Item 08 - Senior Phase Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 16 September 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 16 September 2026 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: 16 September 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Senior Phase Update 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the Qualifications Scotland results achieved by our young people during the 2025/26 session. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee: a) Note the initial findings of Qualifications Scotland results analysis for session 2025/26, and congratulate our young people, staff and families on their achievements. 3. Background 3.1 Each year, young people in the Senior Phase of our secondary schools (S4- S6) undertake qualifications, presented by either our own secondary schools or our range of partners such as Working4U, local colleges and universities. 3.2 In August each year, young people receive notification of the outcome of those qualifications, commonly referred to as ‘Results Day’. For most of our young people, this confirms the next steps they have in their learning pathway in the Senior Phase, but for some of our young people, they may reflect on their chosen pathway and make changes to courses studied. Many of our young people will be please with their results, but some will be disappointed by results, and our schools works with individuals and families to consider next steps where this occurs. At the time of writing this report, schools, young people and families are considering if they wish to appeal any result that differs from the estimated grades. 3.3 For some of our young people, results day confirms if they have met the entrance requirements for the next stage in their learning journey, be that apprenticeships, employment, college or university. ITEM 8
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3.4 Analysing our results in August gives an incomplete picture of attainment. Although we have access to the data showing what our young people achieved in courses taught in school, this is not combined at this stage with data from our partners, any changes to the data brought about by late course entries or changes of levels and does not include data from any successful appeals. August analysis therefore comes with a ‘health warning’ as accurate analysis can only be undertaken in September, once ‘Insight’ the national Senior Phase attainment benchmarking tool is updated. A further report will be brought to committee in November, once this analysis has been undertaken. 4. Main Issues 4.1 How did our pupils do? Overall, we presented 2,154 candidates for 9,923 qualifications across National 2 – Advanced Higher. This is broadly similar to the number of candidates and presentations in 2025/26. 83% of those presentations resulted in a passing grade, maintaining our performance from the previous session. Level National 2 National 3 National 4 National 5 Higher Advanced Higher All Levels Number of presentations 24 280 1,631 4,931 2,733 324 9,923 Percent of those Passed 100% 100% 100% 80% 76% 76% 83% Figure 1 – Presentations at WDC level 4.2 How does this compare over time? We have been monitoring our performance since the introduction of the new National Qualifications in 2014. Overall: Advanced Higher has reduced by 1.2 percentage points since the previous year; Higher has improved by 0.9 percentage points since the previous year; National 5 has reduced by 0.1 percentage points since the previous year; and National 4 has remained unchanged since the previous year, with a 100% success rate. Figure 2 – Performance at Advanced Higher
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Figure 3 – Performance at Higher Figure 4 – Performance at National 5 Figure 5 – Performance at National 4 4.3 How does this compare with national levels? At National 5 levels, West Dunbartonshire outperformed the national average. Higher is only slightly below the national average and Advanced Higher only 1.6 percentage points below the national average. One of our schools, Our Lady & St Patrick’s High School, has outperformed the national average at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels. CHS DA OLSP SPTA VOLA WDC National AH 60.00% 88.89% 83.56% 78.18% 69.57% 75.93% 77.58% H 78.31% 78.80% 78.23% 73.63% 74.95% 76.33% 76.68% N5 86.02% 73.97% 86.75% 77.62% 76.11% 80.49% 79.21% Figure 6 - Grade A-C or ungraded “Pass” attainment rates for each National Qualification type Neither National 4 entry numbers nor pass rates have been published this year by Qualifications Scotland, only the number of awards at this level, so no national pass rate can be calculated for National 4.
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4.4 For the first time, Qualifications Scotland published data showing the relative position of the attainment of each local authority. As noted in section 3.4, this may be subject to change once the wider suite of results is analysed in September, but as it currently stands, West Dunbartonshire sits in 8th place nationally for National 5 results, and in 14th and 15th place respectively for Higher and Advanced Higher. 4.5 During the 2025/26 session, Curriculum Leaders had the opportunity to work with staff from Education Scotland to identify areas for improvement in local presentations in each subject area. This work will continue in session 2026/27, as our schools look to improve not just the pass rates, but the number of young people successfully completing the courses they start and the quality of the results. This will be the focus of our improvement activities in secondary schools this session. 4.6 Results are the product of significant, sustained effort by our young people, and testament to the teaching and support our staff provide throughout the school year. Committee should take the opportunity to recognise the achievement of our young people, and the support provided to them by their families and our staff, and to wish our young people well on the next stage in their journey, whatever that may be. 5. People Implications 5.1 There are no direct people implications resulting from the consultation. 6. Financial Implications 6.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Our young people are entitled to a Senior Phase that continues to develop the four capacities and gain qualifications. Failure to have our young people gain qualifications would significantly impact their ability to enter a positive destination on leaving school, and their ability to make wider contributions to society and the local economy. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment has not been undertaken for this report.
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9. Consultation 9.1 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted on the content of this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 Young people gaining qualifications directly impacts our objective that ‘our residents are supported to access employment and training opportunities’ within outcome 3 ‘our economy is strong and flourishing’ from our Strategic Plan 2022-27. Gillian Hamilton Chief Education Officer Date: 19 August 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Andrew Brown Senior Education Officer Email: andrew.brown@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: None Background Papers: None Wards Affected: All wards
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