By Andrew Argo, education reporter

DUNDEE SECONDARY schools had the second poorest record in the country in terms of pupils achieving the main academic awards.

The city also had the fourth worst level of deprivation, in terms of the number of pupils entitled to free school meals.

The statistics—published by the Scottish Executive on the performance of the country’s schools—also detailed the performances of Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross schools.

Dundee was only placed ahead of Glasgow which had the poorest academic record in the country, with 23% of S4 pupils gaining credit awards in five or more standard grades, a slight improvement on last year.

The proportion of S5 pupils who gained three or more highers fell from 16% to 14%, and the proportion of S6s gaining three or more highers fell by 1% to 22%. The number of pupils entitled to free meals fell slightly from 21.2% to 20.3%.

Braeview Academy, where 34.6% of pupils were entitled to free meals, had the weakest figures with a fall to only 6% of pupils passing five or more standard grades at credit level, and 5% passing three or more highers in S5. The latter figure marked an improvement, however, and the school also succeeded in helping more S4 pupils to pass five or more standard grades at general level, and more S5s to pass at least one higher (these figures are not in our edited tables).

The best performing Dundee school was Grove Academy, where 52% of S4 pupils achieved five or more credit level standard grades, 31% of S5s achieved three or more highers and 51% of S6s achieved three or more highers. The free meal entitlement at Grove was low, at 5.4%.

Education convener Kevin Keenan said, “Dundee City Council has never shied away from saying that there is still much to be done in our schools and that we are committed to working together with teachers, pupils and families to try and bring about improvements in the future.

“A number of complex factors have to be taken into consideration when looking at Dundee’s situation—and deprivation is among them.

“The city council as a whole is putting in place a number of policies to tackle problems across the city, as we are determined to ensure that everyone in the city has the ability to take advantage of the opportunities that are being opened up by our economy.”

In Angus 36% of S4s managed five or more standard grade credit awards, a fall from 2003. The proportion of S5s who managed three or more highers went up to 26% but the proportion of S6s who achieved the same qualifications fell to 31%. The free meal entitlement increased to 10.5%.

The Angus school with the weakest academic record was Arbroath Academy, with respective percentages of 11, 7 and 13, and a free meal entitlement of 26%. Strongest was Monifieth High with percentages of 48, 40 and 40, and a free meal entitlement of 3.5%.

A spokeswoman for Angus Council said, “The council pays a lot of attention to these figures and they are closely analysed. The council is reasonably satisfied with most of the 2004 figures but acknowledges that work remains in some areas.”

In Fife 33% of S4s managed five or more standard grade credit awards, a rise from last year. The proportion of S5s who achieved three or more highers remained at 21% and the proportion of S6s who achieved the same qualifications fell to 29%. The free meal entitlement increased to 18.8%.

The Fife school with the weakest record was Kirkland High School and Community College with respective percentages of 6, 9 and 15, and 31.5% of pupils entitled to free meals. Competing for the title of the strongest were Balwearie High, Madras College and Waid Academy.

Fife Council’s education service senior manager, James Bellshaw, said, “There should never be any room for complacency when we’re looking at exam results.

“In Fife we’re seeing a steady improvement in our standard grade results, but there is an issue at S4 credit level that we need to focus on. In our higher results we’re seeing figures that are broadly in line with the national average.

“But in both cases we know we can do better. There is absolutely no reason to suspect that Fife cannot aspire to realise continued improvements until Fife matches or goes above the national targets.”

In Perth and Kinross the number of S4s who managed five or more standard grades at credit level fell to 37%. The number of S5s who managed three or more highers fell to 24%, and the number of S6s who achieved three or more highers fell to 34%. The free meal entitlement figure remained at 5.8%.

Perth Grammar and St Columba’s High were among the weakest and Breadalbane Academy the strongest.

A spokeswoman for Perth and Kinross Council said is was difficult to provide a detailed comment.

She added, “In recognition of the fact that achievement is about much more that examination performance and that there are some young people whose achievement is not reflected in examination statistics, it is important to note that education and children’s services are working to find ways to include other performance measures to complement these statistics.

“It is also important to recognise that every school is different and we have always said that it is neither desirable nor fair to compare schools purely on the basis of examination results.”