NEW Devizes School head Phil Bevan had plenty of reasons to celebrate last week when A-level results were announced as not only did his pupils score some of their best ever results but his own daughter won a place at Cambridge.

But he and other senior staff are on tenterhooks for Thursday's GCSE results following two years of poor scores which have left them close to the bottom of county league tables.

Mr Bevan only took up the reins at Devizes after Easter so has only had a limited time to make his mark but he is confident that the work of deputy head Sue Marshall and department heads will have had an impact.

He said: "We were thrilled about the A-level results and want to get the message out there that Devizes has an excellent sixth form and we still have room for more students.

"The facilities in the new sixth form block are incredible.

"But we know that there have been two years of disappointing results at GCSE after a strong year three years ago and we will be hoping to do better."

Last year when Ms Marshall was acting head she set a target of 65 per cent of pupils receiving five A* to C grades, or more, including English and maths.

In August 2015 only 48 per cent of pupils reached this level.

Mr Bevan said: "We are expecting it to be over 60 per cent this year. A lot of work has been done."

New heads of English and maths were appointed last September and they too have been working hard to push up the grades in their key subjects.

But Bethan Wynn-Jones, 36, and Mark Shadrick, 29, said shortly after their appointments that they were determined to improve GCSE results at the school.

Mr Bevan said: "They are both young and very enthusiastic and we are lucky to have them. It is an exciting time to be at Devizes School and we will build on this year's results next year."

He has also made changes to the tutor group system at the school. Under previous head Malcolm Irons a vertical tutor group system was introduced so children of all ages were part of the same tutor group.

But from September the school will go back to a more conventional system where children from the same year are together.

He said the house system which mixed pupils of all ages would remain.