Pupils in East Ayrshire have achieved the highest ever rate of leavers achieving a "positive destination".

A positive destination is defined as a pupil going on to Higher Education, Further Education, Employment, Training, Voluntary Work or Personal Skills Development.

At a recent Cabinet meeting, it was announced that 96.85 per cent `of pupils had achieved this- higher than ever before.

The young people from sixth year, who have just completed their school journey, were particularly praised along with their parents and carers, teachers, school support staff and our partners who supported our young people through their senior phase. 

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Due to the pandemic, they had faced significant upheaval and varying approaches to certification during their three senior years, which makes their achievements even more remarkable.

In addition to the positive destination figures, there is good news for literacy and numeracy attainment at all SCQF levels, which are higher than the national performance figures and the South West Improvement Collaborative figures.

Attainment in the wider qualifications at SCQF levels 4 and 6 are above the virtual comparator performance.

Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture said: "There are a myriad of routes available to our young people and an important role that education plays is ensuring that our young people know what’s available to them.

“We opened the Skills and Learning 33 (SL33) partnership hub with partners, including DWP, Skills Development Scotland and employability training providers, to support young people in post-school, and to work with them before they leave school to find a positive destination.

"This has led to really innovative training programmes with, for example, QTS and other business partners. This work will continue and will be developed to further improve outcomes for our young people."

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Cllr Cowan added: “There is so much to celebrate within the figures reported from the 2021/ 22 school leaver attainment data.

"Initial destination figures are at their highest since tracking began, attainment in literacy and numeracy is high at all SCQF levels and overall school leaver attainment is positive.

“Most importantly, this data reflects the achievements of our young people and their families who, supported by their teachers and support staff, have worked hard to reach their full potential.

"This data equates to hours of studying, vocational training and huge amounts of hard work in and out of school. Well done to our young people, we are all very proud of you.”