ONE of the region's biggest success stories over the past few years has been the Hermitage school in Chester-le-Street.

As a large, underachieving comprehensive in the early 1990s, it has been transformed into an up-to-date community college with a GCSE record that reflects this metamorphosis.

From a figure of 32 per cent of pupils achieving five GCSE passes in grades A to C in 1994, the appointment of a new headteacher, Eddie Brady, in the following year saw results leap to 47 per cent. This made it the most improved school in County Durham that year.

To complete the transformation, the school yesterday celebrated its best ever figure, 57 per cent - a pass rate unthinkable only seven academic years ago.

Mr Brady says a complete change in culture is responsible for the improvement.

He said: "When I first arrived it was a very caring school but it didn't challenge pupils.

"The facilities were really poor - it only had one PC for instance - and had been suffering from a lack of investment for some time. Teacher morale was also very low."

They changed the regular school hours to accommodate pupils who wanted to learn from 7.30am to 9pm every weekday if they wanted.

And now with 170 PCs and other high-tech equipment, the facilities improved alongside a change to a new "learning culture".

Mr Brady added: "GCSE results started to improve straight away because pupils were encouraged to take advantage of the out-of-school hours. They did this because they actually started to feel valued instead of just having things taught at them."

Also, since the mid-1990s old classrooms have been replaced by proper "learning environments", not just new classrooms, he said.