High exam results have put Mullion School in the top ten per cent of the country.

National league tables released today announced that in exams taken by year nine pupils across the country, the school had performed better than the national average in all three subjects, putting them top in Cornwall.

The results in the year nine SAT exams saw Mullion break its own targets. In English, the percentage of pupils achieving a level five grade was 88 per cent, as opposed to 72 per cent nationally, while in maths 96 per cent of pupils achieved level five, as opposed to the average of 77 per cent. In science, 93 per cent of Mullion pupils scored a level five, as opposed to 77 per cent nationally.

The percentage of pupils achieving higher grades, at level six and seven, was also the best ever. For example, 48 per cent of pupils achieved a level seven in maths - the equivalent of a grade C at GCSE - two years ahead of time.

Head teacher Mike Sandford said: "We are naturally very pleased with these results. It is rewarding to see pupils achieving better grades than would have been predicted for them against national norms."

The tables published by the Department for Education and Science (DfES) gave Mullion a "value added" score - which measures pupils' progress between the time they arrive and the time the leave - of 102.7, which puts them in the top ten per cent of schools in the country.

Mr Sandford described the score as "superb," adding: "It is a reward for the hard work of the pupils, their teachers and their parents."