It is good to see that our secondary schools across the Borders are continuing to turn out a very high percentage of pupils who go to ‘positive destinations’ on leaving school – be that further or higher education or employment.
Given the state of the economy and the associated lack of jobs, it cannot be an easy time for senior pupils as they approach the end of their high school education.
However it must be reassuring to know that the quality of teaching at our schools is such that they have an excellent opportunity to go on to study at a higher level – either at college or university.
The figures contained in the annual education standards report, put before the council’s education committee this week, clearly show that in almost all equations Borders pupils are performing above the national average, and above the levels attained in other similar local authority areas in Scotland.
With that in mind, it would be nice to think that the future of the Borders is in safe hands, but the fact is that more must be done to keep our well-educated youngsters here in the region once they qualify in their chosen field.
It is hard to compete against the bright lights of many university cities, however the more employment chances that can be created locally for these young people the better.
One thing is for sure, if things continue as they are, they can be confident that their children will also get a high quality school education here in the Borders.