SECONDARY schools are celebrating after new government figures found they were performing well after changes to grading.

BOTH of Halstead and Sible Hedingham’s secondary schools have performed well at GCSE, according to new government figures.

Provisional data for Progress 8 scores, which will be used for school league tables, shows Hedingham School performing above the national average, while The Ramsey Academy results were on par with expectations.

Introduced in 2016, the new system looks at two new criteria, Attainment 8 and Progress 8, rather than the number of students who gain particular grades in their GCSEs.

The Attainment 8 score measures the achievement of a pupil across eight different subjects and the Progress 8 score shows how they have improved during secondary school, compared to other pupils who were at the same level when they finished primary school.

Hedingham School, on Yeldham Road, Sible Hedingham, achieved an above average Progress 8 score of 0.18, with 48 per cent of pupils earning Grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs.

The Ramsey Academy, on Colne Road, Halstead, achieved an average Progress 8 score of 0.01, with 37 per cent of pupils earning grade five or higher in English and Maths GCSEs.

Rob James, headteacher at The Ramsey Academy, said the results showed improvements being made at the school.

He said: “We are very pleased.

“It is an improvement on last year’s scores, and show the ever increasing improvements of the school over the last three years.

“As many schools will say, when the verified figures come out in January, the results will improve further.

“Students and staff have worked very hard for these results, and we have seen a host of improvements across a range of subjects.”