SQA Awards

10 August 2021 at 15:29:54

Today, young people across the Western Isles received formal confirmation of the results of National Qualifications undertaken earlier this year.  After the cancellation of the 2021 exams, the alternative certification model used this year meant that the way pupils found out their results was very different to previous years.  Pupils were all informed of their provisional awards in June and the results being notified today act as final confirmation of these awards.

In another year of challenge and disruption to qualifications caused by Covid-19, the Comhairle would like to recognise and congratulate the effort, commitment and achievement of all our young people, whatever the results received today.

Across National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses, the rate of A-C passes achieved was 91.6%, from a total of 2,730 presentations. The equivalent rate of passes across Scotland for the same awards in the region of 88.7%. 

After the cancellation of the 2021 exams, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) implemented an alternative model to determine awards for students that involved schools gathering a range of assessment evidence from course work, lesson activities and assessments. Teachers then made professional judgements based on the available evidence about the level of award to make. These judgements were based on detailed national guidance and were subject to numerous moderation and quality assurance checks before being notified to pupils and submitted to SQA.

As well as success in academic assessment being shared today, it important to us to recognise the many achievements of our pupils, in areas of applied learning, sport, culture, heritage and community service. We also understand that one of the most important measures of success is the ability for pupils to go on to positive destinations after they leave school, equipped for the next step in the journey into employment, training or study. Comhairle schools are able to report the highest post-school success rates in Scotland with 97.1% of our leavers continuing to be in a positive destination nine months after leaving.

Chairman of the Education, Skills and Children's Services Committee, Cllr Paul Steele, said: "In addition to congratulating and recognising the work and achievement of pupils, we would like to express our thanks to parent, carers and staff for your commitment to supporting our young people to achieve in challenging and changing circumstances".  

We understand that some pupils may not have received the results that had been hoped for today and our school staff are available to provide support and guidance. As well as contacting schools directly, pupils can also seek advice and help in the following ways:

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