City school celebratesprogress in GCSE tables

Portsmouth Academy is celebrating outstanding results in new GCSE tables which highlight the progress students make while at secondary school.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Oct 2016, 06:01 BST

Updated 25th Oct 2016, 18:53 BST

The St Mary’s Road school was placed in the top 20 per cent of schools in the country in the new ‘Progress 8’ measure – just three years after its predecessor school – Portsmouth Academy for Girls – was placed in special measures by Ofsted.

The school – which will become co-ed from next September – also ranked second best in Portsmouth under the Department for Education’s new headline measure.

Its score of 0.40 means it is ‘above average’, according to the Department for Education, and adds on average almost half a GCSE grade per student more than expected.

Natalie Sheppard, principal at The Portsmouth Academy, said: ‘We are delighted that our students have performed so strongly. We are proud to be one of the most improved schools in the country, having celebrated our best-ever GCSE results this year. We look forward to continuing our success story!’

Portsmouth