COUNTY Durham has bucked the national trend with soaring GCSE results in what looks like its best year of exam results.

Education chiefs estimate that the county's GCSE pass rate has increased this year, following the release of the results yesterday.

They said the percentage of pupils gaining five A* to C grades looked to have increased significantly.

It comes as the national trend has seen almost no difference in pass rates.

County Durham has also fared well in other exams, with key stage one results in reading, writing and maths at or above the national average.

Key stage two results, for 11-year-olds, were in line with national averages in English and science and significantly above the average in maths.

Results of tests for 14-year-olds also showed a significant improvement in all subjects and last week's A-level results were better than last year.

David Ford, Durham County Council's chief education inspector, said: "In every case, the rate of improvement in Durham is greater than that nationally, and significantly so in science, where the increase in the number of pupils achieving the expected levels is four times the national increase.

"Early indications of our GCSE results also reflect this positive trend of improvement."

One successful school was Easington Community in east Durham which increased its percentage of pupils gaining five A to C grades from 30 per cent to 44 per cent - its best result.

It is situated in an area with high levels of deprivation and last year Ofsted inspectors deemed the school as having serious weaknesses.

Since then, headteacher Paul McHugh has brought in a number of initiatives such as learning mentors to give pupils individual support and extra classes during weekends and holidays.

At St Thomas More Catholic School, in Gateshead, and Emmanuel College, in Gateshead, 95 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades.

Generally, Sunderland and Gateshead achieved record numbers of pupils gaining five or more A* to C grades, with 60 per cent of students in Gateshead gaining the top grades.