Council attacks league tables
One of South Ayrshire’s biggest schools has been bitterly defended by bosses over its low rate of exam passes.
Council chiefs claim that using the number of Higher passes to measure success is “very narrow and, frankly, unhelpful.”
It comes after the latest publication of Scotland’s education league tables, which show Ayr Academy near the bottom of the national pile. Just 14 per cent of the school’s pupils attained five Higher passes in 2018- 19.
Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has previously labelled the ‘ five or more’ target the “gold standard” of education.
But South Ayrshire Council this week downplayed the figures. It comes with Ayr sitting 330th in a national table of 344 state secondary schools.
In comparison, pupils across town at Kyle Academy posted a figure more than three times as high with 46 per cent bagging at least five Highers. They shared top spot in the county with Troon’s Marr College.
Queen Margaret Academy ( 45 per cent), Prestwick Academy ( 44 per cent) and Ayr’s Belmont Academy ( 35 per cent) were next in line. Ayr, which has a roll of just under 500 pupils, was the subject of a £ 25 million rebuild in 2017.
The original town centre school, which played host to some of Ayr’s most famous alumni since 1233, made way for a 21st Century campus in Craigie.
Bosses hailed it as a “once in a lifetime” learning opportunity for pupils upon its opening.
But they have now been forced to defend low exam passes, and insisted the measure of success was a far bigger picture.
A council spokesman said: “League tables are based solely on the number of young people achieving five Higher awards.
“This is a very narrow and frankly, unhelpful approach to measuring the success of a school.
“While Highers remain as the most significant measure for accessing higher education, we know that university isn’t for everyone. Highers are a single type of qualification in what is an increasing range of awards that schools use to recognise the skills and abilities of their young people.
“The publication of league tables is very much an English approach to education, and is not something we should be replicating or promoting in Scotland.
“Our approach in South Ayrshire is about supporting all young people to achieve their potential and to successfully move on from school into a positive destination that reflects their ambitions.
“That focus means we get a much more rounded picture of the difference our schools are making for our young people whether they aim to go to university, college, training or the world of work.”
FIVE HIGHER PASS RATES Marr College - 46 per cent Kyle Academy - 46 per cent Queen Margaret Academy - 45 p/ c Prestwick Academy - 44 per cent Belmont Academy - 35 per cent Girvan Academy - 34 per cent Auchinleck Academy - 33 per cent Cumnock Academy - 27 per cent Carrick Academy - 26 per cent Ayr Academy - 14 per cent