STUDENTS and staff are celebrating remarkable progress during their time at secondary school.

According to rankings released by the Department For Education, students who took their GCSEs at Clacton County High School made the most progress of any cohort in Essex.

The school achieved the highest Progress 8 score in the county - which is a new benchmark measurement used to track pupil’s predicted progress when they first arrive at the school compared to their actual grades.

Principal Neil Gallagher said the score of 0.7 was a remarkable achievement and believed it was also one of the top scores in the whole Eastern region and means students on average achieved an extra 0.7 of a grade per subject.

He said: “We are all extremely proud of the students’ achievements this year.

“These incredible outcomes are down to the hard work of the students and the unrelenting commitment of teachers and support staff; we are so pleased for the students and their families”.

The next highest progression came from Colchester County High School For Girls, who achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.57.

Headteacher Gillian Marshall said: “We are delighted for the students, their parents and the staff at the school - everything we do is for the girls here.

“Progress 8 is a good measure because of course we do select students but clearly something good happens to them whilst they are here because they end up achieving even more than expected.

“But is is just one measure, there is a lot more to schooling and it has to be taken with a pinch of salt.”

Students at Thurstable School in Tiptree achieved an average Progress 8 score of 0.43 meaning the pupils achieve approximately half a grade extra than predicted at the end of Key Stage Three.

Headteacher Miles Bacon said he was delighted at the achievement.

He said: “Everyone is very pleased.

“It comes down to good quality of teaching, good quality of care and an absolutely ferocious determination every single pupil will achieve every single grade they are capable of.”

Mr Bacon believes all the Progress 8 system is not perfect, it does offer a better view of progress rather than simply the amount of students gaining five A* to C grades.

He said: “It is definitely better.

“The old measure would only really show the C/D boundary, while this takes into account both the less able pupils who push themselves and achieve much more than expected and the students who come out with several A*s.

“Before their achievements would only count as being above C for the school’s performance but now it does really help.

“It also takes in more subjects.”

Progress 8 explained:

PROGRESS 8 and Attainment 8 are the new headline statistics being used by the Government to mark achievement at GCSE level.

They have been chosen to replace the old measure which was of the percentage of students who scored A* to C grades including in English and Maths because it is a better indicator of both progress and achievement for students while they are at secondary school.

Attainment 8 is worked out by turning GCSE grades into numbers with an A* worth eight points, going down to a G grade being worth one.

Each subject is given a weighting with English and Mathematics worth double points, together with the three best grades a pupil has achieved in sciences, languages, geography or history. Then they take the three best grades in other approved academic or vocational subjects in the curriculum.

The points are then divided by 10 to create an Attainment 8 score.

Progress 8 is determined by comparing predicted grades of pupils based on other students of similar ability when they leave primary school and the difference between that number and their actual Attainment 8 score.

A pupil with a Progress 8 score of one will have gained an extra grade per subject compared to their predicted progress.