KEARSLEY Academy is turning around its fortunes after being named the most improved school in the borough based on this year's GCSE results.

The school found out this week it recorded the biggest leap in its pass rate.

It comes exactly a year after it was named as one of three schools among just 365 England not to have met Government’s floor standard for performance in 2017.

And at the time school bosses said they had introduced a raft of school improvement systems "to secure rapid improvement" which has paid off this year.

Kearsley Academy posted 63 per cent of pupils achieving a pass in English and maths, an improvement of 21 per cent on last year's results. And the school also recorded an increase of 17 per cent in the number of young people leaving with the government's new benchmark of a strong pass in maths or English, with 48 per cent of the year achieving the higher standard of 5 plus compared with 29 per cent of students last year.

Kim McKee, principal, said: "It is the resilience of our students and their commitment to achieve that makes us so proud of all they have accomplished. Our students are highly ambitious and we are so proud that with these results, they now have the opportunity to succeed in all of life’s future opportunities.

"I’d like to thank the staff for their continued dedication to ensuring our students succeed ­— these results are testament to their energy and enthusiasm for helping our students achieve the very best from their education.

"We are very proud to be the most improved secondary school in Bolton, but this rapid increase in results is just the start for Kearsley, and we aim to improve further each year and quickly become the outstanding school our children deserve, so all students who come to us have the best life chances possible."

Rob Tarn, Chief Executive of Northern Education Trust ­— the academy sponsor ­— said: “When considering the vastly improved results this year across all ten secondary academies sponsored by Northern Education Trust I offer my sincere congratulations and thanks to all students and staff. These results reflect the many positive changes that have taken place in our academies, with the introduction of a range of new systems.

"Much greater expectations have been placed on students, and these results show how brilliantly they have responded and how hard they have worked.

"We aim to enhance the life chances of the children and young people in our care, and these results are the culmination of their incredible efforts and dedication, allowing them to progress to the next stage of their lives with confidence in their abilities to succeed.

"We are extremely proud of our students and wish them every success with their futures."