Pupils in Islington bettered the national and inner London average GCSE grades, new figures reveal.

In total, 59.4 per cent of students managed the benchmark A* to C grades, including maths and English, in this summer’s exams.

Despite a drop of three per cent from last year, a report from the Department for Education (DfE) today shows they beat the national average of 52.6 per cent and inner London total of 58.4 per cent.

GCSEs have undergone reform in the last 12 months and year on year comparisons are difficult.

Cllr Joe Caluori, Islington Council’s executive member for children and families, said: “These results confirm what we already know about Islington schools – they are continuing to provide our students with a first class education.

“We set high standards for our schools and the fact that we are beating both the national and inner London results shows that this is paying off.

“All of Islington’s secondary schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, which puts them in the top 10 per cent of all secondary schools nationally.”

The results will be full vailadated by the DfE in January.