Secondary school students enjoyed another excellent year for Highers — recording the best performance in more than a decade.

More than half of all S5 pupils achieved one or more Highers — up from 49.3 per cent 12 months ago to 52.1 per cent.

A quarter of S6 students left secondary school with five or more Higher passes.

There was also a record set of results for S4 pupils sitting National 4 and 5 exams — with 97 per cent achieving a pass in at least one course at National 4 or above — up from 94.7 per cent 12 months ago.

Education chiefs say they are delighted at the progress that has been made.

Councillor Terry Loughran, the council’s education and communities committee convener, said: “These are excellent results and reflect years of hard work by pupils, parents and staff.

“It also shows our investment in new and refurbished schools and education as a whole is paying off with young people benefiting from state-of-the-art facilities.” The number of youngsters who gained three or more passes at Higher level has also increased to 30 per cent — up from just over a quarter in 2014.

Results in S6 also improved.

The number of young people leaving school with at least one Higher jumped from 53.5 per cent to 57 per cent. Those who achieved three passes climbed almost two per cent to 38.1 per cent year on year, students with five Highers jumped from 22.8 to 25.9 per cent, and almost a fifth achieved at least one Advanced Higher — 17.9 compared to 13.2 per cent last year.

Cllr Loughran said: “To think that a quarter of all pupils leaving our schools at S6 have at least five Highers shows that we are delivering on our promise to help young people achieve their potential and enter further education, training or employment with the academic achievements they need to succeed in life.” In S4, 84.9 per cent of pupils gained more than five National 4 qualifications — up from 84.1 per cent 12 months ago.

The percentage of those who passed more than five National 5 qualifications at grades A-C increased from 35.6 to 37.8 per cent.

Mr Loughran said: “We look forward to seeing how the performance of Inverclyde’s young people compares nationally.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our young people for their efforts.”