Arrangements for National Qualifications 2020-21

The Scottish Government has now announced that the 2020-21 exam diet will not go ahead for Highers and Advanced Highers. This is in addition to the decision taken in October by Scottish Government to cancel the National 5 exam diet.

This decision has been taken based on the continuing health concerns relating to Covid-19 and in the interests of ensuring fairness for all candidates across Scotland sitting qualifications this school year.

The Scottish Government has stated that the awarding of results for Higher and Advanced Higher will follow broadly the same model as that for National 5 courses, with candidates' results based on agreed evidence gathered by teachers in the classroom.

All West Lothian secondary schools are well prepared for this announcement and have been developing contingency plans for some time to ensure that our young people are well supported to be successful in their qualifications this year. We welcome the clarity that this decision brings and hope it will provide reassurance for all of our young people currently working towards Highers and Advanced Highers.

We understand that you are likely to have a range of questions around this and have sought to answer as many of these as possible in the attached Frequently Asked Questions paper which has been developed by West Lothian Council. Should your question not be covered by this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the school. You will also find attached a short video outlining the key points from the FAQ document

Arrangements for National Qualifications 2020-2 FAQs (PDF) [261KB] (opens new window)