The nail-biting is over for students across East Sussex after this year’s GCSE results were announced.

With results received from 24 of 26 schools, provisional results show 60% of students across the county received five or more A* to C grades including English and mathematics, an increase on last year’s figure of 58%.

Of the 24 East Sussex schools whose results are available, 11 are celebrating their best ever results for five or more A* to C grades including English and maths. These are:

Bexhill High School
Heathfield Community College
Peacehaven Community School
Ratton School
Rye College
The Bishop Bell Church of England School
The St Leonards Academy
Tideway School
Uckfield Community Technology College
Uplands Community College
Willingdon Community School

Meanwhile, five schools have also achieved an improvement of at least 10 per cent on their performance last year for five or more A* – C grades including English and maths. These are:

Ratton School
Rye College
Tideway School
Uplands Community College
Wilingdon Community School

Councillor Nick Bennett, East Sussex County Council lead member for learning and school effectiveness, said: “I would like to congratulate all our schools, as well as our own schools effectiveness teams, for the effort they’ve put in to achieve these results.

“Attaining good GCSE grades gives young people a solid grounding for their future educational and professional life, and their success is the fruit of many months of hard work by students and staff alike.

“We are truly pleased with these results and for our part will continue strive to help schools to raise standards even further in the years to come.”