EDUCATION Secretary John Swinney hailed the “real improvement” in Scotland’s schools after new figures showed more pupils from the most deprived communities are going on to work, training or further study.

Across the country, 92.9% of all youngsters who left school in 2016-17 went on to these “positive destinations”, which can also include voluntary work, up from 91.4% the previous year.

In the most deprived parts of Scotland, 87.6% of school leavers in 2016-17 achieved this, narrowing the gap with their counterparts in the most affluent communities.

In these areas 96.4% of all leavers were in positive destinations nine months after finishing classes. The gap between the two has been reduced to 8.7 percentage points, down from 12.9 points in 2012-13.

However, the Scottish Government figures also showed almost twice as many youngsters from the least deprived areas left school with at least one good Higher pass as compared to youngsters in the worst-off communities.

Swinney said: “These figures are indicative of a high-performing education system, which is testament to the efforts of our teachers, our school staff and our education leaders to give every child the opportunity to fulfil their full potential in life. Already the actions of this government is delivering real improvement in our schools, and implementation of reforms to empower schools and school leaders will accelerate this.

“I’m particularly pleased to see an increasing proportion of looked-after children leaving school with at least a Higher or equivalent, but clearly the gap is still too wide. The findings of the independent Care Review and this Government’s £750 million investment through the Scottish Attainment Challenge will, I believe, see us make even more progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap in years to come.”

During the year covered by the figures, 80.6% of school leavers in the most affluent parts of Scotland achieved a minimum of one Higher at grades A to C. Only 43% of pupils in the most deprived areas managed.

Looking at children in care, only 16% of leavers who were “looked after” left school with at least one Higher pass between grades A and C.

Overall, the figures showed almost four out of 10 pupils (38.3%) who left in 2016-17 went on to higher education, making it the most popular choice for youngsters finishing secondary school.

More than a quarter (28.3%) of leavers went into work, with 23% going on to further education, according to the data. For youngsters who were in care, the number in “positive destinations” after leaving school has increased from 40% in 2009-10 to 76% in 2016-17.

Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “Any progress

in closing the gap between the richest and the rest is welcome but the SNP government should not be patting itself on the back too quickly, as there is still much more improvement needed.”