Pupils at independent schools in Courier Country have enjoyed ”excellent” exam results.
Pass rates have risen compared to last year and the proportion of tests awarded A grades is also up.
John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, said it had been a ”gold medal achievement” by pupils.
But confirmation of the sector’s performance came as new figures revealed that the cost of educating a child privately in Scotland has risen by 63% in the last 10 years.
The average fee is now £9,816 a year, up from £6,309 a decade ago, raising concerns about affordability for many middle-class families.
Lloyds TSB produced the statistics and economist Suren Thiru said: ”Private school fees have increased by significantly more than inflation over the past 10 years, making it increasingly difficult for the average worker in many occupations to afford a private school education for their offspring.”
Mr Edward said the 70 member schools of SCIS had been ”sensitive” to the need to ease the financial burden on parents and had worked hard to keep fee rises as low as possible.
He pointed out that schools provided fee assistance in the form of bursaries and reinvested any surplus income to benefit current and future pupils.
Sending a child to an independent school can be very expensive fees for boarders are typically well over £20,000 a year, although fees for day pupils are usually considerably lower.
What parents are paying for is the perceived quality of the education their child will receive and the latest exam results show that the sector does much better than state schools.
At S5 the pass rate for Highers was 93% this year, with 56% of those receiving A grades.
The pass rate for Advanced Higher at S6 was 92% with 50% receiving As.
Mr Edward said the results combined with those of the A levels and International Baccalaureates that some schools prefer were a ”timely reminder” of the core academic abilities nurtured by SCIS members.
”Over half of all Advanced Highers, Highers, Standard Grades and Scottish Baccalaureates sat by pupils in the independent sector this year were awarded grade A. That is a gold medal achievement by pupils and confirmation of the quality of teaching that exists in the sector.
”Our schools continue to perform exceptionally well at Advanced Higher level where 16% of all entries were from independent schools, which comprise just over 4% of the total pupil population in Scotland. This means we’re punching well above our weight in terms of exam performance.”
Photo by David Davies/PA Wire