Teenagers in Hertfordshire are still performing above the national average in their GCSE exams, despite a fall from last year's results.

The latest figures from the Department for Education show that 65.8 per cent of pupils in the county achieved five or more A* - C grades, which is a fall of half a per cent since 2013. 

This is compared to the national performance figures, which show that the number of people achieving the higher GCSE grades has dropped by 4.7 per cent to 55.9 per cent in 2014.

Chris Hayward, Hertfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for education and skills, said: "We are immensely proud of the achievements of our young people and the teachers who have helped them be successful in their recent exams. 

"We are delighted with the performance of all our schools where some 82 per cent of all schools across the board are receiving ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ reports from Ofsted. Our aim is to make that figure 100 per cent by 2017."