“Excellent” exam results in Buckinghamshire “are not publicised enough” according to councillors – after it was revealed a quarter of school leavers in the county got in to top universities last summer.

Bucks county councillor for Chiltern Ridges, Patricia Birchley, said 25 per cent of pupils leaving school in Bucks last year were offered places at Russell Group universities – more than twice as many when compared Hertfordshire.

The council chairman praised the “fantastic achievement”, however questioned why “excellent” exam results across the county are not publicised more.

Speaking during a meeting of Bucks County Council’s (BCC) children’s select committee this morning (March 12), Cllr Birchley said: “I read in the press last week that over 25 per cent of all school leavers in Buckinghamshire last summer got into Russell Group universities which was a fantastic achievement, and it was more than twice as many as Hertfordshire.

“I have been thinking for a long time we don’t publicise our excellent results enough. I was writing three or four newsletters last week and I could have done with a bit more information.

“In fact I am sure we had excellent GCSEs or A-Level results last summer, but one can only find out about them in the press.

“Personally, I don’t seem to find this filtering through to members. Can I make a request that we have an update on our results from the last 12 months so we can use this to inform our residents about what is happening?”

Deputy cabinet member for education at BCC, Anita Cranmer, agreed with Cllr Birchley – and hailed “excellent” schools as “the jewels in the crown of Buckinghamshire”.

She added: “We certainly don’t publicise our excellent schools enough. They are the jewels in the crown of Buckinghamshire, in fact they attract people to Bucks so that’s excellent. We can action that.”