STAFF and students at a Highbridge school are celebrating after figures revealed it is the most improved secondary school in Somerset.

Figures from The Department of Education (DofE) show The King Alfred School Academy (TKASA) achieved an increase of 0.39 per cent on the Government’s main Progress 8 measure of performance.

The school comes out in 11th place when ranking the schools based on the number of grade 5 (roughly a C) or above in English and maths GCSEs.

Nathan Jenkins, principal of TKASA, said he is 'thrilled' the school is improving and praised the students for their hard work.

He said: "We are thoroughly delighted with these latest set of performance statistics which show how much we are improving in so many areas.

"There is much more to come.”

The school, which is now an academy, has been working with The Priory Learning Trust since being placed into special measures after being judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in April 2017.

The figures come after staff and students celebrated a bumper set of GCSE results in August with 19 per cent of students achieving grades 9-7, 53 per cent scoring grades 9-5, and 73 per cent achieving grades 9-4.

Neville Coles, executive principal of TPLT said he has high hopes for the school's future.

He said: “There is clearly a huge momentum at TKASA and students, staff, parents, carers, governors and the whole community are partners in making this school one of the fastest improving in the South West.”