EDUCATION chiefs in Worcestershire are celebrating after the county notched up record GCSE results for the third year running.

Key figures published this week reveal the percentage of 15-year-old pupils achieving five or more A to C grades at GCSE in the county has risen from 52 per cent in 2003 to 55.2 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, 56.2 per cent of students in Herefordshire achieved five or more A to C grades.

In both counties, girls continued to outperform boys - with 62.2 per cent of girls and 48.4 per cent of boys getting five or more A to C grades at GCSE in Worcestershire; and 62.9 per cent of girls and 49.4 per cent of boys in Herefordshire.

It comes as schools nationally celebrate the biggest single increase in GCSE results in more than a decade, with 55.77 per cent of 15-year-olds nationwide getting five grades A to C - up two per cent on 2004.

This represented the biggest rise for 11 years, the Department for Education said, meeting the Government's annual target for the first time.

The proportion of pupils passing GCSEs at any grades also rose to 96.3 per cent, up from 95.9 per cent in 2004 Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly declared the results a "tremendous achievement".

In Worcestershire, 89.1 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A to G grades at GCSE including English and mathematics, compared with 90.1 per cent in Herefordshire.

And figures revealed the average points score per candidate for the county at A and AS level was 275.4 - with, for instance, an A being worth 120 points at A-level and 60 at AS-level - compared with 310.3 in Herefordshire

The figures came as research by the BBC found league tables measuring schools on how many pupils scored five good GCSEs often hid poor results in maths and English.