FIVE of East Lothian’s six secondary schools have slipped down a national league table.

Figures published by The Times show the performance of every secondary school in Scotland based on the number of pupils achieving five or more Highers.

The majority of East Lothian’s schools have dropped down the table, with only Preston Lodge High School, in Prestonpans, heading in the opposite direction.

READ MORE: In full – All Scotland's secondary schools ranked from best to worst in new table

Those drops in league position come despite a greater percentage of pupils at two of the schools achieving five or more highers.

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council defended the placings.

She said: “We are proud of all of our school teams and the work that they do to support and encourage pupils to achieve their fullest potential.

“Five Highers is a national measure of attainment and, while it doesn’t reflect the full range of awards and achievements available in our schools, we are pleased to see East Lothian’s success recognised.

“We continue our focus on improving outcomes for all pupils involving school leaders and practitioners.”

The way pupils were graded across Scotland last year was different compared to previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 national examination timetable was cancelled and externally assessed SQA qualifications at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher were instead awarded based on centre estimated grades.

North Berwick High School continues to lead the way in East Lothian, although the school has dropped from 14th in 2019 to 38th last year.

At the same time, the percentage of pupils achieving five or more Highers has dropped from 65 per cent to 56 per cent.

Meanwhile, Dunbar Grammar School has moved from 71st to 80th, despite the percentage going from 44 per cent in 2019 to 48 per cent last year.

It was a similar story for Knox Academy, which dropped from 95th to 122nd, despite the percentage increasingly slightly from 40 per cent to 42 per cent.

In the west of the county, Musselburgh Grammar School dropped more than 100 places, from 122nd in 2019 to 240th last year, with the percentage going from 37 per cent in 2019 to 31 per cent 12 months later.

Tranent’s Ross High School is now ranked 284th compared to 223rd in 2019, with the percentage changing from 29 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent last year.

Finally, Preston Lodge High School has moved up from 316th to 300th, with the percentage of pupils achieving five or more Highers going up from 18 per cent to 24 per cent over the same period.

Councillor Jeremy Findlay (Conservative), who represents the North Berwick Coastal ward on East Lothian Council, called for the council's education committee to "be given more oversight powers" and to be chaired by an opposition councillor.

He added: “At present it is a toothless committee that only rubber-stamps administration policies.”