TWO local secondary schools have been congratulated by Schools Minister David Laws for their outstanding performance.

Oakmead College of Technology, now the Oak Academy, and Twynham School were among the top 100 in the country for the progress made between the start of Year 7 and last summer’s GCSEs. Mr Laws wrote to Dr Annetta Minard, head of Oak in Kinson, and Dr Terry Fish, head of Twynham in Christchurch, to congratulate them on their success.

He said: “I would like to congratulate your staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success and thank you for your leadership in continuing the drive towards high standards of educational achievement.”

Dr Fish said the recognition proved that last year’s headline GCSE results were not a true reflection of a school’s performance.

He said: “This is a wonderful accolade for everyone associated with the school and our students are to be congratulated.

“What this recognises is that the school enables all students of all abilities to do well.”

Dr Fish, who saw headline GCSE grades fall due to an unexpected shift in grade boundaries in English, added: “This shows what we already knew.

“The GCSE fiasco affected just a very small proportion of the overall number of examinations taken, hitting the headline figures, but our overall results were the best ever when you look at the grades achieved across the 3,000 examinations taken in 2012 by all the students.”

Dr Minard told the Daily Echo: “The school has worked hard to ensure all students, whether they are the brightest academically or have special educational needs, are reaching their full potential.

“This shows we are succeeding in getting the very best from all of our students and we are incredibly proud of every single one of them.”