PUPILS across Clydebank have received their SQA exam results. 

More than 2,000 students across West Dunbartonshire woke up to their marks after months of hard work.

For many, the results will mark the end of their school careers as they move onto a range of different positive destinations including permanent employment, apprenticeships, and further education.

Among these is Oliwia Pawlowska, who went to St Peter the Apostle High School, and is going to study architecture at The Glasgow School of Art.

Her passion for architecture came from studying Higher Graphic Communication as she enjoyed using a range of skills that she had learned from art and mathematics to project design.

During her senior phase, Oliwia was encouraged to enrol in The Glasgow School of Art Widening Participation (WP) Programme.

This is a programme that is funded by the Scottish Government to support young people from under-represented communities to access the information and experience they need to apply for art school.

She successfully completed the WP Creative Club in S4, The Portfolio course in fifth year and then a 10-week Architecture Portfolio course.

Oliwia says the programme helped her meet like-minded people and encouraged her to exchange creative ideas which helped enrich her personal and school creative projects.

A total of 2,295 candidates were presented for 10,601 qualifications and of those results show that 93 per cent of pupils presented received at least one national qualification.

67 per cent of pupils who sat Advanced Highers received at least one pass at this level, and 82 per cent of those presented achieved at least one Higher pass.

At National 5 level, 86 per cent achieved at least one Nat 5 pass, while 92 per cent of those presented achieved at least one National 4 qualification.

In subjects including Advanced Higher Art & Design, Graphic Communication and History; Higher Italian and Music Technology, as well as National 5 Accounting, Early Learning and Childcare, Energy, Hairdressing, Health Sector, Italian, Media, Music Technology, Sport & Recreation, 100 per cent of pupils who were presented qualifications received a passing grade.

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Councillor Clare Steel, convener of Educational Services, said: “Pupils should be extremely proud of their hard work and dedication over the years.

"I can only imagine how much pressure our young people must feel throughout the exam period. 

“Hearing about everyone's different journeys, with some going on to university and college and others going straight into work as apprentices, demonstrates the true variety of options that pupils have available to them, and everyone should be very excited for the next chapter.

"I wish them all the best of luck in the future." 

Councillor John Millar, vice convener of Educational Services, said: “Well done to all our pupils, you should all be proud of the effort and hard work that has gone into our exams.

"I hope everyone can look at their results and be pleased with whatever is written on that paper but also remember that there are so many different paths to get you where you want to be and if things didn’t go quite as you had planned, there is help available to anyone who is looking for guidance after receiving their results.” 

Laura Mason, chief education officer, added: “All of our pupils should be very proud of the hard work they’ve all put in throughout the year. 

“I want to thank the staff across all of our schools for their continuous support and dedication to making sure our pupils have the best opportunity of success in their qualifications and to parents who have supported and encouraged their young people to achieve.

“We will continue our commitment to raising attainment and ensuring every young person in West Dunbartonshire is supported to fulfil their potential.

"Many of our young people study a wider range of courses than those discussed.

"We look forward to discussing the achievements of all of our young people once the national benchmarking tool Insight is updated in September.”