A PAIR of Salisbury schools have been named among the best state secondary schools in the South West.

The Sunday Times, in its annual schools’ guide, Parent Power, has awarded South Wilts Grammar School and Bishop Wordsworth’s School places in the list based on their outstanding academic achievements.

South Wilts was given third place in the list after more than 73 per cent of its students gained A*-B in their A-levels and 74.5 per cent achieved A*/A in their GCSE results.

The school dropped 13 places in the national table to 55th, unlike Bishop's which rose 33 places to 57th.

The boys' school came 4th in the South West after 77 per cent of its pupils achieved A*-B in their A-levels and 67.1 per cent gained A*/A in their GCSE results.

The 25th edition of Parent Power identifies the 2,000 highest-achieving schools in the UK, ranked by their recent examination results.

As well as assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power allows parents to compare the performance of a given school with others in the same town, local authority area or nationally.