Here, we take a look at 10 state high schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians which are outperforming government-set benchmarks for the proportion of pupils passing five or more Highers.
League tables are often seen as a blunt instrument to measure exam performance, as they fail to take into account the types of pupil attending each school. As a result, the Scottish Government sets benchmarks to take this into account.
Schools are each given a ‘virtual comparator’ – a group of pupils from elsewhere in Scotland with the same characteristics as the pupils in the school, in terms of their gender, the number with additional support needs and societal factors such as deprivation levels. The attainment levels of this comparator group is then used as a benchmark to measure the school’s actual performance against. Here are ten of the schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians that performed better than their virtual comparator in 2022.
1. Liberton High School
32 per cent of pupils at Liberton High School achieved five Highers or more- that's six per cent more than the government-set benchmark. Picture: Lisa Ferguson. Photo: Lisa Ferguson
2. Boroughmuir High School
Boroughmuir High School was awarded State School of the Year in 2012 and 2018. Last year, an impressive 70 per cent of pupils left school with five higher or more. Picture: M J Richardson Photo: Third Party
3. Lasswade High School
Bonyrigg's Lasswade High School ranked first in Midlothian with 47 per cent of pupils achieving five or more Highers Photo: Third Party
4. Whitburn Academy
Scoring first in West Lothian, more than half of pupils at Whitburn Academy left with very impressive results. 55 per cent left with five highers or more - a whopping 43 per cent more than the government benchmark. Photo: Third Party