By Hayley Robinson

A head teacher who promised a dramatic improvement in results is celebrating after the latest GCSE league tables were published.

Sittingbourne Community College faced being closed or merged if it did not improve standards within two years after it was found to be under-performing in last year’s tables, which showed results for 2009.

The Department for Education had demanded that at least 30 per cent of pupils in all secondary schools gain five good GCSE passes, including English and maths, by this year.

Hard work by staff and pupils paid off when the 2010 league tables revealed this week that 32 per cent of SCC pupils achieved five A* to C grades including the key subjects.

The national average was 56.8 per cent. Seventy per cent of SCC pupils also achieved five or more A* to C grades in all subjects – with the national average being 76 per cent.

This is an improvement from 2009, when only 59 per cent of pupils at the school, in Swanstree Avenue, achieved five or more GCSEs at A* to C grades in all subjects, while the pass rate for five or more A* to C grades including English and maths was just 27 per cent.

Head teacher Alan Barham (pictured top right) says he is confident the school will meet next year’s 35 per cent benchmark for five A* to C grades including English and maths, set by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

He said: "I’m very pleased with the results and I am confident we will move up to 40 per cent. Last year’s results were disappointing but these show that all the measures we put in place, such as extra booster sessions during the school holidays, are beginning to bear fruit, and it gives us confidence that we will improve."

The school’s Key Stage 4 contextual value added score, which measures the progress made by pupils considering their personal circumstances, is 1,012.2. The national average is 1,000.

A number of factors are taken into account when producing the score, such as special educational needs and family circumstances.

At The Westlands School, head teacher Jon Whitcombe was "delighted" with the results.

The tables show that 80 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades in all subjects, compared with 74 per cent last year.

The figure for five or more grades at A* to C including English and maths was 51 per cent. The previous year’s figure was 38 per cent.

He said: "Westlands is very much focused upon ensuring that all children perform to the best of their ability, particularly in the key core areas of English, maths and science.

"The progress pupils make at our school continues to be exceptionally good, and we look forward to continuing with this trend in coming years."