THE girls of Bolton School are among the brightest young people in the country.

Tables released by ISC — the Independent Schools Council — show their GCSE results are among the top 100 in the UK.

Bolton School Girls’ Division was ranked 81st based on the proportion of exam entries awarded A* or A, which was 72.48 per cent.

It was one of just three schools in Greater Manchester to make the top 100, along with Withington Girls’ School and Manchester High School for Girls.

Headmistress Sue Hincks said the good results achieved by the girls would provide an “excellent foundation” for their future studies.

She added: “I am very happy that, in terms of Points Per Candidate, we are in first position in Greater Manchester, which shows we help girls to do well across the ability range.

“The girls have succeeded as a result of their intellectual talents and the high aspirations which they have for themselves, supported by their parents and their teachers, who want them to reach their potential.

“Not everyone in Bolton realises that one in six of the pupils in Bolton School comes to us as a result of a bursary, which often pays the entirety of the girl's fees, and I hope these results will encourage intelligent girls to apply to us, regardless of their family's financial position.”

In Greater Manchester, Bolton School Girls’ Division was ranked fourth. Bolton School Boys’ Division was placed sixth among the 13 Greater Manchester independent schools for the numbers of A or A* achieved.

Neighbouring Bury Grammar Girls were placed fifth and Bury Grammar Boys School eighth.

The top performing independent school in the country was Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire and, in Greater Manchester, it was Withington Girls’ School