Secondary schools offer their young pupils the chance to study towards important qualifications, and earning a diverse range of them can help set them up them for their next steps after school.
The 2025 SQA results day arrived earlier this week, meaning learners across Scotland were finally able to find out which National 5s, Highers, and Advanced Highers they landed - and the grades they got in each of them. While their success is ultimately down to their own hard work, schools play a big part in it too.
With this in mind, we’ve taken a look at the 18 state-funded secondary schools within the Fife Council area, that were particularly successful at having a high proportion of their pupils achieve a wide range of Highers, according to the most up-to-date data (currently for the 2023/24 school year). Our list is based on the Scottish Government’s recently updated breadth and depth of qualifications figures, specifically the percentage of each school’s candidates that attained five or more.
While these figures aren’t the only way to measure school success, they’re still worth celebrating as a demonstration of what kind of learning environment a school provides. Here are the 9 Fife schools that came out on top:
1. Dunfermline High School
At the top of the list is this secondary school, in Dunfermline. In the 2023/24 school year, 60% of its pupils attained five or more Highers. | Google
2. Waid Academy
Next up is The Waid Academy, a secondary school in Anstruther. In the 2023/24 school year, 44% of its pupils attained five or more Highers. | Google
3. Madras College
Madras is a secondary school in St Andrews. In the 2023/24 school year, 40% of its pupils attained five or more Highers. | Google
4. Queen Anne High School
Queen Anne is a secondary school in Dunfermline. In the 2023/24 school year, 37% of its pupils attained five or more Highers. | Google