Hawick High School’s head teacher has hailed “improvements in attainment” and “tremendous individual performances”, as pupils received their exam results this week.
Mrs Porteous’ positive comments have, however, been tempered somewhat by Scottish Borders Council’s refusal to divulge details on pass rates and to provide a comparison with last year’s results.
With parents of S4-6 pupils at Hawick High still none the wiser as to exactly how the school is performing, the council would only say that “it was not providing an individual analysis for any of the high schools [in the Scottish Borders].”
The council did produce a press release detailing the “overall figures” for the region, but this is unlikely to have eased Teri parents’ concerns.
Mrs Porteous commented: “Thanks to the hard work, commitment and dedication of both the staff and young people at Hawick High, we continue to see improvements in attainment.
“Highlights include improvements in the number of S5 students achieving three and five Highers at grades A-C pass.
“We have also maintained the improvements in A-D grades at National 5 achieved last year.
“There were some tremendous individual performances among the many good results and of course we are proud of all the achievements of our young people sitting exams this year.”
Referring to the Borders-wide exam figures, the SBC press release said there had been “a particularly positive trend in literacy and numeracy with more young people than ever attaining success.
“Figures reveal that 98 per cent of S4 pupils achieved a literacy award – an increase of three per cent from last year. There was also a four per cent increase from 2017 in those gaining a National 5 English award, with a 97 per cent success rate. Numeracy also saw an increase of four per cent with 92 per cent successful, while there was an increase of nine per cent in maths where 86.3 per cent achieved a National 5 award.
Donna Manson, SBC’s service director for children and young people, added that Mrs Porteous and her staff at Hawick High continued to make good progress and the results provided strong evidence of what was being achieved.
She added: “We are going through all the data we have received from the Scottish Qualifications Authority and more detailed analysis will be shared with each
school once that is available.”
ν Two full-time youth workers are being sought for Hawick High. The posts are temporary to July 2, 2019.
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