THERE were nearly 400 National 5 passes at Clydebank High this year despite the school having a two-year highers system meant to avoid extra exams.

Until they scrapped the system in June, Clydebank High was the only school in West Dunbartonshire Council having pupils sit highers over two years.

And it was the only school where the number of presentations for highers outnumbered those for Nat 5s, indicating more pupils were going for the exams, but while 549 still presented for Nat 5s as well.

Many pupils took twice the number of exams to ensure they would not be left without qualifications after two years, as exposed by the Post in June.

Clydebank High achieved a highers pass rate of 74 per cent, compared to 75 at St Peter the Apostle High. But in Nat 5s, Clydebank got 70 per cent passes compared to 80 per cent at St Peter's.

And that is down from 81 per cent on the Nat 5 predecessors in 2014 at Clydebank High.

Council education officials, who had previously only released limited details of 2016’s exams successes, said different schools could not be compared, nor could different years.

On advanced highers, Clydebank had a pass rate of 78 per cent and St Peter's on 74 per cent, both broadly in line with the past two years.

Our Lady and St Patrick's High had the best pass rates in advanced highers, highers and Nat 5s across West Dunbartonshire.

More detailed exam figures have been released thanks to a Freedom of Information request by the Post but council bosses said the true results, which they are still examining to be leased at a later date, would be more “accurate”.

A council spokeswoman said because advanced highers subjects are offered across the area as a whole and pupils can study at any school, it is impossible to use the figures to judge the quality of individual secondaries.

And because the first Curriculum of Excellence highers were sat in 2015 and advanced highers in 2016, they couldn’t be compared. Clydebank's two-year highers system made it impossible to compare with St Peter's, she added.

She said: "We regularly evaluate practice to ensure we are continuing to meet the needs of our young people and following the appointment of a new headteacher at Clydebank High, considered it was the right time to review the model.

"As a result of the review and feedback received from young people, parents and staff, from 2017 young people will have the opportunity to be presented for national qualifications at the end of S4 in the following subjects: Modern Languages, PE, Design and Manufacture, Graphic Communication, Business Management, HE, English, Music, Geography, Modern Studies, Admin & IT, Computing, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics.

"We’re confident that the new model at Clydebank High will fully meet the needs of all our young people."

She continued: "In 2014, the National 5 pass rate in WD schools was 5.1% below the national average pass rate, this year the difference is just 0.4%. These figures demonstrate that we are continuing to close the attainment gap and supporting more of our young people to attain and achieve. We are working on the data behind the figures to build a clear picture on the results for each school, identify where there is good practice which can be shared and also where we can improve.

“Advanced Higher rates should be treated with caution as statistically low sample rates mean that even a small change can appear to be a large percentage shift.

“Raw exam figures taken in isolation without supporting data do not provide an accurate reflection of the SQA results in West Dunbartonshire.

“There have been significant achievements in the SQA exams this year and we are continuing to analyse all of the data to provide a clear picture of attainment.

“Once this process is complete, a comprehensive report detailing the results by school and subject will be presented to the educational services committee along with an outline of the actions each school is taking to ensure we continue to improve.

“Over the last five years we have made steady progress in raising attainment across West Dunbartonshire and we are all committed to maintaining that focus going forward and ensuring that all of our young people reach their potential.”

Nat 4 pass rates, which are not based on exams, were all 95 per cent or higher across the authority.

Nat 3 passes were even higher, with Clydebank, St Peter the Apostle and Vale of Leven all recording 100 per cent this year, though those qualifications went to only 40-80 pupils per school.