At Titus Salt School, outgoing head teacher Sue Mansfield passed the baton on to the incoming head Ian Morrell, who has been at the school as deputy head with Mrs Mansfield for the past ten years, as the school achieved record GCSE results.

The school saw 61 per cent of pupils achieve A* to C including English and maths, up from 49 per cent last year, and 80.5 per cent achieved five A* to C overall, which was up from 75 per cent the previous year.

Mrs Mansfield said: “Today is the result of our ten years working together. It’s our best ever results, both post-16 and GCSEs.”

Among the best performers were Molly Gallagher, with five A*s, three As and two Bs, and Ramona Barrow, with three A*s, six As and a B.