ST Monica's in Prestwich has proved itself the borough's top-grade high school by notching up an impressive hat-trick in the local GCSE results league tables.

It has again come top of the table in achieving an enviable 67 per cent in the number of pupils who gained five or more A*-C grades, the equivalent of the old O-levels.

The record figure means St Monica's, the borough's biggest high school with 1,120 pupils, has led the Bury local education authority's GCSE league table for the third time in four years.

Jubilant headmaster Mr Austin Campbell said A*-C results achieved by the school in 1993 were the best achieved previously by any of the borough's high schools since the introduction of league tables. And he added: "We have now improved upon this record in 1996."

St Monica's, 111th in the list of top comprehensives in the country, draws its pupils mainly from the Catholic population in the south of the borough, including Radcliffe.

Bury's average of 48.5 per cent for pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades compares favourably to the English figure as a whole (44.5 per cent) and is up a significant 3.2 per cent on 1995 and puts the borough in 22nd place overall in the national table.

But the borough has excelled itself in the numbers gaining five or more passes in grades A*G which puts Bury virtually at the head of the national league table. The figure of 93.4 per cent is a massive 7.4 per cent above the national average.

St Gabriel's High School, Bury, led the field in this sector with a 99 per cent mark followed on 98 per cent by Bury's Castlebrook and Derby high schools and St Monica's High School and Parrenthorn High, both Prestwich.

Commenting on the overall figures, Mr Harold Williams, acting deputy chief education officer and head of advisory service, said: "These results haven't been achieved at the expense of the less able. Our schools, teachers and pupils can be rightly very proud."

He said the local education authority was concerned not only with the brightest pupils but also with the quality of provision across the full range of abilities.

"This leads to a great feeling in that all the hard work by schools and teachers has led to a magnificent outcome," he added. "That performance, in fact, will put us in the top rank."

Bury education chairman, Coun David Ryder said: "I am delighted with the excellent GCSE results achieved by the pupils in Bury's schools. I heartily endorse the praise expressed by Harold Williams for the hard work and good teaching in Bury schools that make such achievements possible."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.