Highland Council hails improvements in latest school exam results
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Highland Council says data shows improvements made as young people receive their SQA exam results today.
For the Highland region figures show an increase in the number of National 5 entries from the previous year, with 78 per cent of candidates achieving A-C grades, the council said.
A total of 1625 Highland pupils have achieved five or more National 5 qualifications – nearly two per cent more than the previous year.
Other headline data:
- 67.4 per cent of S4 pupils achieved a National 5 English award and 47.5 per cent achieved a National 5 Maths award. The latter is a slight decline on improvement made last year but, the council says, attainment remains above the four-year average by 2.5 per cent.
- 19 per cent of S5 pupils achieved five or more Higher awards (A-D pass), an increase of 1.7 per cent from last year. Furthermore, 4.8 per cent of S5 pupils achieved five ‘A’ grade Higher awards.
- By the end of S6, 32 per cent of pupils achieved three or more Higher awards (A-D pass), a slight increase on the previous year. 18.7 per cent of pupils gained at least one Advanced Higher (A-C), an increase of 1.8 per cent from the previous year.
Chairman of the council's education committee, Councillor John Finlayson, said: “This year’s data once again reflects the resilience and hard work of our young people and their teachers.
"There is much to celebrate across Highland in terms of this year’s results, and I would like to congratulate all who have achieved the results they hoped for.
"I am particularly proud of the achievements of our young people in S5 who live in vulnerable circumstances achieving a 3.2 per cent increase in the number of Higher qualifications gained – that’s 35 more young people than last year."
And he added: “To those young people who are disappointed with any of their grades, don’t forget that there is a great deal of support available to you in your school to help you to decide what your next steps will be.
"For those young people in this position, I would urge you to make contact, with your Personal Support Teacher as they will be able to give you advice, as will Skills Development Scotland Officers.
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"I would also urge parents and carers to take time to talk over exam results with their young people and to celebrate and offer support where it is required.”
Executive chief officer for education and learning, Nicky Grant, said: “Education in Highland aims to nurture the unique talents of all learners to make sure they are supported in their achievements, progress, and wellbeing.
"It’s therefore important that we celebrate the success of all our young people today in both graded and ungraded course awards.
“We are glad that the early figures we have received indicate that we are offering a wide and diverse curriculum across the region, including in our rural areas.
"In S5, we have 105 young people who have achieved five ‘A’ grade Higher awards.
"Half of these young people attended rural schools which suggests that all learners in Highland are supported in inclusive learning environments which are safe, welcoming, caring, and proactively address any barriers to learning and inequities that exist or arise.”
Helplines:
SQA Candidate Advice – 0345 279 1000.
Skills Development Scotland’s Results – 0808 100 8000.
UCAS – 0371 468 0468
More information has been sent to learners’ homes and is available here
Clearing resources can be found here
