City pupils praised as exam results continue to improve

Thousands of school pupils across the city were this morning set to receive their results in the post.

And early indications suggest that results have improved compared with last year.

City leaders claimed that the strong results showed that cuts to education budgets had not affected achievement.

Performance in Highers continued to improve, while the number of passes at Advanced Higher was also up on last year.

Ninety-two per cent of pupils sitting English and mathematics at Standard Grade achieved a pass at level three or better.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, said: "Early signs show that pupils have performed very well. As an education authority we are particularly pleased with this because it shows that, despite the large savings we've had to make over the past two years, our efforts to focus on excellence across the curriculum are making an impact.

"We will now look at the results in more depth so we can identify where we need to provide more support."

Across Scotland, 35,000 students will have received their results yesterday after they opted to be sent a text or e-mail - a service offered for the first time this year.

But the rest will this morning have faced the traditional anxious wait for the postman.

The early indications suggest that one in four Edinburgh pupils had achieved five or more awards at level six or better up to the end of sixth year, which is up one per cent on last year.

The number gaining three or more awards above level six increased by one per cent, to 25 per cent.

Of those at the end of fifth year, 90 per cent achieved five or more passes at level three or better, which is up one per cent on last year, while the number of fourth year pupils who had achieved five or more awards at level three or better stayed the same, at 90 per cent.

Across Scotland, the Higher pass rate was 74.6 per cent, up 0.4 per cent on last year, while the Standard Grade pass rate remained at 98.5 per cent.

Education Secretary Michael Russell said: "I'd like to convey my congratulations to students, teachers and parents for their success, which confirms the strengths of the Scottish education system.

"Yet again Scottish students are achieving excellent results."