ATTAINMENT has increased among school children in Scotland, but the poorest continue to be left behind, according to new figures.

As results were rolled out across the country, Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) data showed that students achieving grades A to C at National 5 (broadly equivalent to GCSEs in England) grew from 77.2 to 78.4 per cent, with rates at Higher (A-Level equivalent) progressing from 74.9 to 75.9 per cent, and Advanced Higher from 75.3 to 76.7 per cent.

This year, the attainment gap between students from the 20 per cent poorest areas compared with the wealthiest fell from 17.2 per cent to 16.6 per cent at National 5, from 17.2 to 17.1 per cent at Higher, with progress strongest at Advance Higher, where the gap shrunk from 15.5 to 12.8 per cent.

This is despite the SNP launching the Scottish Attainment Challenge back in 2015 to “close the [poverty-related] attainment completely.”

While record numbers of school-leavers in Scotland will go to university — growing from 16,650 last year to 17,350 — there too the poverty gap remains stark, with just 16 per cent of pupils from the poorest fifth of areas winning places, compared with 43.6 per cent from the richest.

Scottish Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “In 2015, [then first minister] Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted to be judged on closing the attainment gap, with the SNP promising to ‘substantially eliminate’ it within a decade.

“Almost a decade on and SNP ministers are refusing to own up to Scots that they have repeatedly made promises that they are unable to deliver upon.

“Scotland’s young people are being held back by a failing SNP government.”