World of difference between schools just 10 minutes apart

They are just 10 minutes’ drive apart – but there is a world of difference in the academic success of Perth High School and Perth Grammar School.

Children who go to the High are far more likely to walk out the door with five or more Higher qualifications than their peers at the Grammar.

In The Courier League – compiled in April using last year’s exam results – Perth High School was in our top 10, coming in eighth overall among Tayside and Fife secondaries.

Of its 2021 leavers, 48% gained five or more Highers, compared with 22% at Perth Grammar School, which ranked 38th out of 43.

The difference is clear but the reasons for it are complex.

The quality of a school’s provision – teaching, nurturing and ensuring the wellbeing of its young people – will influence how well its pupils perform.

But the demographic of its catchment area is also a big factor outwith its control, with children from poorer backgrounds less likely to excel academically.

Of last year’s Grammar leavers, 43% were from more impoverished areas – communities designated in quintiles 1 and 2 of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

This is in contrast to 15% from the High, where 41% of leavers were from the most affluent areas – quintile 5.

A total of 97% of the High’s leavers went on to university, college, work or another positive destination, compared to 92% of the Grammar’s.

Shortly before the pandemic, both schools were assessed by HM Inspectors of Education for Education Scotland. The

Grammar’s performance in raising attainment and achievement was deemed weak in 2020.

A year earlier, the High had been given a satisfactory rating for the same area.

Both were regarded as satisfactory for learning, teaching and assessment.

Having told the Grammar to raise attainment and achievement for all young people, inspectors returned last year and found that significant progress had been made in a range of attainment measures.

While Perth Grammar is in satisfactory condition, Perth High School’s building is poor.

The Grammar occupies the former home of the High in Gowans Terrace, and a phased programme of £7 million of improvement works is due for completion by 2025. But the High has a £58.5m new building to move into in August 2024.

Perth Grammar School is in the city centre ward of Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Barrett.

He said: “For too long the poorest children in our schools have been half as likely to leave school with the same qualifications as their better-off colleagues.”

He added: “What the latest figures show is that resource is more necessary now than it ever was.”

A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said they could always do more but added: “Our most recent annual report shows the proportion of school

leavers attaining both literacy and numeracy at SCQF level 4 (National 4) rose from 79% in 2014 to 89% in 2019.

“In 2019, 97% of school leavers were in positive destinations, one of the highest rates in the country.”

Perth Grammar was ranked 38th out of 43 secondaries in Tayside and Fife.