A RURAL Lake District head teacher is celebrating after topping the secondary school league tables and being named the best in Cumbria for pupil progress.

John Ruskin School at Coniston came out on top of 38 schools for its Progress 8 score because of its 32 pupils' strong GCSE results last year.

Progress 8 is the headline measure for secondary schools and reflects pupils’ progress between key stage 2 and key stage 4 across eight key subjects. A score of zero reflects the national average. John Ruskin School received the top rating, ‘well above average’, with a Progress 8 score of +0.7.

This year was also the first time that students took the new, tougher GCSE exams in English, English Literature and maths. These are now graded on a numerical scale of one to nine where a nine represents the very top grade. Seventy-eight per cent of students at the school achieved a four or above (equivalent to the old C grade) in both English and maths.

Performance in English at the school has been consistently strong for a number of years. This year 48 per cent of students achieved a seven, eight or nine, equivalent to an A or A* grade, another best for the county. Ninety- seven per cent of students also passed with a grade 4 or better.

Meanwhile, Cartmel Priory CE School was ranked fifth in the list (0.23) while Queen Katherine School, Kendal, (0.16) placed seventh.

Peter Blackburn, headteacher at John Ruskin, said: "We are obviously delighted about this result. What is great is that we are such a small school and that makes us unique.

"We have been recognised for our pastoral care before and we have been consistent run of good results for some time.

"We should give real credit to the staff and the students who all work so hard.

"This is all about having really high expectations and knowing our students really well. We work really closely with other small secondary schools like Cartmel and Settlebeck, so it is good to see them doing well too.

"It is great that here in Cumbria small schools can still provide a great education. Nationally the smaller schools may have struggled, but the results have been really positive for those in Cumbria.

"There is no quick fix to good education. We have to talk to every child and put in five years of hard work.

"We have the same staff teaching our GCSE students who taught them in year seven so they know where they need to get each student to.

"We ensure constant progress from year seven to year 11."

Dr Paul Williams, headteacher at Cartmel, said: "The school is delighted, once again, with this year’s Progress 8 outcomes, which maintains the school’s position in recent years as one of the highest performing in the county.

"I am extremely proud of all our students and the staff of the school for continuing to work incredibly hard to ensure each and every pupil achieves to the best of their ability."

Queen Elizabeth School at Kirkby Lonsdale (0.09), Kirkbie Kendal (0) and Dallam School, Milnthorpe, (-0.06) all placed in the top 20.

Dowdales (0.13), Kirkby Stephen Grammar (-0.14), Ulverston Victoria High School (-0.16), Lakes School, Troutbeck Bridge, (-0.19) and Settlebeck, Sedbergh, (-0.27), were all also ranked average or better in the Progress 8 table.

Appleby Grammar School (-0.52) was fifth lowest in Cumbria and judged 'well below average'.