AN ISLINGTON school celebrated a double achievement on Wednesday (January 12) as the national GCSE league tables for 2010 were published.

Central Foundation Boys’ School, in Cowper Street, Finsbury, was ranked as the most improved school in the borough, with a 17 percentage point rise in the number of pupils who achieved five A*-C grades including English and maths at GCSE level.

Alongside the school’s impressive performance in the league tables, it was also announced that the school’s sixth form was rated Outstanding by Ofsted, making it one of only 13 A Level centres in the country to receive the top rating from government inspectors. The sixth form, which is part of the Islington Sixth Form Consortium with Highbury Grove School and Highbury Fields School, was only rated as Satisfactory in 2006. Central Foundation’s overall rating was Good, the same as five years ago.

Headteacher Jamie Brownhill attributed the school’s incredible achievements to the hard work of its teachers and pupils.

He said: “We are delighted with this positive report from Ofsted. The care of the students is at the centre of all we do and we are very proud that in an inner city setting, the extent to which the students felt safe was judged to be ‘outstanding’.

“We are extremely pleased that the hard work of the students and the staff has resulted in these record GCSE results for the school. This is not, however, a one off and we are confident that all subsequent year groups will achieve at or above this level.”

Schools in Islington achieved their best ever GCSE results in 2010, with 50 per cent of students gaining five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths. Although the figure is still short of the national average of 53 per cent, it is an 11 percentage point increase from 2009.

St Aloysius’ College, in Hornsey Lane, Archway, topped the borough’s results table with 73 per cent of pupils attaining at least five A*-C grades including English and Maths.

Islington Arts and Media School has also seen improvement in the last year, increasing the number of students gaining five A*-C grades including English and maths by four percentage points from 40 per cent in 2009 to 44 per cent in 2010. Additionally, the school saw a huge increase in the number of students who gained five A*-C grades in all subjects from 51 per cent in 2006 to 94 per cent in 2010.

Councillor Richard Watts, Islington Council’s executive member for children and young people, said: “These figures confirm that secondary schools in Islington are getting better all the time, and our schools are providing young people with an excellent education.

“We’re closing the national gap and I’m particularly pleased that this includes our English and maths results. With the new and refurbished schools being completed across the borough, I’m looking forward to seeing Islington’s GCSE results continue to improve even further over the next few years.”