Falkirk secondary school pupils have performed well in this year’s examination results.

This is the first year of the new Nationals, part of the Curriculum for Excellence, which has replaced Standard Grade courses.

The Nationals are very different qualifications from Standard Grade with National 4 being internally assessed by schools while the National 5 is externally assessed. Due to the difference between the new National Qualifications and Standard Grade exams a comparison with previous years is not possible.

There were 4,947 entries across Falkirk Council’s eight secondary schools resulting in 4,078 Grade A-C passes – a pass rate of 82.4%, above the national rate of 81.1%.

Councillor Alan Nimmo, Spokesperson for Education said: “I am pleased to report that Falkirk’s results demonstrate continued and sustained high levels of attainment within our schools. We are rightly proud of this achievement which is a testament to the hard work put in by pupils, parents and staff over many years.

“Results for pupils in S5 sitting Highers continue to show improvement and are now higher than ever before. Similarly S6 pupils sitting Highers and Advanced Highers maintained the high standards set last year.”

Overall figures show an improvement on 5th year attainment in 2013/14 in all three key measures. Those achieving at least one higher rose from 49% to 50%, those gaining at least three Highers rose from 27% to 29% and those gaining at least five Highers rose from 13% to 14%.

In 6th year attainment remained at similar levels with 38% gaining three or more Highers and 26% gaining at least five Highers.

Any parents or pupils involved in this year’s diet of exams who have queries regarding their results should contact their school directly.

Two exam helplines are open for anyone with questions about exam results.

Skills Development Scotland has a helpline for candidates whose results were either better or worse than expected. The advisors can offer information on college or university vacancies, employment and training opportunities and exam results.

Skills Development Scotland Exam Results helpline - Phone number, 0808 100 8000. The line is open on weekdays until 13th August it will be open from 9am to 5pm. Call charges may apply depending on your operator. You can also get expert advice on Twitter @MyWoWScotland using #ExamResults.

SQA Candidate Advice Line - phone number, 0345 279 1000 and the email enquiry address is results@sqa.org.uk