Scotland's Schools Ranked: These are the 13 most improved Scottish secondary schools in Scotland - according to latest exam results

The data shows which schools have managed to soar up the rankings – led by Bannockburn High School which has moved up a remarkable 208 places, from 294th to 86th in the five year period.

Exam league tables do not rank schools from ‘best to worst’, as they do not take into account factors such as teaching quality, the number of pupils with special educational needs or whether the school serves a disadvantaged area.

Scottish Schools Ranking: Search our interactive table of all Scottish secondary school results

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government says presenting exam performance figures in league tables is “misleading” because it overlooks such aspects but we are publishing them to provide parents with important information they can consider alongside inspection reports and other ways to assess the quality of local schools.

We have compiled them using exam performance data published by the Scottish Government on its own website.

Across Scotland, 39 per cent of school leavers in 2022 had gained at least five Highers, or equivalent, the figures show.

This is lower than the previous two years, when the Covid-19 pandemic meant exams were cancelled and teacher assessments used to award grades, but higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Our list ‘most improved’ schools shows how their placement in the Scotland-wide league table has changed over the past five years – although it should be noted that it does not necessarily show how much exam performance at that school has changed.

A school’s exam performance may have risen, but if these are outpaced by higher rises at other schools, they will still fall down the rankings. Similarly, it does not show whether teaching quality has improved at a school, which is better assessed through inspections.

Here are the 13 schools that have risen furthest up the rankings.