NUMEROUS secondary schools in The Gazette area reported inflated GCSE results in the summer, only to have now fallen by several per cent.

The Gazette ran a live GCSE blog on results day in August, when each of the secondary schools shared their provisional results with our readers.

But figures from the Department for Education’s annual league tables, published in January, show that nine schools out of 12 in The Gazette area have since had a drop in their overall figure of the percentage of pupils gaining five GCSEs between A* and C, including English and maths.

The drop at Fort Hill Community School, in Winklebury, means it failed to hit the Government benchmark of 40 per cent, making it one of 312 schools in England to fall below the floor standard.

The school refused to share its overall figure on results day, but executive headteacher Betty Elkins later explained that the school had been trying to understand why there was a drop in grades.

She revealed that the school had achieved 40 per cent A* to C, including English and maths, putting it on the threshold of the Government benchmark.

The league tables now show the school achieved 39 per cent, putting it below the Government benchmark of 40 per cent.

One school, Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School, in South Ham, saw an increase in its figures of one per cent, from 72 per cent to 73 per cent.

Both Everest Community College and Testbourne Community School’s figures remained the same, whilst all the other schools dropped by one or two per cent.

Everest Community College also fell below the benchmark, with 39 per cent of pupils achieving five GCSEs between A* and C, including English and maths.

This will be the last year that schools in England are judged on their raw GCSE results, marking the end of the league tables in their current form.

Next year, schools will instead be measured on a broader range of results across eight subjects.