A SECONDARY school in Horwich is in the top 100 schools in the country.

St Joseph's RC High School in Chorley New Road has been praised by the Government for its "excellent improvement" in its GCSE results between 2013 and 2015.

It is now in the top 100 state-funded schools in English for showing the greatest sustained improvement in the percentage of pupils achieving five or more A* to C-grades including English and maths.

Results at the school have soared from 66 per cent in 2013 to 77 per cent last summer.

The official examination results were released earlier this year and show that St Joseph's RC High School smashed the Bolton average of 56.8 per cent and the national average of 53.8 per cent.

The results placed St Joseph's RC High School joint third in Bolton, with Bolton School girls' division being placed number one and Bolton Muslim Girls School ranked second in the borough.

Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools, wrote to Richard Woods, headteacher, praising the school for its achievements.

Mr Gibb said: "I am writing to convey my warmest congratulations to you, your staff and your pupils for your school's excellent improvement in GCSE and equivalent results between 2013 and 2015."

He added: "Ensuring your pupils are achieving at least the benchmark standards of attainment at key stage four provides a strong basis for their further education and employment.

"Thank you for your work in this important area of a young person's education and congratulations again to you and your staff for your hard work and professionalism."

Ofsted marked St Joseph's RC High School as good with outstanding features, where "the attainment for 5 GCSE grades A* to C, including English and mathematics, was significantly above the national average".

Mr Woods said: "The St Joseph’s community is very pleased to receive this national recognition highlighting our continued success and our desire to be the very best that we can possibly be.

"The letter from the Minister of State for Schools rightly congratulates students, staff, governors and parents on the tremendous hard work and dedication shown each and every day here at St Joseph’s."

He added: "As a Catholic Christian community, we strongly believe that every child in our care should be afforded the very best opportunities across all aspects of school life — so that they can become responsible, dynamic young people who achieve academically, develop morally and spiritually, and who have the necessary skills to be used in further education, employment or training.

"St Joseph’s is also proud to be a member of the Bolton Learning Alliance of Secondary Schools and Academies committed to raising the outcomes and life chances of all 19,000 secondary students across our local authority."