Scotland’s top 10 performing high schools revealed in new Sunday Times league table

The new list of top performing schools has been revealed

Glasgow’s Jordanhill is top performing high school for seventh year running, a new ‘league table’ suggests.

The list produced by the Sunday Times sees East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire dominate as the best-performing education authorities.

Jordanhill is directly funded by the Scottish government and is independently governed, as opposed to other schools which are funded by councils that exert more influence over where money can be spent. Some 89 per cent of its pupils in 2023 secured five or more highers — the “gold standard” of high school achievement according to the SNP government.

East Renfrewshire’s position as the highest-performing education authority continues, with four schools in the top ten. East Dunbartonshire has three schools in the top ten and six in the top 20.

Bearsden Academy, in East Dunbartonshire, retained its position in second place with 81 per cent of pupils hitting the standard. Mearns Castle High School in East Renfrewshire, moved into third place with an increase from 73 to 80 per cent in the number of pupils achieving five highers.

Boclair Academy, also in East Dunbartonshire, is the highest new entry in the top ten, rising ten places to sixth. Linlithgow Academy, in West Lothian, has reclaimed a place in the top ten for the first time since 2016, with 70 per cent of pupils scoring five highers.

Top 10 performing high schools

Boroughmuir High was the top performing school in Edinburgh and the only one from the capital in the top ten. Around one in four pupils in the city go to private schools which are not part of this list. Cults Academy, in Aberdeen, fell out of the top ten this year, dropping ten places to 16th.

Jordanhill is run by a board of managers made up of seven parents and three staff members, selected by other parents and staff. It also has professional advisers alongside the board and a rector, who runs the school day-to-day.

Among the most improved schools was Lochgilphead High, in Argyll, with 36 per cent at gold standard, up 16 percentage points since 2022 and the best result since 2016 (44 per cent). Woodmill School, in Fife, one of the biggest schools in Scotland with more than 1,400 pupils, also hit 50 per cent gold standard pupils for the first time.