MORE pupils than ever at Hermitage Academy are leaving school for positive destinations – ahead of the national average.

The school also saw a five per cent increase in that respect in just two years, with 87.4 per cent leaving for college, university or a similar venture in 2014/15 rising to 92.4 per cent in 2016/17.

That number then increased further to 94 per cent in March 2017 – beating the national average of 92.9 per cent.

Hermitage has also beaten all five of West Dunbartonshire’s secondary schools for the number of leavers reaching positive destinations, it was revealed at last week’s meeting of the Helensburgh and Lomond Community Planning Group.

The final figures for 2017/18 are still being compiled by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), but depute head teacher Roseanne Mackay has been impressed by the progress.

She said at the meeting in Cove Burgh Hall: “We don’t have pupils dropping out of their positive destination after leaving and that is something to bear in mind.

“Also, a gap year counts as a negative destination, and of course some young people choose to follow that route.

“It is of course a very positive thing to do if used constructively and I wouldn’t want to persuade our leavers not to do that, but it will reflect the figures differently.

“2014/15 was the last year when we had qualifications under the old curriculum. None of these young people had been presented for examinations in S4 – not en masse.

“Since then we have moved away from that, and now have no young people in Hermitage who have experienced the old system.

“We will work with education to ensure these figures continue to rise.”

Craig Bendoris, SDS’s team leader who liaises with the school, also spoke warmly of the service’s findings when it surveyed Hermitage’s leavers.

He said: “We contact school leavers in October to see where they have ended up, and we do the same again in March.

“The trend shows that we are steadily improving, going from 87.4 per cent in positive destinations in 2014/15 to 92.4 per cent in 2016/17.

“We were behind the national average initially in 2016/17 – but when we went back to the leavers in March, we saw a positive increase. The national average went down, but Hermitage’s figure went up.

“Between those times, there tends to be a bit of a drop-off from young people, who feel they made the wrong choice.

“When placed in a ranking with the five secondary schools in West Dunbartonshire, Hermitage was fourth out of six.

“That told me there were still significant issues – maybe to do with deprivation, although it is important to recognise that Helensburgh is not the same as Dumbarton.

“We did, though, need to focus on whether leavers in Helensburgh were finding the transition harder.

“When we did the follow-up, against the five West Dunbartonshire schools, Hermitage was up to first place.

“We are not only preparing young people to leave school – we are supporting them after they do so.”

Councillor Ellen Morton, chair of Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee, said: "We have an area committee business day next week and will be going to visit Hermitage Academy as part of that.

"We will meet the staff to discuss these results, which are stunningly good - but you always want to improve and don't rest on your laurels.

"Every child slipping through the net is one too many, but we are delighted with these figures."