Forest Hall School has bounced back from a “calamitous blip”, according to the headteacher, following a jump in its GCSE pass rate.

Overall, the school’s A*-C pass rate including English and maths was 42 per cent – up 14 percentage points from last summer.

In English, the number of A*-C grades went up by 21 percentage points to 50 per cent, while maths held steady at 61 per cent.

Headteacher Catherine Anderson said: “Considering the immense pressure the school has been placed under this year, these results are extremely positive and will enable us to return to our original path of consistent improvement.

“There are also several results which will require a re-mark which, if successful, would improve our data even further.”

There were notable successes in individual subjects, including a 100 per cent pass rate in both art and media, 90 per cent in statistics 87 per cent in drama, 77 per cent in PE and 71 per cent in business studies.

The best performing student was Jess Hardy, who got four A*s, seven As and a distinction (equivalent to an A grade). Jess also achieved an A grade in her higher level project.

Bertie Alabaster, Georgia Crouchman, David Kimber and Georgia King accumulated a further four A*s, 23 As and 17 B grades between them.

Ms Anderson added: “We have long been credited with producing results for those students requiring additional support, so we are delighted that our more able students have achieved so much success and know that our reputation for educating all students, whatever their ability goes from strength to strength.”