Kent's children in care got higher grades at school than most of their counterparts across the country.

The latest figures show of the 1,102 secondary school pupils who were in care in 2017, 20% achieved a C or above in English and 16% in Maths.

Despite having more vulnerable children in the next cohort, they had their "finest ever" GCSE results with around 17% getting a C or above in both English and Maths.

The results were above the average for the south east as well as the national average.

KCC's interim director in charge of children's social services Sarah Hammond told councillors how these results were "extraordinary" as a lot of the children joined care as teenagers.

She said: "We are not talking about children who spent their significant proportion of their life in care.

"What you are seeing here is an extraordinary set of results, which includes young people who would have had an often chaotic and difficult in school."

Head teacher of Virtual School Kent, an organisation which monitors the achievements of children in care and young care leavers congratulated pupils.

"I think we've got one of the best [virtual] schools in the country, if not the best so we've got a lot to be proud about"- Cllr Gary Cooke

At today's corporate parenting panel Tony Doran said: "I want to make sure that every child, that is in care, gets the best support, the best information and advice and can achieve the best they can."

Cllr Gary Cooke (Con) congratulated the head teacher on the results saying: "I think we've got one of the best [virtual] schools in the country, if not the best so we've got a lot to be proud about."

However, despite their success, there is a still an attainment gap between children in care and their classmates.

Cllr Cooke added: "Virtual Schools was set up to narrow the gap but the gap's still there - it still needs to be narrowed more and more.

"We have to continue to have that focus because by narrowing that gap you provide life chances and opportunity."