Islay High praised in school report

The school’s A-C pass rate for National 5 and Higher exams beat the Argyll and Bute and national averages during the 2022/23 exam diet.

Senior management have also spoken highly of the positive ethos within the school, ahead of the retiral of its head teacher Stephen Harrison at the end of this academic year.

The report will go before members of Argyll and Bute Council’s Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area committee on Wednesday, June 5.

The report said: “The percentage values for both A-C and A-D values for both National 5 and Higher are significantly above both the authority and national averages. There are strong results across almost all subjects, which is very much a strength of the school.

“The Advanced Higher results are not significant as the numbers are small and vary considerably from one year to the next.

“Also, as we are a small school with very low numbers doing Advanced Highers, pupils have to be much more responsible for their own learning and will only be allocated two periods per week as tutorials, compared to larger schools with full classes of AH students and allocated five periods of full teaching.”

The document added: “The ethos in the school is very good. Visitors comment on what a relaxed and calm atmosphere there is in the school. This is down to strong positive relationships between staff and pupils.

“SQA results are good. The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular events at lunchtimes and after school as well as a large number of residential trips. The trips are so important for our island pupils.

“The school benefits enormously from the strong partnerships with estates, employers, organisations and the community in general. This has positive impacts on pupil achievement but also results in achieving a very positive reputation within the community.

“The head teacher will be retiring at the end of this academic year but the school is in a good place for the transition to a new head teacher.”