STAFF and pupils at The Hollins Technology College were celebrating this week after being named as among the 100 most improved schools in the country.
The Accrington school was one of only two in Lancashire to make it into the list following its impressive results in Key Stage Three tests which are taken by all pupils at age 14 in the core topics of maths, English and science.
The value-added score, a mark of how pupils have improved since entering the school, was 101.8.
Headteacher Mark Jackson said: "We have a really good staff and excellent pupils and our success is down to good teaching and good learning. We are delighted with the results but the tables still need to be treated with caution.
"We are not just interested in the academic results, but in other things as well such as the moral and spiritual education of the children as well as their behaviour. These tables are very narrow as they only show progress in a few subjects."
For the fifth year running, St Christopher’s High School was the top Hyndburn school with 93 per cent, 92 per cent and 92 per cent of pupils achieving a Level 5 at English, maths and science respectively.
Each pupil also achieved an average point score of 38.1, a slight improvement on last year’s score of 38.
Deputy headteacher Stephen Green said: "We are very pleased with our results and now we just want to keep that going and concentrate on getting better.
"We are interested in looking at each individual pupil as well as just the overall picture."
Staff and students at Norden High School and Sports College, Rishton were also celebrating after moving up to third place in the league table from fourth last year.
But headteacher Bob Flood said the raw figures should be treated with caution as they did not always reflect the full measure of a school’s success.
He said: "The results are really good and I am very pleased with them.
"But what is also impressive is our value-added figure, which shows how well the pupils have improved and for that we are in the top 20 per cent in the country.
"I think the key thing when looking at these tables is to remember the value-added figures, as it is important to see how well pupils have improved while they have been here.
"That is a better indicator than just raw results which only prove that grammar schools usually come out on top."
Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School, Oswaldtwistle and Moorhead Sports College, Accrington both produced average point scores of 31.6 per pupil - which means both have improved since last year.
Moorhead headteacher Andrew Bateman said: "We are very pleased with the results. But it is not just about raw data.
"In terms of our overall improvement, we are in the top five per cent of sports colleges in the country."
Rhyddings deputy headteacher Paul Trickett said: "The results speak for themselves as they are all up on last year."
