It was the big day for some of Stirling’s young people yesterday as their anticipated exam results were finally revealed.
This year was the first time in three years that formal exams were held as the main form of assessment, after the disruption of the Covid pandemic forced their cancellation in both 2020 and 2021.
Early reports from Stirling Council have reported an increase in the percentage of pupils receiving one, three or five Highers since 2019 when exams last took place.
There have also been improvements in the number of S4 pupils achieving five or more awards at National Five and also in the number of S6 pupils attaining Advanced Highers.
The Observer went along to Stirling High to speak to some of those receiving their much-anticipated results.
S6 pupil Angus Henderson, 18, is heading off to take part in a graduate apprenticeship in software engineering with banking giant JP Morgan, which will also see him study at Strathclyde University.
He was delighted after picking up straight As in his Advanced Highers and said: “I learn a lot better hands on and by building software, but I’m also still very academic, so being able to go to university and be able to do both things is great for me.
“It was definitely tougher in the last few years with Covid but it was just another challenge and I wanted to do well so I dedicated myself to it and it makes it extra rewarding that I managed to do it with all of the extra challenges.”
Fellow S6 pupil Louis Davidson, also 18, is moving on to Strathclyde University for a degree in product design and Innovation after achieving his results.
Louis said: “The pandemic has really impacted things because we never got to do any of the practical work for product design which is obviously a big part so I was disappointed about that, then they had to change the rules about how we got marked so it did have a big impact.
“It was more difficult to communicate with teachers and things like that online, so you just had to put a lot more effort in, especially in the practical subjects, you had to find how to do other bits of art and design and it was quite difficult at points.”
Meanwhile, for S4 pupils Lucas Cuthbert and Emma Walker, their results have kept them on track to achieve their own ambitions.
Lucas said: “I’m really happy with my results and some were better than my predicted grades - I got six As and a B.
“I’m hoping to go on and study law at university after I’m finished at school.
“Some of it has been quite hard with Covid and it just depends on the subject, the ones you were interested in were easier to motivate yourself to do but the ones you weren’t so interested in were quite hard.
Emma - who achieved seven As and hopes to go to study computer science - agreed: “Yeah, that’s the same for me - if there was a subject you weren’t interested like a bit in maths it was really hard to keep going.”
Across Scotland, the number of pupils achieving an A to C pass at Higher sat at 78.9 per cent in 2022, which was down on the two previous Covid-affected years, but higher than the 74.8 pass rate achieved in 2019.
It was a similar story for pass rates at National Five and Advanced Higher levels.
Councillor Danny Gibson, convener of Stirling Council’s children and young people committee, said: “This is a fantastic set of exam results for Stirling’s young people with improvement in every year group compared to three years ago.
“This success is testament to their hard work, commitment and resilience during a school year when the pandemic was still causing significant challenges and uncertainty.
“These excellent academic and vocational achievements will help our young people progress onto a wide range of positive pathways, whether that’s further education, employment or training – and be the best they can be.
“None of this would be possible, however, without the outstanding dedication and professionalism of our teachers and school staff, and the support of our amazing parents and carers.”
