Resilience of Falkirk pupils and teachers hailed as school leavers' results revealed
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The annual report showing how school leavers fared last year delivered some positive news for Falkirk’s pupils.
Rhona Jay, acting head of education, told members of the children, young people and education executive on Tuesday that the results had been achieved “in the most difficult of circumstances” as she paid tribute to secondary school staff and headteachers.
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Hide AdShe pointed out some of the key statistics that show Falkirk is holding its own and more in many areas, including closing the attainment gap:
95.4 per cent of pupils had positive destinations when leaving school – the highest the council has ever had and a three per cent increase on last year. 44.6 per cent of pupils moved on to higher education – 4.1 per cent higher than last year. 38.9 per cent gained at least a level 5 vocational qualification (National 5) – the third highest in Scotland. 17 school leavers achieved a level 7 qualification (Advanced Higher or HNC) – the highest in Scotland. 79.8 per cent of pupils from Falkirk’s most deprived areas gained at least a level 5 award, ranking seventh in Scotland. 36.9 per cent of Falkirk’s most deprived school leavers gained at least a level 6 award, ranking 13th in Scotland.
She said the report was presented, however, in the knowledge that the past two years have been far from normal, with exams cancelled twice and learning severely disrupted.
She said: “It’s our ambition to do the best we can for every young person in Falkirk and that has been a real achievement of our secondary teams, particularly in the last two years.
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Hide Ad“At this point I would like to commend our service for the collegiality and leadership of our secondary colleagues, particularly our secondary head teachers who led their staff teams through the most unpredictable and uncertain of times.
“We are currently preparing for the next iteration of SQA exams and schools are working very, very hard to make sure that young people entering the exam system for the first time are getting the best support that they can.”
Ms Jay told councillors that they were now beginning to fully assess and understand the impact that the pandemic has had on Falkirk’s schools.
She said: “We are currently evaluating the work that’s going on in our schools and the impact on all of our pupils of the pandemic.
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Hide Ad“We are not underestimating in any way the impact that the last two years will have had on learners of all stages.”
Ms Jay paid tribute to the staff across education – early years, primary and secondary – for how they have been pulling together to cope with severe disruption and staff shortages due to Covid.
SNP education spokesperson Adanna McCue said: “It has been an incredibly emotional time and to see our children coming through that and gaining qualifications and closing the poverty attainment gap and supporting each other – it shows you that’s what Falkirk’s all about.”