The 23 North Lanarkshire secondary schools among Scotland's top performers in 2026 - as new school year nears

Achieving qualifications that open doors to new opportunities beyond high school is one of the most important parts of a student’s time there.

Young people in North Lanarkshire are set to return to class for the start of the new, 2026/27 school year on Wednesday 12 August.

For many young people, this will mean starting at a brand new school, or entering a new phase in their education. The transition to the upper secondary school years in particular can be a daunting one, with pupils beginning to work towards a number of sometimes high-stakes exams like their National 5s and Highers.

Each of these schools has been measured on the percentage of pupils who received the Scottish Government’s educational “gold standard” of five Highers, or their equivalent, in 2025 – based on data published by the Scottish Government on its own website.

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.

Here are the 23 North Lanarkshire secondary schools among Scotland's top performers in 2026 - as new school year nears.