Young people across Argyll and Bute are continuing to achieve strong education outcomes, with new figures showing high attainment levels and a growing number moving into employment, training or further study.
Latest statistics presented to councillors at a meeting of the Community Services Committee show that 94.8 per cent of pupils leaving school in 2024 progressed into positive destinations including employment, training, further education or university.
From Scotland’s thirty two local authorities, Argyll and Bute Council remains in the top ten for supporting school leavers into positive destinations.
The figures come from the Scottish Government’s Summary Statistics for Attainment and highlight continued progress across schools in the area.
Among the key results, 87 per cent of school leavers achieved at least one Level 5 qualification, an increase on last year’s figure of 85.7 per cent.
At Higher level, 62 per cent of pupils achieved at least one Level 6 qualification, with the A to D pass rate for Higher exams sitting 0.4 per cent ahead of the national average.
Meanwhile 21.6 per cent of pupils achieved a Level 7 Advanced Higher award.
Support for care experienced young people also remains a focus, with literacy performance at Level 4 now above the national average.
Four of the last five years have seen improvements in Level 4 literacy for care experienced pupils.
Councillor Kieron Green, Policy Lead for Education, welcomed the latest figures.
“The latest attainment report from the Scottish Government is really positive and I’m proud to see Argyll and Bute Council holding that top ten position.
“We remain committed to supporting the aspirations of all our learners and enabling young people leaving our education services to build the lives they want.
“Across Argyll and Bute, education teams continue to deliver a programme of support for our schools.
“This is helping to drive improvement in attainment and achievement outcomes for our young people.
“I would like to thank education staff and young people for all their hard work.”
Councillors also heard that schools across Argyll and Bute are continuing to improve performance across the Curriculum for Excellence.
New Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data shows improvements across literacy and numeracy in primary and secondary schools.
Argyll and Bute ranked in the top half of all councils for 30 per cent of the measures assessed, with improvements recorded in 26 out of 30 measures since the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
Overall performance matched or exceeded the national average in 83 per cent of measures, a significant improvement compared with 2021 to 2022 when only two measures aligned with national results.
For the third consecutive year, Argyll and Bute also outperformed the national average for pupils living in Scotland’s most deprived areas, ranking seventh in Scotland for literacy and tenth for numeracy.
Literacy performance is in line with national levels at Primary 1, Primary 4 and Secondary 3 Third Level, while numeracy results are in line with or ahead of national averages across most stages.
Reading performance is ahead of national levels at Primary 4 and Secondary 3 Fourth Level, while writing performance is ahead of national levels at Secondary 3 Fourth Level.
Since 2021 to 2022, primary literacy performance across the area has risen by 13.8 percentage points, with numeracy increasing by 11 percentage points.
Councillor Kieron Green said improving attainment across Curriculum for Excellence remains a key priority for the council.
“Improving attainment across Curriculum for Excellence levels remains a key priority for our Education Service.
“Our ambition is to ensure that every child and young person in Argyll and Bute achieves their fullest potential.
“It’s especially encouraging to see the clear progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap between pupils in our most and least deprived communities, and to see sustained improvement across almost all measures since 2021/22.
“With Argyll and Bute performing in line with or above the national average in 25 out of 30 measures, it’s clear that the hard work of learners, school staff and our education teams is paying off.”
Councillors are expected to hear directly from young people about their learning experiences at the next Community Services Committee meeting in May, where pupils will share their personal education journeys and the different pathways available through the region’s secondary schools.
