Top Scottish schools revealed by Sunday Times Schools Guide

The top performing schools in Scotland have been revealed by Parent Power in The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022, with one school being awarded the top performing school this decade.

Bishopbriggs Academy has been named ‘Scottish State Secondary School of the Decade’ by the Sunday Times guide.

However, in the 2022 ranking for state secondary schools, the academy, which is located in East Dunbartonshire, was only ranked as 10th in Scotland, based on its Higher, Advanced Higher and National 5 outcomes in 2018 and 2019.

Jordanhill School in Glasgow has taken the top spot in the rankings for state secondary schools in Scotland.

Bishopbriggs Academy has been named Scottish State School of the Decade

In 2018 and 2019, 85.5% of students from the Glasgow school received at least 5 Highers with grades between an A and a C.

Meanwhile, a private school which costs £13,970 per year for a senior student to attend – George Heriots School in Edinburgh - was ranked as number one in the list of the top 10 independent secondary schools in Scotland.

This ranking was decided by exam results from 2019.

Top of the league table for state schools is Jordanhill School in Glasgow.

At the Edinburgh private school, 90.7% of students received a Higher or Advanced Higher with an A or a B grade.

The top school of the decade, Bishopbriggs Academy, only broke into the top 50 of the newspapers rankings in 2011.

Alastair McCall editor of Parent Power, said: “Few schools have come so far in the past decade as Bishopbriggs Academy. From not even ranking in our top 50 state secondary schools in 2010 to a seat at the top table now. It is a remarkable journey".

“The school leadership in that time has been exceptional, bringing to bear a vision of how good the school can be through encouraging children to participate and succeed in all areas of school life, not just in the examination hall".

McCall added: “The need for clarity about school examination performance has never been greater after two years of teacher assessed grades, during which for completely understandable reasons, the numbers of top grades increased dramatically.

“We felt it was important to go back to the last sets of moderated public examination outcomes from 2019, 2018 and 2017 to get the most accurate and current view of school academic achievement. By taking a three-year average, we mitigated against relatively poor performance in a one-off year.

“At a time when some schools are making it hard for parents to substantiate claims of academic prowess based on outcomes from 2021 and 2020, we believe these rankings – and all the additional information on offer in Parent Power – provide parents with a more reliable guide to academic achievement in schools today.”

Here are the top 10 state secondary schools in Scotland:

Jordanhill School St Ninian's High School, Giffnock Boroughmuir High School Mearns Castle High School Dunblane High School Bearsden Academy Williamwood High School Gryffe High School Douglas Academy Bishopbriggs Academy

Here are the top 10 independent secondary schools in Scotland:

George Heriot's School

Hutchesons' Grammar School

The High School of Glasgow

The Glasgow Academy

St Mary's Music School

St Margaret's School for Girls

The Mary Erskine School

The Edinburgh Academy

St Columba's School

Stewart Melville College

For the full regional rankings, a fully searchable national database is available at: thesundaytimes.co.uk/parentpower

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