STAR pupils in Bolton gave a first class performance in their GCSEs according to official government figures.

The town was placed joint fourth in the 10 Greater Manchester authorities for the numbers of students achieving five or more top graded GCSEs including English and maths – beating neighbouring Bury and Salford.

Department for Education figures show that 56.3 per cent of year 11s achieved the benchmark figure in the summer – above the national average of 52.8 per cent and the North West average of 54.9 per cent.

Bolton’s figure was slightly down on last year’s results, which stood at 57.3 per cent, but this was in line with the national trend where results fell by a percentage point.

The figures also show that 66.4 per cent of children left school with five or more good GCSEs in any subject compared to 65.6 per cent.

Girls outshone boys, with 61.9 per cent reaching the benchmark compared to 50.8 per cent of boys.

But both sexes outperformed their peers nationally, with 58 per cent of girls nationally achieving the standard and 47.9 per cent of boys.

Deputy leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Linda Thomas, said: “While these are still provisional results, we would like to reiterate our congratulations to our pupils who took their GCSE examinations this year.

“With those achieving five or more A* to C grades including English and Maths at 56.3 per cent we are above the national average of 52.8 per cent and the North West average of 54.9 per cent.

“Once again, we would like to pay tribute to all our pupils, their parents and the schools in helping them achieve such commendable results.

“Exams are always a culmination of several years of hard work by everyone involved, so well done to all.”