NORTH Ayrshire’s fifth year pupils have produced their best exam results yet, new figures show.

It’s been revealed that 14 per cent of pupils in S5 achieved A-C passes in five or more Highers for 2016 - up from last year’s total of 11 per cent.

Every secondary school, apart from Garnock Academy, saw an increase for 2016.

This includes Kilwinning Academy which saw 15.89 per cent of its pupils this year achieve five or more Highers in S5 compared with 7.53 per cent in 2015.

Greenwood Academy saw an increase from 8.16 per cent to 12.41 per cent while Irvine Royal Academy saw a slight rise from 5.50 per cent to 5.66 per cent.

However both Irvine Royal and St Matthew’s Academy reported an increase for the third straight year with the latter achieving a 13.53 per cent pass rate.

Both Greenwood and Kilwinning Academies saw a drop in 2015.

The figures were revealed at last week’s full council meeting on Wednesday, September 14 following a question by Largs Councillor Tom Marshall, who welcomed the positive increase.

Cabinet member for education, Councillor John Bell, said: “The trendline for North Ayrshire is a positive one.

“It should also be noted our figure for five plus Highers in S5 is our highest yet. 

“When compared with our Virtual Comparator of young people with similar needs and socio-economic factors from other areas of Scotland (see graph), North Ayrshire is also performing better than this group.

“It is important to note that this is only one indicator of attainment and achievement for our young people. 

“Our attainment levels have also consistently improved in almost all measures in S5, including a rise in those achieving at least one Higher in S5 from 40.77% in 2012 to 52.11% in 2016.”

He added: “We do not necessarily agree that the gold standard for a pupil is the achievement of five or more Higher passes. Our vision in Education and Youth Employment is to contribute to building brighter futures for our young people and encouraging them to excel at the level right for them.” 

Councillor Bell, however, shared Councillor Marshall’s concern about a move to regional education boards, believing they had neither saved money or proved to be efficient.

He believed local authorities were best placed to administer education services.