More West Dunbartonshire school leavers are moving onto further or higher education, training or employment than ever before, according to new official figures.
The statistics from the Scottish Government show that for the 2010-11 academic year, West Dunbartonshire Council had the 7th best figures in Scotland for school leavers going on to “positive destinations” such as work, university, college, training or voluntary work. It is the second consecutive year that West Dunbartonshire has performed better than the national average for school leaver destinations.
The key findings are:
• the proportion of school leavers entering positive destinations has increased by 3.4% to 91.5% in 2010/2011, compared to last year’s figure of 88.1%.
• there has been a steady increase in young people moving into positive destinations every year since 2007/2008.
• the overall number of young people moving into positive destinations increased by 63, from 880 in 2009/2010 to 943 in 2010/11.
• the percentage of young people moving into employment increased by 2.7% in 2010/11.
• the percentage of young people moving into training increased by 1.4% in 2010/11.
• the percentage of young people moving into further education recorded an all-time high of 29.4%, an increase of 1% since last year.
• the percentage of young people reported as unemployed and seeking work, and unemployed and not seeking work, has consistently dropped since 2007/2008.
• For the first time ever, there were no young people in the “unknown destination” category.
The figures for school leaver destinations represent a very positive picture for young people in West Dunbartonshire, and illustrate the impact of the range of interventions in place in schools and supported by a wide partnership of agencies and organisations.
Terry Lanagan, Executive Director for Education Services, said: “These figures represent a very significant achievement for West Dunbartonshire schools. To have the seventh best figures in Scotland for school leavers going on to positive destinations is quite astonishing, given the socio-economic profile of the area. I believe the continuing improvements are the result of a huge amount of work by school and centrally based staff and by our partners, including Skills Development Scotland.”
Councillor Jonathan McColl, Convener for Education Services, welcomed the figures saying: “I am delighted that these new figures confirm that West Dunbartonshire is continuing to offer increasingly brighter futures for our school leavers. We have not only remained above the national average but are now moving up the rankings, and this year for the first time, over 90% of our school leavers are going on to positive destinations. Our aim is to continue to build on this success and hopefully see further improvements as a result of the significant investment that has been made locally in new school facilities.”
There is some variation between secondary schools in West Dunbartonshire in relation to school leaver destinations, but the results can be summarised as follows:
• all five schools show an increase in positive destinations in 2010/11 compared with 2009/2010.
• Dumbarton Academy shows the highest percentage of young people moving into positive destinations in 2010/11 (97.5%).
• Our Lady and St Patrick’s High, Dumbarton shows the largest percentage increase (6.8%) in young people entering positive destinations. This year’s figure was 90.2% compared to 83.4% in 2009/10.
