BISHOP Wordsworth's School is the top performing school in the county under a new set of measures published today.

For the first time, schools have been rated according to the progress of pupils in eight GCSEs from the end of Key Stage 2 results at primary school to the end of Key Stage 4 when GCSEs are taken.

In Wiltshire, BWS comes top with a Progress 8 score of 0.43 and South Wilts School which has a 0.32 score is rated as the fourth best performing school.

Secondary schools are considered under-performing if their Progress 8 score is below -0.5.

In the Salisbury area, Avon Valley College is the only school considered to be under-performing with a Progress 8 score of -0.71.

Juliette Baldwin, acting principal at Avon Valley College, said: "These league places come on the back of examinations taken in May and June 2016.

“In July 2016, the school joined Salisbury Plain Academies in a bid to improve its teaching and learning. Since then we have been working collaboratively with Excalibur Academies Trust, and other education leaders and we look forward to a greatly improved position this year.

“Whilst this league position is disappointing, it is important to remember that education is ultimately about young people learning, achieving good grades and going on to further and higher education, or good quality apprenticeships; not government league tables.”

In previous years, schools have been rated based on what proportion of pupils get five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

The new system takes into account a wider range of results, focusing on both exam results and progress across a number of subjects.

Under the new measures, most schools will achieve a score between -1 and 1, with 0 being average.

Another new measure, known as Attainment 8, is based on GCSE results from grades A* to G across eight subjects.

Countywide, students' Attainment 8 figure was 51.4 per cent, higher than the national figure of 48.5 per cent while Wiltshire pupils’ Progress 8 figure at 0.01 is slightly higher than the national average, which is 0.

The national Progress 8 score average across all schools is 0 and will always be benchmarked at this; half of schools will be above this figure and half below. However, within this, the average Progress 8 score for boys nationally is -0.17 and for girls the figure is +0.09.

School and Progress 8 score

Bishop Wordsworth's Grammar School, 0.43
South Wilts Grammar School for Girls, 0.32
The Trafalgar School at Downton, 0.18
The Stonehenge School, 0.17
St Edmund's Girls' School, 0.13

Wyvern College, -0.04
St Joseph's Catholic School, -0.26
Sarum Academy, -0.36
The Wellington Academy, -0.4
Avon Valley College, -0.71