Moray secondary schools praised for encouraging attainment levels in literacy and numeracy in new report

Attainment by senior secondary school students has been hailed as encouraging.

Ina report to Moray Council’s education committee, the region’s 2023/2024 senior phase leaver attainment shows encouraging results in literacy and numeracy, with some areas identified for further improvement.

Of the 994 young people who left secondary school this year, most did well in core subjects. In literacy, 93.06 per cent of school leavers achieved Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level four, while 80.18 per cent reached SCQF level five. Both results remain above the national Virtual Comparator (VC), which compares Moray’s performance against pupils from similar backgrounds across Scotland.

In numeracy, 89.74 per cent of school leavers achieved SCQF level four, and 71.13 per cent reached SCQF level five. These results continue a positive trend, with 2024 being the third time in five years that Moray has done better than national comparators in all four literacy and numeracy measures.

However, there has been a small drop in some results compared to 2023, showing that there’s still more work to do, especially in helping pupils reach higher levels. For example, level four literacy dropped from 94.85 per cent to 93.06 per cent, and level five numeracy from 72.50 per cent to 71.13 per cent.

The report also highlights that while more pupils are going straight into work after leaving school, the overall number entering positive destinations has slightly fallen, with support continuing through pathway planning meetings to help young people make positive choices post school.

Chairwoman of the education, children’s and leisure services committee, Councillor Kathleen Robertson, said: “These results show that our young people are continuing to achieve solid foundations in literacy and numeracy.

“That said, we recognise there are areas where we need to improve, especially around higher-level qualifications and making sure every leaver moves on to a positive destination.

“We remain committed to supporting all our learners and are continuing to work with key partners including Skills Development Scotland, Moray Pathways, Moray College UHI and other employability groups to make sure young people have the guidance and support they need.”

Although Moray continues to perform better than national comparators in a number of measures, schools are taking further steps to improve. This includes offering more subject choices, providing better support for pupil wellbeing, focusing extra help where it’s most needed, and making teaching and assessment more consistent.

A new Moray Literacy Strategy has also been put in place to help strengthen pupils’ reading, writing and communication skills.