Highers record but performance gap widens

THE gap between the best and worst-performing schools is widening as Scotland's only state-funded school outwith council control tops the league table again this year.

Meanwhile, many of the poorest inner-city schools improved only marginally.

Jordanhill School in Glasgow, which receives public funding but is not under local government control, is first in our table with 72 per cent of pupils achieving three or more Highers in S5. The school, which has come top in the rankings for several years, raised its performance from 70 per cent last year.

Second was Williamwood High in East Renfrewshire, where 68 per cent achieved three Highers in S5 compared with 63 per cent last year. That result leap-frogged the secondary to second place above its nearby rival St Ninian's, which saw 64 per cent of its S5 pupils achieve three Highers, up from 62 per cent.

However, on a ranking based on five Higher passes or more, Jordanhill is knocked off the top spot by Williamwood. Jordanhill saw 45 per cent achieve five passes at Higher this year against 46 per cent at Williamwood.

Some rural schools did achieve a greater pass rate thanJordanhill but have been excluded from the top ten because of the small number of pupils sitting exams.

The rises at the top of the table come after a record year for Higher results, which saw a 0.4 per cent rise in the pass-rate to 74.6 per cent. An additional 4.7 per cent of candidates took Higher exams in 2009-10.

Exam statistics for every secondary school in Scotland were published yesterday on the Scottish Schools Online website. Run by government body Learning and Teaching Scotland, the site provides a detailed breakdown for each Scottish school, with exam results, figures on absence and the number of pupils going on to university or college.

As the Scottish Government does not publish exam league tables, The Scotsman has processed the statistics to produce a list of the country's best-performing secondary schools.

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East Renfrewshire Council education convener Alan Lafferty praised his schools' performance, saying: "The performance of our schools right across the board is something for each of us to be proud of. It's all the more remarkable when you look back at where we sat 15 or 16 years ago.

"This level of performance wasn't assured and it's through hard work and dedication from our pupils, teachers, education staff and parents that we are where we are today."

No-one was available to comment from Jordanhill School yesterday.

Some of the worst-performing schools, mostly in areas of deprivation, saw large percentage improvements but they were still based on very small numbers achieving Higher.Councillors in Glasgow, where some of Scotland's poorest schools are located, argued that there had been great improvements in tackling educational attainment in some of Scotland's most deprived areas.

Bailie Jean McFadden, executive member for education, said: "Glasgow's exam results this year are the best ever and we are very proud of the young people and their teachers."

She argued that the city had been leading the way in offering alternative vocational qualifications, which weren't recognised in the league tables. She said: "Education in Glasgow continues to go from strength to strength … I want to assure pupils, parents and staff that we will continue this trend."