RYEDALE and North Yorkshire schools are performing well in GCSE and A-level examinations, according to Government figures released on Thursday.

The figures show that North Yorkshire is a “top tier authority” - significantly above the national average for both progress and attainment, and ranked first in Yorkshire and Humberside.

In GCSEs, the proportion of more than 50 per cent students who attained a strong pass in both English and mathematics places North Yorkshire in the top 15 per cent of authorities nationally, 7.5 per cent above the national average and 9.7 per cent above the average for Yorkshire and Humberside.

Two key new measures for schools are Progress 8 and Attainment 8. Progress 8 measures pupil progress from primary to secondary school and it is the main measure by which schools are now judged.

Attainment 8 is the students’ average achievement across eight subjects, with extra weighting for English and mathematics.

Scores for the county’s students for both metrics also place North Yorkshire first for Yorkshire and Humberside and in the top 15 per cent of authorities nationally.

In terms of Progress 8, Ryedale School in Nawton is ranked 7th in the county.

Headteacher Mark McCandless said: "The performance tables once again place Ryedale School not only as one of the highest performing schools in North Yorkshire but well within the top 10 per cent of schools in the country.

"We do not judge our performance against that of other schools, but rather against the aspirational targets we set for our students year upon year.

"We are very proud of the significant achievements of our students and the hard work and dedication of our talented staff.

"Ryedale School will strive to continue to improve; not in order to be placed higher next year in the league tables, but to ensure we deliver the best possible educational provision so that our students continue to achieve outcomes in line with their potential."

North Yorkshire is also in the top quartile of councils in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), and is in the top 10 per cent of councils for high academic success at A-level.

The proportion of A-level students who attained the highest grades (A*AB) is 26.5 percent in the county, compared with 20.7 per cent nationally.

“We must congratulate our young people and families and our school staff for this great achievement and for their commitment and their hard work”, said County Councillor Patrick Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s executive member for schools.

“In North Yorkshire we are constantly striving to give young people the best in teaching and learning and these outcomes show that we continue to be successful and in the top tier for achievement.

“Once again North Yorkshire has performed highly against a set of national Government measures.

“However, the County Council and schools are not complacent and we know that for some students further improvement is required. There is now a concerted focus on supporting schools so that all their students achieve similar standards as the very best in the county.”