OXFORDSHIRE’S two single-sex state schools are among the most improved schools in the county at GCSE in the past three years, new figures have shown.

Didcot Girls’ School saw the second biggest increase from 2009 to 2011 in pupils achieving five A* to Cs including English and maths, with an average annual increase of 7.3 percentage points.

And the town’s boys school, St Birinus, was not far behind, with an average increase of 6.95 percentage points Didcot Girls’ School headteacher Rachael Warwick said: “We are really delighted and I think there are a number of reasons why ourselves and St Birinus have shown such an improvement.

“Both schools have had new heads in the last 12-18 months so there’s been an injection of renewed energy.

“Single-sex education is evidently working really well here.”

In 2009, 50.5 per cent of pupils at Didcot Girls’ School achieved five A* to Cs including English and maths.

This year, 65.1 per cent of pupils hit the target.

St Birinus School headteacher Alwyn Richards said: “It’s absolutely fantastic news, now let’s keep moving forward.”

North Oxfordshire Academy, formerly the Drayton school, in Banbury, which became an academy in September 2007, saw results rise 12.55 percentage points each year, with 50.8 per cent of pupils last year reaching the target.

Headteacher Ruth Robinson said: “We looked at the curriculum, behaviour, length of lessons and clearly over the three years that has really paid off.”

Wheatley Park School – which came out of special measures earlier this year – was the third most improved school, with an average 7.25 percentage points more pupils gaining the benchmark level.

Oxford School converted into Oxford Spires Academy in January, and has seen a 3.45 percentage point average increase from 2009 to 2011.

Headteacher Sue Croft said: “We are heading very much in an upwards diretion.

“Our expectation is to try to improve another 10 percentage points this academic year.”

The results follow reports last week that the gap between the proportion of girls and boys achieving the target grades was growing.

Research published in 2009 suggested girls in the state sector in single sex schools all on average did better than predicted – while in mixed sex schools, 20 per cent did worse than expected.

Oxfordshire’s results follow reports last week that the gap between the proportion of girls and boys achieving the target grades was growing, and saw the county’s figures fall below the national average for the first time.

Across the county, 56.8 per cent of pupils made the grade compared to 57.9 per cent nationally.

Oxfordshire County Council’s schools improvement cabinet member Melinda Tilley said it was “interesting” to see how well the two single-sex schools had performed.

She said: “Sometimes girls do better when they’re not under the shadow of boys and sometimes boys do better when they don’t have to compete with girls.”