SCHOOLS in north Wiltshire were celebrating the achievements of their pupils this week but said the Government statistics did not show everything.

John Cairns, deputy head of Hardenhuish School, Chippenham, said: "We are very pleased with the school's performance.

"What people see are statistics but what we see are the pupils we work with. Each of them is a story to be told.We are delighted for many of them."

He said parents were aware that the league tables did not tell the whole story about a school.

Mr Cairns said: "They are an indicator that we can't ignore, and they are telling a story and we are quite pleased with the way we stand up in this."

He said the school expected to rise steadily in the tables over the next few years.

Tony Cleaver, headteacher of Sheldon School said: "I have mixed feelings

about league tables as I'm not really sure. I think they give very raw and crude information without

giving parents any extra information.

"On the whole though I'm very pleased with the way Sheldon school has performed."

Corsham School celebrated some of its best A-level results this year.

Martin Williams, headteacher at Corsham School said: "They were very good results for the school which reflects the efforts of the teachers, children, and parents who have been working very hard with us."

Kate Whitney, head teacher of Grittleton House School, said its results were down a little, but pupils had still done very well.

She said: "We have had 100 per cent in the last couple of years so we are a bit down on that but are none-the-less delighted with our result.

"We have children from nursery age up until GCSE and then many go on to take A-levels, and we have a nice crop of graduates.

"The latest is Mark Rawlings, who has just graduated from Bristol with a first class honours degree in engineering."

Mrs Whitney said the league tables do not always provide an accurate reflection of a school's achievements.

"We only had one pupil who failed to get five GCSEs A-C but that isn't apparent from the league table," she said.