Nine in 10 city pupils stay on after school

A RECORD nine in every 10 pupils in Glasgow are staying in work or further education after leaving school, new figures have revealed.

The number of leavers managing to stay in “positive destinations” has reached more than 90 per cent for the first time ever.

Pupils are quizzed on their plans after leaving school in September, and are then followed up in February to see where they are.

The 90.1 per cent figure is a drop of 1.8 per cent from September to February, but still a record for Glasgow’s schools.

Councillor Chris Cunningham, the city’s education spokesman, said: “To achieve over 90 per cent positive destinations is an incredible achievement and I am so proud of our schools.”

The national figure is 92.9 per cent, but Glasgow has achieved an improvement of 3.6 per cent on last year. Nationally the improvement is 1.5 per cent.

Across Scotland, the figure varies from 88.9 per cent in Clackmannanshire to 97.2 per cent in East Dunbartonshire.

Eleven local authorities are below the national average of 92.9 per cent, including Glasgow, and 21 authorities are above the national average.

A report from executive director of education, Maureen McKenna, also shows 34 per cent of pupils in Glasgow are going on to higher education, up from 29.3 per cent in 2011/12.

The most recent figures are from 2016/17 and also look at the background of pupils leaving school.

In 2015/16, of 739 leavers who went on to higher education from the most deprived postcodes, 55 per cent went to college and 44.5 per cent went to university.

The following year, of the 744 leavers who went to higher education from the same postcodes, 47 per cent went to college and 52.5 per cent went to university.

Ms McKenna says it is the first time more leavers went to university.

The report also considers leaver destinations for the city’s Looked After and Accommodated young people (LAAC).

Across Scotland 76 per cent of care experience young people, who had been looked after for a year, remained in a positive destination.

In Glasgow this figure was 81 per cent.

Glasgow currently has 40 care experienced young people at university and Glasgow’s Leaving Care Service (LCS) pays all accommodation, subsistence and other costs for the course.

Mr Cunningham added:“Glasgow’s schools are doing all that they can to close the attainment gap and we will continue to look at ways to help every Glasgow pupil be the best they can be.”