Three Glasgow schools among top 10 in Scotland, according to new Sunday Times list

The top performing schools in Scotland are revealed in Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022, online today and as a supplement with The Sunday Times on Sunday.

What Glasgow schools are the best?

Jordanhill has, once again, been ranked as the best in Scotland. 45 per cent of pupils achieved 2+ advanced highers, while 85.5 per cent got 5+ highers (A-C).

Mearns Castle High School came fourth, while Williamwood High School ranked seventh.

In the surrounding area, St Ninian’s High School in Giffnock was ranked as runner-up, Bearsden Academy came sixth, and Bishopbriggs Academy finished 10th.

Scottish State Secondary School of the Decade

Bishopbriggs Academy has also been named the Scottish State Secondary School of the Decade.

Ranked 10^th in Scotland on the basis of its Higher, Advanced Higher and National 5 outcomes in 2018 and 2019, it has risen to the upper reaches of the newspaper’s rankings - it only broke into the top 50 as recently as 2011.

Alastair McCall, editor of Parent Power, said: “Few schools have come so far in the past decade as Bishopbriggs Academy. From not even ranking in our top 50 state secondary schools in 2010 to a seat at the top table now. It is a remarkable journey.

“The school leadership in that time has been exceptional, bringing to bear a vision of how good the school can be through encouraging children to participate and succeed in all areas of school life, not just in the examination hall.

“Academic standards are high and are fuelled by great teaching. Our School of the Decade award recognises both these achievements and the wider encouragement of children to make a difference in everything they do. It is a combination that makes a place at Bishopbriggs something to be prized.”

Top independent secondary schools

Three Glasgow schools were also listed in the top 10 independent secondary schools in Scotland, based on results from 2019.

Hutchesons’ Grammar School, The High School of Glasgow and The Glasgow Academy came second, third and fourth respectively, behind Edinburgh’s George Heriot’s School.

How were the rankings worked out?

The 29th edition of Parent Power identifies the highest-achieving schools in the UK, ranked by their pre-pandemic examination results.

As well as assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power enables parents to compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally. There are also live links to school websites and schools’ most recent inspection reports.

You can find the full national database on The Sunday Times website.