The performance by North Ayrshire pupils have been praised as exam results show an improving picture.

And as well as positive performances in literacy and numeracy, elected members learned that the attainment gap continues to reduce at a faster rate than the national average at last Tuesday’s meeting of cabinet.

The figures relate to pupils leaving school in 2018.

Some of the key findings include: Performance in attaining literacy at Level 4 and Level 5 in 2018 has been the highest recorded to date and above the virtual comparator. 

The performance of North Ayrshire school leavers in numeracy has been maintained at level 4 and improved at level 5. 

Those leaving school and into a positive destination – employment, further or higher education, training – is up to 95.6 per cent and places North Ayrshire in the top ten of Scottish local authorities

The gap between the attainment of leavers from the 20 per cent most deprived areas and the rest continues to reduce.

Andrew McClelland, Head of Service (Learning, Teaching and Curriculum) at North Ayrshire Council, said: “We are delighted with the positive progress being made in our schools towards raising attainment, as reflected in these results. I would like to pay tribute to the fantastic work of our staff and, of course, pupils who have worked incredibly hard to help continue this upward trend in performance.

“We remain focused on securing further improvements to the educational achievements of all our learners in North Ayrshire.”