THE GCSE results have confirmed Winchester's schools as the most consistently high performing in Hampshire.

The district's schools are reporting record years. While the teachers pored over the statistics the pupils were, in the main, enjoying the release of tension. Scores gathered yesterday at each of the schools to celebrate with friends.

Passes at grades A-C, the equivalent of the old O-levels are: Perins, 82 per cent; Kings, 80 per cent; Westgate, 77 per cent; Henry Beaufort, unavailable.

The heads were pleased too. Peter Jenner, headmaster of Westgate, said: "This shows Winchester is a centre of excellence in exam performance. There is a tremendously high standard here across all the schools."

The leap in performance can be clearly seen when looking at the four-year average from 1995-98: Perins, 63; Kings, 64; Westgate, 66; and Henry Beaufort, 66.

This year is the first for several years that most of the Winchester schools have been prepared to release the results in August.

Until now the heads agreed to minimise disclosure which could lead to unhelpful comparisons. But the giant improvement has encouraged them to end the agreement although until yesterday Kings staff thought it still held.

Neither Winchester College nor St Swithun's, the private schools, were prepared to release their figures. They will be issued later in the year through Isis, the Independent Schools Information Service.

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