SQA results success 2023

An early snapshot of attainment data indicates improvements made as young people across the Highlands receive their SQA exam results today.

Initial figures for this year show an increase in the number of National 5 entries from the previous year, with 78% of candidates achieving A-C grades. 1,625 pupils in Highland have achieved five or more National 5 qualifications, nearly 2% more than the previous year.

Headlines include:

• 67.4% of S4 pupils achieved a National 5 English award and 47.5% achieved a National 5 Maths award. The latter being a slight decline on the significant improvement made in 2022, however attainment remains above the 4-year average by 2.5%.
• 19% of S5 pupils achieved 5 or more Higher awards (A-D pass), an increase of 1.7% from last year. Furthermore, 4.8% of S5 pupils achieved five ‘A’ grade Higher awards.
• By the end of S6, 32% of pupils achieved 3 or more Higher awards (A-D pass) which is a slight increase on the previous year. 18.7% of pupils gained at least 1 Advanced Higher (A-C), an increase of 1.8% from the previous year.

Education Chair, Cllr John Finlayson said: “This year’s data once again reflects the resilience and hard work of our young people and their teachers. There is much to celebrate across Highland in terms of this year’s results, and I would like to congratulate all who have achieved the results they hoped for. I am particularly proud of the achievements of our young people in S5 who live in vulnerable circumstances achieving a 3.2% increase in the number of Higher qualifications gained – that’s 35 more young people than last year.

“To those young people who are disappointed with any of their grades, don’t forget that there is a great deal of support available to you in your school to help you to decide what your next steps will be. For those young people in this position, I would urge you to make contact, with your Personal Support Teacher as they will be able to give you advice, as will Skills Development Scotland Officers. I would also urge parents and carers to take time to talk over exam results with their young people and to celebrate and offer support where it is required.”

Executive Chief Officer for Education and Learning, Nicky Grant added: “Education in Highland aims to nurture the unique talents of all learners to make sure they are supported in their achievements, progress, and wellbeing. It’s therefore important that we celebrate the success of all our young people today in both graded and ungraded course awards.

“We are glad that the early figures we have received indicate that we are offering a wide and diverse curriculum across the region, including in our rural areas. In S5, we have 105 young people who have achieved five ‘A’ grade Higher awards. Half of these young people attended rural schools which suggests that all learners in Highland are supported in inclusive learning environments which are safe, welcoming, caring, and proactively address any barriers to learning and inequities that exist or arise.”

Help and advice is available for all students receiving their results from their own schools and also from Skills Development Scotland’s dedicated Exam Results Helpline which is available for a week from today onwards to support young people.

SQA's Candidate Advice Line service is free of charge and opens at 9am on results day.

Helplines

• SQA Candidate Advice - 0345 279 1000.
• Skills Development Scotland’s Results - 0808 100 8000.
• UCAS - 0371 468 0468

More information has been sent to learners’ homes and is available at www.sqa.org.uk/appeals.

Clearing resources can be found at www.ucas.com/clearing-launch.