Staff and pupils at Beaconhurst School are celebrating major success in this year’s exam results including a 20 per cent increase in Higher awards.

A total of 93 per cent of pupils gained A-C grades in their Highers – the best result in the school’s history and up by 20 per cent on last year – while the Highers’ A-B pass was also impressive at 70 per cent.

The national average pass rate for Highers (grades A-C) was 76 per cent.

In National 5s, 86 per cent of pupils received A-C grades – compared to a national average of 79 per cent - while the A-B pass rate was 68 per cent.

Meanwhile, 82 per cent of Beaconhurst’s Advanced Higher pupils also passed their exams compared to a national average pass rate of 80 per cent.

The remarkable results – and in particular the significant boost to Higher results – is down to hard work from staff and pupils plus the launch of several new academic initiatives led by Deputy Head (Academic) Sandra Bannerman.

Ms Bannerman was promoted to the newly created depute head position at the independent Bridge of Allan school last year and is delighted with the unprecedented results achieved in that time.

She said: “It’s very exciting to see how well our pupils have done and we are very proud of their achievements.

“The Higher results are the best in the school’s history and signal a new phase in the development of Beaconhurst as a school.

“The range of new academic initiatives implemented last year has worked to support our pupils in achieving their potential.

“We are now ready to start the forthcoming academic term on a high - looking forward to more success next year. She added: “We are also delighted that most of our S6 leavers, based on their results, have already secured places on the courses of their choice.” Ms Bannerman also singled out the school’s successful National 5 pupils for extra praise.

She said: “The National 5s results are particularly impressive as our pupils take eight National 5 subjects to ensure they have as wide a choice as possible when it comes to choosing their Highers.

“And overall the results are particularly significant in the independent sector as we are a non-selective school which welcomes pupils of a wide range of abilities.” The initiatives introduced at Beaconhurst over the 2014-15 academic year include close reporting and monitoring of pupil progress with increased feedback to parents and pupils.

The move to a combination of effort reports and short, academic reports linked to parents’ evenings have driven results by increasing parental engagement and encouraging hard work and dedication from pupils.

Beaconhurst also introduced a new exam timetable which now begins in June rather than August.

This gives pupils the best possible start to courses and allows, for example, summer reading and research to be set for Higher and Advanced Higher pupils.

Headmaster John Owen added: “I’m really impressed with how hard our pupils, staff and parents have worked to gain these excellent results.

“The new initiatives we introduced last year have clearly been a success and I’m particularly delighted with the Higher results which are the best the school has ever achieved.”