FOUR of Inverclyde's secondary schools saw fewer leavers exit education with five Highers last year.

Clydeview Academy, Port Glasgow High School, St Columba's High School and Inverclyde Academy have seen their rankings fall on The Times' annual league table of Scottish schools following a slump in leaver attainment.

Clydeview, which had been 65th in 2020s table, saw its ranking fall to 104th in Scotland on 2021s list, as the percentage of pupils leaving with five Highers fell from 51 per cent to 45 per cent.

St Columba's fell by 28 places, from 143rd to 171st, while Inverclyde Academy dropped from 230rd to 252nd.

Port Glasgow High School suffered the most dramatic decline, falling from 174th to 260th, with the percentage of five Higher leavers slumping to 31 per cent - the lowest in the area.

Two high schools - Notre Dame High School and St Stephen's High School - saw their rankings improve, rising to 175th and 203rd respectively.

Responding to the decline in local rankings, an Inverclyde Council spokesperson said that the different models of assessment used during the pandemic made it 'impossible' to make year-on-year comparisons across 2019 to 2022.

They added: “Young people participate in a wide range of courses which are assessed in different ways through school and our partnership with the college.

"SQA graded courses are an important part of our offer to young people but they are just one of the many and varied qualifications that are available.

"This includes Skills for work courses, national progression awards and foundation apprenticeships – all of which do not receive a grade but are of equal value to graded SQA Higher courses.

"The measure of five or more Highers is only one very narrow measure of success of our schools.

"In 2021, 24.19 per cent of young people in S5 achieved five or more Highers across Inverclyde.

"Across the board we have seen improvements year-on-year in our level 6 and Higher results, across the last three years results have improved on average by three per cent.

“We are proud of the efforts of our pupils and staff across all our schools, particularly during the difficult times over the last two years.”