More school leavers in the north and north-east landed in “positive destinations” in 2021, after a small hiccup in 2020.
Using the newest Scottish Government data, we broke down students’ performance on Higher exams last year to create a school league table for the north and north-east.
But racking up results on Highers to make it into university isn’t the only path to success.
And the numbers show that most councils sent more students to jobs and training as well as further education in 2021 than they did in 2020.
How did schools do last year?
The Western Isles led the way with 98% of students going on to positive destinations in 2021.
Orkney reported 97% of school leavers went on to positive destinations, with Aberdeenshire and Shetland close behind at 96%.
Aberdeen City schools landed on the national average of 95%.
Only Highland and Moray Councils came in below the national average, but each were just one percentage point below that mark at 94%.
Except for Moray, every local authority saw the percentage of school leavers on to positive destinations take a dip in 2020.
Aberdeen saw the most dramatic change, dropping four points in 2020 before returning to a rate of 95% in 2021.
Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen recorded the biggest rise since 2020, each jumping five percentage points.
Positive destinations or exam results?
According to our school league table, Aberdeen hosted the top and bottom schools in the north-east, ranked according to the percentage of students achieving five or more Highers in 2021. Cults Academy led the line with 78%, while Northfield Academy was bottom with 7%.
But local education leaders said that exam results don’t tell the whole story of a school.
Despite being more than 30 points below the 42% national average for Highers, 93% of Northfield’s school leavers went on to positive destinations.
The story is similar in the Highlands. Despite being second-bottom of our league table with 12% of students gaining five or more Highers, Inverness High School sent 80% of students on to positive destinations.
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