Uppingham Community College has been recognised nationally for its excellent results in 2018.

Based on data from the Department for Education and Ofsted, analysed by the SSAT (Schools, Students and Teachers' network), UCC was found to be among the best performing secondary schools in the country, receiving an award for being in the top 20% of non-selective schools nationally for attainment.

In the school's weekly newsletter, Principal Ben Solly says: "Receiving accolades such as this one is testament to the hard work and dedication from every single person in the school and we are very proud of this national recognition.

"However, I am very clear with the UCC staff about our ethos and culture; we are not a school that chases the next decimal point on our Progress 8 score, we are not a school where the curriculum is manipulated to service the government's accountability measures and we are not a school where the sole focus is on academic outcomes.

"We place as much importance on the all-round development of our students as we do on their academic achievements; for us, these come hand-in-hand.

"It is really important to me that we focus on the things that matter and that make the biggest difference: teaching consistently great lessons, caring compassionately about our students and having high aspirations for all of them.

"Our vision is for everyone at UCC to thrive in their learning and development and we will achieve this by relentlessly focussing on our core values of kindness, respect and honesty, and staying true to our educational principles.

"Outcomes such as the SSAT national award will be a by-product of us establishing a culture where every single person can thrive."

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The SSAT Educational Outcomes database compares all state-funded schools in England and the highest performing schools for a range of key measures are awarded SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards.

The college will be presented with its award during the summer term at a ceremony in Coventry.

UCC students achieved record-breaking GCSE results in 2018.

In English 95% of students achieved a Grade 4 (pass) and 82% a Grade 5 (strong pass). More than 30% of students achieved a Grade 7 or above.

Strong results in Maths were maintained from 2017 with 82% of students achieving a pass grade. At the top end, 27% of students achieved a Grade 7 or higher, beating UCC's previous best score by 7%.

Overall, the proportion of students achieving a 'strong pass' in English and Maths was 58%, equalling the impressive figure from 2017.