Buckie High School celebrates as exam results ‘exceed expectation’
With the nerve-wracking wait over for secondary school students to discover their exam results, there has been plenty to celebrate at a local high school.
Buckie Community High School (BCHS) has been hailing another set of strong results.
Among a splendid performance by students across the senior years, one student - Joe Sutherland - was left delighted with five A grades at Higher, with a further eight achieving five Higher passes. At N5, six students scored straight As.
Joe said: “I’m very happy with my results and getting five As.
“It was a big relief when I got them.
“I got my As in Higher English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
“I’m going into S6 where I’ll be studying three Advanced Highers in physics, maths and biology. After that I’m hoping yo got to study medicine or medical sciences.”
Another left very happy with her performance in the exam hall is Emily Stewart, who is due to start S6. Her haul of grades came to a highly creditable four As in English, Geography, German and Modern Studies, followed up with a B in History.
She said: “Before the exams I thought I might get five As but I’m really happy with what I have as it’s enough to get into universality.
“I going to St Andrews to study English after I finish S6.
“I got my results by text - I couldn’t bear to wait half a day for the postie. I got up specifically to get my results at 8am but it didn’t come on time. It was only a minute late but it was a big relief to get it. I saw the letters SQA on the text and I thought ‘This is it’. I saw three As, which was great, and then the B and I thought ‘I can live with that’.
“I was really worried about my results the day before they came out but on the day but when I opened the text I was like ‘It’s got me over the line for uni’.”
With the academic pressure off her Emily is going to enjoy S6 by crashing Higher Philosophy and also studying for Advanced Highers in English and Geography, topped off with a Baccalaureate.
One of those delighted with the school’s overall performance was BCHS acting rector Sean Duffy.
Paying tribute to the BCHS students, he said: “We’re very happy and very proud of our young people, they’ve put the work in and got the results they’ve deserved.
“It’s a testament to the young people that despite the fact that the national picture looks a bit lower a lot of our young people have got really good and high results and they’ve met what they require for their destination, either into Sixth Year or further education with us or, if they’re leaving school they’re off to college or university. they’ve managed to get the qualifications they need for that.
“We offer a range of qualifications and our young people are leaving with a wide portfolio of qualifications that reflect the diversity that’s going to be needed for the changing nature of the workplace and for further study and further education. One of the main purposes of the school is to set people up for as good and full a future as possible and that includes a wide range of skills and qualifications that are being celebrated today, but also there’s more on the softer skills that give a well-rounded individual and a well-rounded young person.”
Looking in general at the results for BCHS this year compared to last, Mr Duffy continued: “The overall trend is that we’re in line with where we have been over previous years.
“We’ve some areas we can work on but we’ve also got other areas where we’ve exceeded expectation.
“We’ve had a large number of pupils getting a good qualification in English, we continue to improve and get better results in maths where we’re presenting far more pupils. I would say all departments have bene putting in that effort to get young people the best qualifications they can.
“As a school we need to look at how we ensure young people are achieving as large a number of passes as they can and making sure they’re getting as many qualifications as possible.”
With a new school year dawning, Mr Duffy added: “Our priority for Buckie High School is supporting all learners to achieve their potential, looking at how we challenge and support young people and how we ensure we maximise attainment for everyone through high quality learning and teaching - that’s the bread and butter of the school.”
Throughout Moray, this year’s performance remains broadly similar to 2023 with 75 young people across Moray achieving six A grades at National 5. Some 34 young people achieved seven or more A grades at National 5 with 163 passing (A-C), seven or more qualifications at National 5.
Across Moray schools, 26 young people in S5 achieved five or more A grades at Higher, slightly lower than last year but the second highest year of performance where final examinations and coursework were the main forms of assessment.
In S4, 89 per cent of young people achieved an award (A-D) at S4 National 5 comparable to last year's data while 39 young people in the year group achieved eight or more qualifications in S4 at National 5. Twenty-five young people claimed one or more Higher (SCQF level 6) passes in S4.
Performance at S5 Higher remains comparable to last session with 88 per centre of young people achieving an award at (A-D). In particular, 61 per cent of young people achieved one or more Higher (SCQF level 6) qualification.
This year 26 students achieved five or more Higher A passes in 2024, slightly down from 2023’s 29 pupils.
At S6 Advanced Higher, 87 per cent of young people achieved an award (A-D) and at S6 Higher, 84 per cent of young people presented at this level also achieved an award (A-D).
Overall across Scotland, the general pattern was for a slight fall in pass rates, although this year saw the full return of coursework assessment following the Covid pandemic.
