NEARLY half of all the pupils who left Peebles High in 2014 went to university.

Scottish Borders Council’s education executive heard that 98 of the 203 leavers from the region’s biggest secondary found a higher education place.

That rate of 48.3 per cent was only bettered across the Borders by Earlston High where 50.4 per cent was recorded.

Propping up that particular league was Eyemouth High with 19 per cent.

The proportion of Peebles pupils going into further education, however, was the lowest in the Borders with 31 (15.3 per cent) finding a college place.

The figures for the nine secondary schools, based on data supplied by Skills Development Scotland, were presented to update the committee on those leavers who achieved so-called “positive destinations”.

Apart from those who continued in education, six Peebles students went into training, 48 found employment, and one entered an activity agreement with an advisor to prepare that young person for learning or employment.

Of the 19 (9.4 per cent) who didn’t find a positive destination, four were said to be “unemployed, but not seeking work”. The other 14 were classed as “unemployed seeking work”.

Councillors heard of the valuable work undertaken by Emma Fairley, SBC’s Opportunities for All co-ordinator who matches job, training and learning opportunities against a range of provision available to leavers.

Her job includes “tracking” and assisting those who drop out of university or college.

Since taking the Scottish Government-funded role two years ago, Ms Fairley has also worked with schools to ensure early identification of students who may struggle to find a positive destination when it is time to leave.

The upshot is that SBC was last year the fourth best out of 32 local authorities in Scotland, with 94 per cent of all leavers achieving a positive destination, against a Scottish average of 92.3 per cent - an improvement on the 15th position it held in 2013.