A school in the Lake District has cause for celebration after smashing the national GCSE pass rate.

As with thousands of students across the country, pupils at The Lakes School in Windermere woke up this morning (August 22) to see the fruits of their labours.

Across the board, the school experienced an improvement in grades compared to last year, leaving staff members - and the students - in a jubilant mood on Thursday.

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Jason Barr, Assistant Headteacher and the Head of English at the school, commented: "We are extremely proud of our GCSE students this year as they celebrate well deserved and hard-won success.

"The Year 11 cohort showed great character and perseverance to overcome many challenges with results clearly indicating further improvement across the curriculum."

Overall, achievement was up with attainment grades on average half a grade higher than in 2023.

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In all GCSE's, the pass rate was higher than schools nationally, with the UK rate falling to 67.6% this year.

These improvements at the Lakes School were most notably seen in Maths and English, where the 'story was even better' according to Mr Barr.

This came as 82% of students achieved a pass in English and 73% a pass in Maths, figures that beat the national statistics by quite some margin - with almost 40% of students said to have failed.

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Individually, performances of the students deserved to be praised too, as a number of this year's cohort achieved as many as seven grade 9 scores.

Mr Barr added: "Improved average grades in Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Physics, as well as Geography, PE and Textiles, all paint a very positive picture for the school.

"Staff, governors and all stakeholders wish them all the very best for a bright future."