Scotland’s best state secondary school has been named for 2026, with the annual Sunday Times Parent Power Guide ranking the country’s top performers.
Retaining its top spot as Scotland’s highest ranked state secondary is Jordanhill School in Glasgow, which has also been awarded Scottish state secondary school of the year for academic excellence.
Other highly commended schools include Douglas Academy in Milngavie in fifth place, which has also been named as the overall Scottish state secondary school for 2026, with Aberdeen Grammar School in Aberdeen the runner-up.
Evaluating schools by overall Highers performance in 2025, the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2026 found that – once again – the majority of Scotland’s best state secondaries are located in or around Glasgow. However, that is without considering independent schools or those which earned awards outside of the top ten.
Recognised as the definitive ranking of the UK’s top schools, the full guide includes a fully searchable national database of more than 2,000 schools by name, local authority, town and postcode along with an assessment of academic results per school.
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If you’re solely interested in the best of the best, here are Scotland’s top ten state secondary schools according to the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2026.
9. Boclair Academy
After climbing from sixteen to eighth last year, Boclair Academy in Bearsden maintains its standing among Scotland's state secondary schools coming in at ninth in the league tables for 2026. | David Cadzow / Contributed
10. Boroughmuir High School
A rather dramatic slide down the rankings, Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh went from Scotland's fourth best state secondary to its tenth in the 2026 Times Parent Power Guide - though it is still the Scottish Capital's top state performer. | Google Maps