Find out how your child's school has done in the latest league tables

The national GCSE and A-level performance tables published today show Whitburn Church of England Academy had the best results last year across South Tyneside.

Alan Hardie, headteacher at the academy, where 82% of pupils clinched five or more GCSEs A*-C grades including maths and English, said he was very pleased.

He said: “We are delighted with the performance of our pupils, which reflects the hard work of the staff.”

See larger table hereAlthough the Government is drastically changing the benchmarks for schools to be measured by, the Whitburn school performed well overall.

In October 2013, the Department of Education announced a new secondary school accountability system to be brought in from 2016.

It includes two new headline measures, Attainment 8 and Progress 8.

The school’s Progress 8 score calculates pupils’ progress from the end of primary to the end of secondary across eight qualifications.

Attainment 8 measures the achievement of a pupil across 8 qualifications, including maths and English, three of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects, which include sciences, computer science, geography, history and languages, and three further subjects from a range, which can be EBacc or other GCSE approved.

The national average Attainment 8 score was 49.9, with South Tyneside scoring 49.

Councillor Joan Atkinson, lead member for children, young people and families, at South Tyneside Council, said: “Providing an outstanding education to our young people is a core priority for the council.

“More than half our schools are performing better than the national average, with more than 62% achieving a good pass in GCSE English and maths.

“We are also in line with the national average for the percentage of young people achieving five GCSEs A*-C including English and maths.

“However, we are not complacent and will continue to work in partnership with our excellent school staff, our young people and their families and carers, to raise standards still further.”

The percentage of young people getting five GCSEs A*-C, including English and maths, was 57.4% nationally and 57.5% in South Tyneside.