These are the best performing state high schools in Glasgow, 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.
The top performing school in Glasgow this year was Jordanhill High School - for the seventh year in a row, aided by the fact it is a school funded by the Scottish Government, and not the local authority.
Jordanhill is the only school of its type in Scotland, and it’s success could reflect that academic attainment is heavily influenced by the amount of money and attention given to the education in specific schools.
While not mentioned in this list below - it’s of note that the rest of the top five are from schools in local authority’s directly adjacent to Glasgow.
In the case of second place, Bearsden Academy is just outside of the city boundaries, where 80 percent left with five Highers or more. Third is St Ninian’s High School in East Renfrewshire, at 79 percent of pupils leaving with five Highers or more.
In fourth place is Woodfarm High School, also in East Renfrewshire, with a figure of 78 percent. And in fifth place is Douglas Academy in East Dunbartonshire. There, 75 percent of pupils left school with at least five Highers.
Five high schools in Glasgow (16% of Glaswegian secondary education institutions) appeared in the top 50 schools in Scotland, while ten Glasgow schools (32%) appeared in the bottom 50 set of schools in Scotland.
These exam tables do not rank schools 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 Glasgow City Council, or whether or not the school is serving an underprivileged and disadvantaged area in the city.
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.
The 22 best performing secondary schools in Scotland includes 11 in and around Glasgow .
You can find a list of the full rankings of Scottish secondary schools across Scotland in this article for our sister title NationalWorld.
This should serve as an insight to the school system in Glasgow, and provide parents and students with the performance of their school.

1. Jordanhill School
While Jordanhill is not administered by Glasgow City Council, instead aided by grants from the Scottish Government, it is still within the boundaries of Glasgow. Jordanhill High School is ranked #1 nationally and naturally it is also #1 in Glasgow. 89% of pupils leave school with 5 highers or more Photo: Google Maps

2. Hyndland Secondary School
#2 in Glasgow is Hyndland Secondary School - which is ranked #22 on a national level. 61% of pupils leave with 5 highers or more. | Hyndland Secondary School

3. Notre Dame High School
#3 in Glasgow is Notre Dame High School - which is ranked #22 on a national level. 61% of pupils leave with 5 highers or more. | Notre Dame High School

4. Hillhead High School
#4 in Glasgow is Hillhead High School - which is ranked 29 nationally. 57% of pupils left with 5 or more highers. | Hillhead High School