HARD work and sustained motivation.

Those were the key ingredients which have led to a Huddersfield state school being named as the best in Kirklees in GCSE performance league tables announced today.

Salendine Nook High School came top of the class in the key stage four and five results released by the Department for Education.

Figures show that 71% of students achieved at least five grade A* to C GCSE passes including English and maths, which is the government’s benchmark figure.

Only pupils of Heckmondwike, Huddersfield and Batley Grammar Schools, which are selective, achieved better results.

Headteacher Christine Spencer said “tremendous work” by students and staff had led to the success.

She said children had attended additional study sessions during holidays and parents had also attended support sessions such as “mums and maths” classes to help their children revise.

The school had developed an intervention programme to support students who were identified as under-achieving and it was already working with its year 10 students to ensure they achieved success in the next GCSE examinations.

“We have organised motivational assemblies for students. It’s not just one thing which has contributed.

“A variety of things have impacted and we are trying to build on those to sustain our success in the future,” she added.

Link to full list of schools and GCSE table on next page.

Fartown High School was among the bottom achievers in the table although its figures have doubled overall on last year from 16% to 31%.

Kirklees Council said this summer when the GCSE results were announced that standards had risen for the fifth year running with a 5% rise in the proportion of young people achieving five or more good grades at GCSE, including English and mathematics, which is the government’s benchmark for successful schools.

Clr Cath Harris, Kirklees Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said: “I would like to congratulate all the young people who have received their GCSE results today.

“With so many more students achieving key benchmarks for achievement, young people in Kirklees can look to the future with confidence and high aspirations.”

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the new school league tables published today will divert resources away from the poorest pupils.

Nick Pearce, IPPR director, said: “Schools that have tumbled down today’s league tables will now be encouraged to focus their resources on better-off children likely to get the English baccalaureate [a new GCSE performance measure], undermining well intentioned policies like the ‘pupil premium’.

He said Education Secretary Michael Gove was pushing schools in two different directions.

“On the one hand he is measuring success according to how many of their pupils get the English Bac, and one the other hand he has set a floor target that 35% of all pupils in a school should get 5 A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths.

“There should be a Pupil Premium Entitlement so that the government’s extra funds are spent directly on the poorest pupils and school performance should be measured not just by raw attainment, but by a school report card that directly measures the performance of pupils on free school meals.

“The floor target for struggling schools should be made much more stretching.”

Click here to see your schools results.