pewsey's results include a larger than average number of special needs children because its specialist dyslexia unit attracts students from all over the county.

Anne Burrell, head teacher of Calne's John Bentley School, said they were delighted with their results.

"It shows superb success for pupils at key stage three. They are well above the national average.

"It is a result we have had for many years. We have been high scoring for two to three years and receive As and A stars across the board."

Trish Shubrook, headteacher of Abbeyfield School in Chippenham, said she was delighted by the school's results in their first Key Stage 3 examinations since the school opened.

"The value added score is the highest of any comprehensive school in Wiltshire," she said. "It's just fantastic."

She said the achievement was a real tribute to the hard work of the staff, students and the support from parents.

"It shows what you can do when you focus on a particular group of children," she said.

"We appointed first class staff in the first place, and we have focused on achieving high quality results for this group, especially being our first, and they worked their socks off. That is how it was achieved."

Lavington School in Market Lavington improved on its performance in the Key Stage 3 tests.

In maths 86 per cent of its pupils achieved level five or above compared with 83 per cent last year.

In English the rate was 82 per cent compared to 79 per cent and in science 82 per cent of pupils achieved level five or above compared with 79 per cent last year.

Headteacher Martin Watson said: "I am really pleased with the results particularly in English in which there has been an improvement in the last two years."

Mr Watson was also pleased with the score of 101.3 between Key Stage 2 and 3 which showed that pupils are performing better than expected.

At Devizes School there was improvement in maths with 80 per cent of pupils achieving level five or above compared with 74 per cent last year.

In science the number was down by one per cent to 73 per cent.

The school's English result was 70 per cent, down one per cent, but this was awarded after an appeal by the school resulting in all the pupils' test papers being remarked.

Headteacher Malcolm Irons said: "The original score for English was in the mid 60 per cent and we were horrified at that because it was so short of our own targets. As a result of the remarking about 30 per cent of pupils' results were moved up which was a significant move upwards.

"English is a bit of a lottery because it is so subjective on the part of the markers and it can undermine your confidence in the system."

Dr Patrick Hazlewood, headteacher of St John's in Marlborough, said it remained in the top 25 per cent of schools in the country.

Commenting on the league tables, he said: "They indicate that schools generally are heading in the right direction. They show that all schools in Wiltshire are doing well and are improving."