All 23 North Lanarkshire High Schools ranked by academic attainment in 2022 - from Dalziel High School to St Andrew’s High School
Here’s our list where each high school in North Lanarkshire ranks in terms of academic attainment
These are the best performing state high schools in North Lanarkshire, according to the latest data available.
Each school has been measured on the percentage of pupils who received the Scottish Government’s educational “gold standard” of five Highers, or their equivalent, in 2022 – based on data published by the Scottish Government on its own website.
The top performing school in North Lanarkshire this year in terms of academic attainment was Dalziel High School in Motherwell - which was ranked in the top 50 high schools in Scotland as the 49th highest achieving school.
Just 1 of 23 schools (4%) appeared in the top 50 - while 3 (13%) appeared in the bottom 50 - out of the 340 high schools in Scotland with attainment results avaliable.
These Higher result tables do not reflect schools or rank them in terms of ‘best to worst’ as that would fail to take into account factors such as the support offered to children with complex needs, the effort and quality of the teaching staff, working conditions for said staff, quality of the student experience, the funding the school receives from North Lanarkshire Council, or whether or not the school is serving an underprivileged and disadvantaged area within the local authority.
These league tables are based on the percentage of pupils at each school who achieved the Scottish Government’s educational “gold standard” of five Highers, or their equivalent, in 2022.
Throughout our coverage, we use ‘Highers’ as a term to mean both Highers and equivalent qualifications at SCQF level 6 and above, such as Skills for Work Higher awards.
You can find a list of the full rankings of Scottish secondary schools across Scotland in this article by our sister title NationalWorld.
You can also find our lists of:
This should serve as an insight to the school system in North Lanarkshire, and provide parents and students into the performance of their school.

1. Dalziel High School, Motherwell
Ranked #1 in North Lanarkshire and #49 in Scotland - 52% of the leaver cohort achieve 5 Highers or more.

2. Our Lady's High School Cumbernauld
50% of the pupils leave with five or more Highers - ranked #58 in Scotland for academic attainment and #2 in North Lanarkshire.

3. St Ambrose High School, Coatbridge
49% of students leave with 5 or more Highers. St Ambrose is ranked #67 in Scotland and #3 in North Lanarkshire.

4. Kilsyth Academy, Kilsyth
45% of the leavers cohort achieve 5 Highers or more. Kilsyth Academy is ranked #92 in Scotland and #4 in North Lanarkshire.