SCHOOLS in Warrington had their best ever GCSE results this year.

Early indications show that the proportion of pupils gaining five or more passes at GCSE, and the number gaining five or more grades A* to C, have both increased this year.

Education Chairman Harry Shaw said: "I would like to congratulate our pupils and schools on their hard work and exam successes.

"GCSE exams are an important first step in the life-long learning process. We hope all of our young people will go on to achieve further success in learning and skills development in the coming years.

"The new Warrington Education Deaprtment is striving to improve GCSE successes even more. We owe it to the children of Warrington to give them the best possible start in life. Schools now have to set tough improvement targets for the next five years."

Warrington Borough Council will undertake a full analysis of the A Level and GCSE results for the year over the next month.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.