A COUNTY Durham school is in the top five non-faith comprehensives in the country

The Sunday Times list of the top 2,000 state and independent schools has been released, with Durham Johnston School being named as the North-East’s top state school.

It was the fourth ranked non-faith comprehensive school in the UK, and was 132 overall, following this year’s A-level results, which were the best in Durham.

The proportion of GCSEs gaining A* or A grades at 37.6% was also the highest in the state sector in the region.

Other state schools in the top ten were Egglescliffe School, in Stockton, St Leonard’s School, Durham and Carmel College, Darlington

In the independent schools category Yarm School was ranked second, Durham High School for Girls fourth, Durham School eighth, Barnard Castle School, ninth and Teesside High School, in Eaglescliffe, tenth.

The top independent school in the North-east was the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle, which is ranked 62nd in the UK.

In a separate ranking of state schools without sixth forms, Sedgefield Community College made it first appearance in the UK top 50, ranked on the proportion of A* and A grades (21.9%) achieved by students at GCSE.

Now in its 24th year of publication, The Sunday Times Parent Power survey is based on the percentage of exam entries getting A* to B grades at A-level and the percentage of entries getting A or A* at GCSE.