SHELDON School in Chippenham had 61 per cent of its pupils receive A* to C grades in GCSE, ranking it 14th in the county.

Headteacher Gerard MacMahon said: “We are generally pleased with the GCSE results but feel we can still do better. We were absolutely delighted with our A-Level results in particular because we have a growing sixth form.”

Next door neighbours Hardenhuish School gained a 56 per cent rate of students gaining five A* to C grades, finishing 16th in the county.

Headteacher Jan Hatherell said: “I am very pleased the tables, which contain a huge amount of data using different measures, confirm that the vast majority of Hardenhuish pupils make at least the expected level of progress between KS2 and GCSE, and then continue that progress at A-level. This is I am sure because of the hard work put in by pupils, staff and parents.”

Abbeyfield School, in Chippenham, enjoyed a third straight year of progress in the GCSE league tables.

Their results showed 60 per cent of students achieved five A* to C grades, achieving the school a 15th place ranking.

Headteacher James Fox said: “We are thrilled. Getting 60 per cent of students to achieve five A*to C grades is superb and continues our rising trend. Historically we have not been in such a strong position amongst the schools in Chippenham and we are delighted with our results and very proud of the pupils’ achievements.”

John Bentley School, in Calne, achieved some of the best results in its history, with 55 per cent of students gaining five A*-C grades, bagging it 18th place.

Headteacher Gordon Trafford said: “The whole school community is absolutely delighted.

I am particularly pleased with our outstanding progress.”

Corsham School was equally delighted with 54 per cent of students attaining an A* to C grade, making it 20th in the county.

Assistant head Marcus Chapman said: “The national league tables have shown that the school’s value added figure of 1059.6 has placed Corsham School as the top performing state funded mixed comprehensive in Britain. The performance is truly outstanding as it represents the individual progress made by our students.”

But Wootton Bassett School headteacher George Croxford was critical of the Government’s new English baccalaureate criteria which assesses the number of pupils with A* to C grades in core academic subjects such as science, languages, history or geography.

He said: “I’m in favour of breadth in school but why was religious studies or sociology not included as an option with history and geography? It narrows the curriculum. With a few bits added it would be much improved.”

Despite that Mr Croxford was very pleased with the 64 per cent of his pupils receiving five A* to C grades, including English and maths, ranking it 12th in the county.

He said: “That is a record result for the school and we’re thrilled to bits. It’s a credit to the hard work of staff, pupils and parents and the superb way they have got themselves prepared for their exams.”

Malmesbury School achieved a ranking of 13th out of the 37 schools in the county after 63 per cent of its pupils received five A* to C grades including English and maths.

Headteacher Tim Gilson was particularly proud of his school’s performance across the four different assessment criteria ranked by the government.

He said: “Within Wiltshire we were in the top 10 among comprehensive schools in all four areas. It is the consistency in all the different rankings that shows what a good job our staff do. Everyone has worked very hard so it’s nice for them to get the recognition.”