THE A-level league tables have finally been released nearly six months late and in a new format.

Out goes the traditional system of 10 points for an A down to four points to an E, and in comes 120 points for an A and 40 points for an E.

This makes comparisons with last year difficult.

But one thing doesn't change Swindon's average of 202 points per student remains firmly behind the national average of 254 points, just like the town's GCSE results, which lag five per cent behind the national figure.

But that doesn't mean the news is all negative. Swindon's A-level results continue to improve. Some senior education staff, who spoke to the Evening Advertiser on condition that they were not named, voiced doubts about the accuracy of this year's data, due to the introduction of the new points system and regrading fiasco.

The top performing Swindon area school was Wootton Bassett, with Ridgeway School in Wroughton second and Cirencester College third.

But the league table is closer than it looks. Wootton Bassett might be 18 points clear at the top but that is equivalent to less than half what an E grade is worth.

Ridgeway came top of the Swindon table, with its sixth form complementing its consistently high GCSE results.

Cirencester College beat New College, but New College entered far more students than any other institution in the area and easily beat the Swindon average despite being responsible for 60 per cent of all A-level candidates in the town.

Ridgeway headteacher Elizabeth Cooper said she was delighted with the results, and emphasised that despite a rising pass rate the exams remained as tough as ever.

She said: "Ridgeway results were a resounding success again this year, reflecting the school's reputation and the hard work from students and staff alike.

"The pass rate at A Level was 97 per cent, a point up on last year, and with 47 per cent at grades A and B there was a 5 point increase in top grades.

"Many aspects have changed, including new schemes of work, different examination requirements and changes in funding the examinations remain as challenging as ever and did not demand any less of students than in previous years."

The results represent the combined performance in AS-Levels and the A2 examinations of the first group of sixth formers to complete the version of A-Levels introduced under Curriculum 2000.

Nearly 2,000 students nationwide had to be given better grades at the end of last year, following widespread grading errors. The inquiry into what went wrong, chaired by former schools chief inspector Mike Tomlinson, blamed near-universal confusion including among senior examiners about the standards of work expected at AS-Level and A2.

Most of the exams whose grades were later amended as a result of his work were set by one board Oxford and Cambridge and RSA (OCR).

In some cases, the board's use of statistics to try to ensure results were in line with historical trends caused some students to be given grades such as two As and a U.

A Department for Education and Skills spokesman said: "Due to the uncertainties over the quality of the data that were raised in the summer of 2002, and the subsequent Tomlinson inquiry, it was decided not to publish the data until the re-grades had been taken on board and the relevant schools and colleges had checked the information."