Pupils from the Saddleworth area helped Rishworth School record a strong set of GCSE results this year.

Year 11 students at the independent school in West Yorkshire achieved 86.3 per cent of grades at 9 to 4, almost 20 percentage points above the national average. The proportion of top grades, from 9 to 7, also beat the national average by 8.2 per cent.

The results will be particularly welcomed by families from Saddleworth and the surrounding area whose children travel to the school.

Rishworth School, a non-selective independent day and boarding school, said the achievements reflected the commitment and resilience of its students, alongside support from teaching staff.

Students performed strongly in core subjects, with mathematics results 21 per cent above the national average, English 35 per cent higher and science 32 per cent higher. In optional subjects including Art, Design Technology and Food & Nutrition, students achieved a 100 per cent pass rate.

The school also recorded a value-added score of +0.19, meaning students achieved almost a fifth of a grade above their predicted performance levels on average.

Head of Rishworth School, Tim Bayley, said he was proud to celebrate the achievements of this year's cohort.

"These results are a testament to what a close-knit school community can achieve, and to the sheer resolve our students have shown. This morning, celebrating with them was a genuine privilege," he said.

"Being a smaller school means we don't just teach year groups, we know individuals, and that lets us build pathways to grades some students would never have reached in a bigger, more anonymous setting.

"Every result on that sheet has a person and a story attached to it, and that, more than any statistic, is what Rishworth is built on."