FOUR Oxfordshire schools were among the best- performing sixth-forms in the country last year, according to new figures.

Based on an average points score for A-Levels, International Baccalaureate and equivalent sixth- form qualifications in 2011, St Clare’s, in Woodstock Road, was 22nd in the country.

In total 2,948 sixth-forms from across the country were points scored.

The college, which teaches 24 different languages and has a student body made up of pupils from 47 different countries, saw the average points score rise from 1,160.5 in 2010, when the college was 25th, to 1,176.1.

That is equivalent to three A*s at A-Level.

Principal Paula Holloway was delighted by the results.

She said: “The fact that we are, by design, a small college, creates a particular sort of atmosphere where everyone does know everyone else and there is a strong community feel about that.

“We have a large cohort of students doing the International Baccalaureate diploma and because we don’t do anything else there is no tension between students doing International Baccalaureate and students doing A-Level.”

The college, where fees are from £17,846 per year, was the first in the UK to offer the qualification as an alternative to A-Levels.

Mrs Holloway said: “We are not highly selective and our results prove if you have young people who are hard working and enthusiastic, and teachers who share that enthusiasm, a broad range of students can do very well.

“We are able to offer such a variety of languages because we are in Oxford, a university city, which means we can tap into that wonderful outlet of knowledge from people who are, for example, from Poland or Italy. We use first language speakers of all those languages to teach those students.”

About 20 per cent of the 260 pupils at the school are English, and roughly 12 per cent of those are from the Oxfordshire area.

Magdalen College School, in Cowley Place, was ranked 53rd for its average points score, down from 47th, although the average points score had actually increased from 1,116 to 1,123.2.

Radley College and Headington School, at 65th and 72nd respectively, also made the top 100.

Neither school was rated in the top 100 sixth-forms in 2010, and both saw a dramatic rise in average points scores, from 1,047.9 to 1,083.2 for Radley and from 1,002.9 to 1,075.2 for Headington.

Headington School headteacher Caroline Jordan said: “I don’t necessarily place a lot of value on league tables. It is a question of how girls perform compared with their natural ability that really matters.

“Saying that, we are very pleased since this coincides with our first year of International Baccalaureate students as well as A-Levels and it just proves how well the girls are doing at both qualifications.”

Oxford High School, however, dropped out of the top 100, having been 67th in 2011 with an average score of 1,088.4. It was 115th in the country last year based on average points of 1,038.1.