THE buildings may be crumbling but students at the West Fife high schools to be replaced are still receiving top marks. 

Pupil achievements at Inverkeithing, St Columba’s and Woodmill were highlighted in a report card for councillors last week. 

In poor condition and with mounting maintenance and repair bills, the three schools are next to be replaced and Fife Council has allocated £50 million towards the cost.

The issues facing education in West Fife, including imminent capacity risks due to the scale of housebuilding, is why the Press launched its Action for Schools campaign. 

Thankfully results in the classrooms have remained good, with Dunfermline and Queen Anne also performing well. 

A summary on the five schools’ attainment and achievements was presented to the South West Fife area committee. 

Chair Bobby Clelland said: “These high schools are setting high challenges for the pupils and it’s excellent that they are being met. These results are a testament to the hard work being done by pupils and teachers to raise standards and keep them high.”

The report card for Dunfermline High School highlighted a 93 per cent attendance rate, “particularly good” SQA results in S4 and S5, significant success for pupils who require additional support and £6,000 raised for charities. 

Twelve pupils completed the gold Duke of Edinburgh award. 
Inverkeithing also achieved a 93 per cent attendance rate and the highest on record number of S4 pupils achieving five passes at Level 5. 

In addition, S6 students had the highest performance on record for three passes at Level 5 and five passes at Level 6. There has been “significant progress” in literacy and numeracy levels and a change to the timetable now allows S6 pupils half a day’s work placement.

Inverkeithing raised £9,000 for charities and exclusion rates were significantly below the Fife average. 

The third school to achieve a 93 per cent attendance rate, higher than the Fife average, Queen Anne also saw its exclusion rates fall below the average. 

S4 Level 5 literacy attainment has doubled to top 81 per cent since 2012 and, over the same time, there has been a 43 per cent increase in S4 Level 5 numeracy.

Highlights for St Columba’s include £21,000 raised for charities and 34 pupils in S3 took part in the Fife Council Four 2 Fortune initiative, turning £4 into £160 using business skills. 

Seven senior pupils completed the bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. 
Woodmill saw the number of S4 pupils who achieved five or more National 5 passes improve by more than 10 per cent. 

The school saw consistent improvement in S6 pupils achieving five or more Highers and literacy and numeracy continued to improve across Level 4 and 5. 

There are now more than 200 Duke of Edinburgh Awards across all levels, one of the highest in Fife. Woodmill’s exclusion rates are also below the Fife average.