Scottish Qualification Results 2008 – Highland

Highland pupils have once again done well in their Scottish Qualification Authority exams.

Overall Standard Grade results remain good with the percentage of pupils presented achieving an overall pass rate of 98.5% compared to 98% nationally. There was a 99.3% success in Standard Grade English against a national figure of 98.7%.  Performance in Mathematics at 98.6% almost matches the national performance of 98.7%.  At Higher level 74.6% of the pupils presented  achieved Higher passes against a national figure of 73.4%.

In Standard Grade awards generally, 91.3% of pupils achieved a pass with 80% achieving General Level or Intermediate 1 awards, and 37.7% achieving Credit level or Intermediate 2 awards -  both improving on 2007 performance at this stage.  In English 94.8% of pupils achieved a pass, an increase of 1.1% on 2007.  In Mathematics 95.6% of pupils achieved a pass, an increase of 0.8% on 2007.  

At Higher level the number of candidates in S5 achieving 5+ Highers has, in a single sitting, decreased by 1.1% to 8.9% while the number of candidates achieving 3+ Highers has increased by 0.2% on the 2007 performance.

The number of pupils achieving 5 Highers with an A pass this year was 44, one more than in 2007.  This included 7 pupils from Fortrose Academy, 6 from Inverness Royal Academy, 5 from Dingwall Academy and 4 from Invergordon Academy.

In S4, the overall performance shows a significant improvement when compared to results at the same stage last year.  In S5 there is a more mixed picture with increases in those gaining 1+ and 3+ awards but a decrease in those gaining 5+ awards.

A spokesman for the Council said: “While overall these figures represent a good performance in comparison to national levels there has been some drop off in attainment in S5 at Higher level.  It will be necessary to further review these figures once the formal appeal process has been completed and to assess the impact which changes in course provision in schools such as Skills for Work and other courses are having on the overall impact of Standard Grade and Higher Grade performance.”