Pride in Forres Academy's straight A pupils

FORRES Academy has emphasised its pride in the school's pupils after they received their exam results after a nervous wait.

The overall picture was good for the school – which had improved results for fourth years. A total of 11 fourth-year pupils picked up six As out of six, with two fifth-years also achieving five As at higher level. Sixth-year pupil Emma Swanson left school with an A at advanced higher and three As at higher.

Across Moray's seven high schools, 82 pupils achieved five As (out of six) in fourth year.

Head teacher Jan Sinclair, who has been in charge at the academy for a year, said she was "proud" of the pupils.

She said: "These are our high achievers but there are lots of young people who have done well – all the way from National 2 to National 7 level, which is our advanced higher pupils.

"We are very proud of all the young people. The independent people and their aims are most important, at all levels."

Emma Donald (17) and Jenna Carty (16) were the fifth-year pupils who achieved straight A grades.

The fourth-year pupils who received six straight A grades, all aged 16, were Louis Ozanne, Olivia Crane, Cameron Fraser, Ewan Martin, Samuel McPartlin, Libby Killeen, Rona Clark, Wendy MacDonald, Iona Duff, Ben Cameron and Patrick MacPherson, who has since left the school to move to Benbecula.

Olivia Crane, who moved to Forres Academy from Alford Academy in Aberdeenshire in February, wants to use her grades to study at university.

She said: "I would like to study medicine, but I don't know where. It depends on my fifth year results. I was hoping my results would be good but was very nervous."

Across Moray, more than 2000 pupils received their results. Schools supported young people through 20,447 courses, with an overall pass rate of 83 per cent.

The pass rate at National 5 English for Moray’s S4 students is at its highest ever, with a 91 per cent achievement level, and National 5 Maths continues to present a positive pass rate of 74 per cent.

Moray Council’s head of schools and curriculum development, Vivienne Cross, said the results marked another year of success for Moray pupils.

She said: "This has been achieved through hard work, dedication and our young people challenging themselves, and I commend them for their efforts."

The chairwoman of Moray Council’s children and young people’s services committee, Councillor Sonya Warren, added: "No matter the results, there is no wrong career path and we’re joining Developing the Young Workforce’s campaign to showcase this."