The end of the first term of the 2024/25 school year is fast approaching, with the Christmas holidays on the horizon. It won’t be long before families applying for high and secondary school places for the next academic year find out if their children have made the top schools of their choice.
Using official Scottish Government statistics, Scotland’s Data on a Map publishes an annual league table rating how well the country’s state high and secondary schools have done, after the National and Higher exam results are released each year. They are ranked based on what Scotland’s Data on a Map describes as the ‘gold standard’ - the percentage of students who sat their Highers that year that passed five or more of them.
While this school year’s candidates are still waiting on their results, parents might want a little more insight into how schools encourage their pupils to achieve to the best of their abilities.
The most recent data currently available is from the 2022/23 school year, which saw a whopping 57 schools reach that gold standard with at least half of their students who sat their higher exams. But just ten schools hit the prestigious mark of having 70% or more of their students attain five or more Highers.
Here were the top 25 scoring state schools overall:
1. Jordanhill School
Jordanhill is a combined primary and secondary community school in Glasgow. It has held the top spot for the last six years in a row too. Jordanhill is funded directly by the Scottish government, and no fees are paid - nor is there any academic selection of pupils. In the 2022/23 school year, 89% of its students met the ‘gold standard’ of attaining five or more Highers. | Google
2. Bearsden Academy
This is a state secondary school in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire. In the 2022/23 school year, 81% of its students who sat their Higher exams attained five or more of them. | Google
3. Mearns Castle High School
Mearns Castle is a state secondary school in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire - just out of Glasgow. In the 2022/23 school year, 80% of its students attained five or more Highers. | Google
4. St Ninian's High School
St Ninian’s is a Catholic state secondary school in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, also part of Greater Glasgow. In the 2022/23 school year, 79% of its students attained five or more Highers. | Google