Medway did better than the average for the rest of the county – and the country – in its latest round of GCSE results.

According to official league tables from the Department for Education in Medway the percentage of pupils who achieved at least five A*-C including English and maths GCSEs last year was 58.8%.

Unusually, it puts the Towns slightly in front of Kent, at 58%, and the national average of 56.6%.

The figures, released today, appear lower than in previous years because of major changes in the results goalposts.

In the past, if pupils retook exams many times to get a better grade, it would be the best grade that counted – now it is only the grade gained on their first attempt which is used to measure school performance.

As well as this the department has toughened up on what is technically counted as a GCSE.

Around 3,000 alternative qualifications, typically vocational courses, have been removed from the performance measures. The number of these qualifications which count in the performance measures has been restricted to two per pupil.

No qualification now counts as more than one GCSE. For example, where one BTEC counted as four GCSEs, this no longer applies.

As in previous years, the girls continue to outperform the boys. The percentage of boys who achieved the standard measure of success – five A*-Cs including in English and maths – was 56.90% but girls were up at 60.8%.

Typically there was a significant drop in the achievements of those pupils who are disadvantaged too.

Across the Towns, only 35% of those on free school meals met the target, compared to 66% of those who were not.