By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 11:24, Saturday, 28 August 2010

A Workington school whose pupils suffered months of disruption caused by last November’s floods has achieved outstanding GCSE results.

More than a third of the 630 pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic High school had to endure long journeys to school after the raging River Derwent swept away bridges across the river, leaving them stranded.

Several of the school’s staff and pupils also saw flood waters swamp their homes.

But this week’s GCSE results saw the school achieve an impressive A* to C pass rate of 65 per cent in maths and English – the best of any school in Workington and way above the national average.

The results also included:

• 74 per cent of pupils gaining a grade C or higher in maths;
• More than 77 per cent achieving a grade C or higher in English Language.
• 93 per cent getting C or above in English literature.
• A 100 per cent A* to C pass rate for four subjects – in English, biology, French and physics;
• The number of pupils getting A*s increasing from 9 per cent to 17 per cent.

Headteacher Thomas Ryan said: “These are outstanding results, achieved against the background of last year’s floods.

“They had a dramatic effect on everybody here, as 250 of our pupils were directly affected because they lived on the wrong side of the river.”

“There was also a practical effect on those children, who had to leave school early and could not get to after school revision sessions. But everybody responded remarkably. Pupils took personal responsibility for their learning.“ There’s a lot to celebrate in these results. “In 2009, inspectors said were a good school with outstanding features. We want to outstanding and these results suggest we’re on target to achieve that.”

First published at 08:59, Saturday, 28 August 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk