TWO Poole schools are ranked among the top in the country following the publication of revamped league tables.

Parkstone Grammar and Magna Academy scored highly in the new Progress 8 measure while Parkfield in Bournemouth and Poole’s St Aldhelm’s Academy are under the floor standard and will now be the subject of close monitoring by the government.

Parkstone is in the top two per cent in the tables, which rank secondary schools according to the progress made by pupils during their time at the school, not on grades achieved.

The selective school was the top performer across Poole, Bournemouth and the Dorset County Council area when the new Progress 8 scores were published by the government.

Head teacher Tracy Harris (Inset) told the Daily Echo: “It is a genuine measure of progress showing how far students have travelled in their time at any school.

“We are absolutely delighted and it shows the hard wok of the students, staff, parents and governors.”

Magna Academy also recorded one of the top five per cent scores in the country.

Richard Tutt, Academy Principal, said: “Our students continue to delight us, going from strength to strength with these scores. The figures demonstrate just how hard our students and staff work to achieve the highest possible grades.”

In Bournemouth, Glenmoor Academy was the top performer, closely followed by Winton.

Head teacher of both, Ben Antell, said: “We are very pleased that Glenmoor and Winton Academies are the top performing schools in Bournemouth for Progress 8. These figures demonstrate the significant progress that our students made since coming here in Year 7.

“These figures are a new national benchmark that reflect the difference that attending a certain school makes to the qualifications children leave with, so it is highly encouraging for us that we have done so very well. Students and staff here work hard in every year group and it is excellent to see how well we have performed.”

The lowest performing school in Poole was St Aldhelm’s Academy and in Bournemouth it was free school Parkfield, with Oak Academy and Harewood just above it.

The Swanage School recorded a high Progress 8 score in Dorset with The Grange in Christchurch at the other end of the scale. In the New Forest, Priestlands had a better score than Ringwood, Arnewood or Burgate.

Progress 8, this year’s main performance indicator, monitors the progress made in eight subjects between the end of primary school and GCSEs. The subjects include English and maths, as well as other English Baccalaureate subjects such as science.

Schools will be exempt from routine Ofsted inspections for a year if they have scored +1.0 or more, indicating pupils have made an average one grade more progress than the national average. Those with a score of -0.5 or lower will be under the floor standard and will be subject to close monitoring. They include Parkfield in Bournemouth and St Aldhelm’s Academy in Poole.