IN 2014, only 6.4% of secondary schoolchildren from the region's most deprived areas passed five or more Highers - and Scottish Borders Council found itself floundering in 26th place of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

But last year, that pass rate nearly doubled to 11.8 per cent - and the council leapt to 15th place in the national ratings.

Over the same year, the success rate for all Borders pupils sitting these exams also increased – from 30.5 per cent to 34.4 per cent.

The upshot is that the so-called attainment gap – between the exam performance of children from more and less deprived backgrounds in the Borders - has narrowed from 23.9 per cent to 22.6 per cent.

“This improvement is a key indicator of the success of the work being carried out to close the attainment gap in the Scottish Borders,” said Donna Manson, director of children and young people’s services, in a report to last week’s meeting of SBC’s executive committee.

“In each school there is an attainment gap and all schools are committed to improving attainment for all groups of learners.

“All our secondary schools have been carrying out focused work in closing the gap...and our attainment versus deprivation outcomes have significantly improved.”

There are currently five of the 130 so-called data zones in the Borders – three in Galashiels and two in Hawick - which are defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) as being among the most deprived in Scotland.

The rates of child poverty here are as high as 41 per cent, compared to 12.6 per cent across the Borders as a whole.

Ms Manson said the council, other public agencies and the voluntary sector were working closely to support and protect children, although she added: “Recent trends suggest levels of need are increasing.”

The overall number of children in care in the Borders rose from 179 in 2013 to 215 last year while the number of child protection investigations which went to case conferences was up 59 per cent to 56 in 2014/15 from 32 the previous year.

On July 31 last year there were 27 children on the Child Protection Register, up from 16 on the same date in 2014.