Pupils celebrate excellent set of results

The nail-biting wait for exam results finally came to an end today when 617 local pupils received their grades by text, email and post.

Pupils in Shetland once again performed very strongly with candidates achieving a higher pass rate than last year in three out of four categories.

At National 4 level 93.7 per cent of pupils passed this year, compared with 93.1 per cent in 2015.

A total of 80 per cent of candidates passed the new Higher compared to 79.8 per cent last year.

The pass rate for Advanced Highers increased by nearly 10 per cent from 65.4 per cent to 74.3 per cent.

Only at National 5 level were pupils less successful than the previous year, with the pass rate dipping from 82 per cent to 80.2 per cent.

Anderson High School pupil Jack Tait achieved an A in each of his five Higher exams.

The S5 pupil said that he had “been quite nervous for the past few days” and so was “very happy” to find out how successful he had been, upon opening his envelope on Tuesday morning.

Jack will now go on to study chemistry, physics and maths at Advanced Higher level, alongside a Scottish Baccalaureate in science. He then hopes to “go to university and study a chemistry course.”

He added: “I’m really happy about the results as these are good entry grades for university.”

Although Jack was confident of passes across the board, he did say that five As was beyond his expectations, but he conceded that it was “was definitely an aim because that was what I achieved in my prelims.”

Sandwick Junior High pupil Sofie Spasova received seven As in the new National qualifications.

Sofie, who has just completed S4, said that she was “really happy” with her results and hoped that they would stand her in good stead as she moved into S5 at the Anderson High School.

She added: “I was expecting to pass all of them but I wasn’t expecting to get all As.”

The SIC’s education and families chairwoman Vaila Wishart said: “I am delighted to see that Shetland’s excellent record of attainment in national qualifications continues. I would like to congratulate all the candidates and their teachers.”

This year is the third time that Scottish pupils studied the new National qualifications. These were introduced in the 2013-14 session as part of the Curriculum for Excellence – replacing the previous Standard Grade exam system.

The Nationals are usually studied by pupils in S4 as part of their three-year Senior Phase experience from S4 to S6 where young people have the opportunity to study towards a range of academic and vocational qualifications.

It is also the second year of the new Higher exams and the first year of new Advanced Higher exams.

Full coverage and photos in Friday’s Shetland Times.