Schools in Sutton remain the fourth highest performing in the country despite a fall in overall GCSE results.

The borough held onto its fourth placed spot from last year, which this year put it behind only Trafford (70.7 per cent), Kingston upon Thames (73.2 per cent) and the Isles of Scilly (73.7 per cent), which has only one school.

But the borough’s results continue to decline on its 2013 results where Sutton achieved 77 per cent, compared to 72.1 per cent and 70.4 per cent last year and this year, respectively.

Sutton’s results are in line with the national trend which saw results slide from 59.2 per cent in 2014 to 57.1 per cent in 2015.

But when asked for a comment about the decline, a DfE spokesperson said: “These results show how far we have come in raising standards.

“We refuse to accept second best for any young person and we must now focus on extending opportunity for all.

This Government is giving all young people, irrespective of their background, a fair shot in life and we must not let up the pace of reform now.

“Through our focus on delivering educational excellence everywhere and the dedication of our schools, we will ensure every child fulfils their potential.”

The top-performing schools in the borough were Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar and Wilson’s School, who all achieved a 100 per cent pass rate.

Wallington High School for Girls and Nonsuch High School for Girls were not far behind with a 99 per cent pass rate.

2015 was the last year in which schools were ranked by GCSE results, with the new Attainment 8 being used to measure pupils’ progress in future.

Attainment 8 will measure the achievement of a pupil across eight different qualifications including maths, English and a further three qualifications that count in the English Baccalaureate.

These further qualifications that count towards it include history, geography, languages and sciences.

Wilson’s School made history recently when they announced that 24 of its students had been offered to study at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Two Year 13 students, Charles Stewart and Jacob Veerapen, won funding and places at prestigious Ivy League Colleges Brown University and Columbia University respectively.