AN East End secondary has set a city record after seeing every school leaver move on to a positive destination.

Lochend Community High School is the first in Glasgow to have 100% of pupils go on to a positive leaver destination - education, training or work.

As well as being the best in the city, this also bucks a national trend that saw the percentage of positive destinations for pupils drop in 2019/2020 to 93.3%, the lowest in five years.

Head teacher David McArthur said post-school plans for his pupils was a priority when he took up his post in December 2016.

One of his first moves was to hire employability officer Craig McFadzean using Scottish Attainment Challenge and pupil equity fund money.

David said: "Having potentially the highest deprivation levels in Scotland in our school, to get 100% positive leaver destinations has been outstanding.

"When I arrived at the school the figures were about 83%. Then I put Craig in post and they went up to about 93%.

"Craig has helped embed what he does throughout the school and bring the kids fully onboard with why it's so important to get qualifications and skills.

"But there was always more we could do and I was quite passionate about that."

Scotland-wide, the positive leaver destination figures are currently the lowest they have been since 2014/15 when they stood at 93.2%.

Glasgow's figures are due to be published in the coming weeks.

When David put Craig in post there were only two other employability officers in the city but the Towards Better Futures Strategy will see an officer in every school in the city.

David said: "In that way we were ahead of the game.

"An important part of Craig's role is that he's not a teacher, so he solely focuses on getting pupils into positive destinations.

"The pupils came in all through the holidays to see Craig. They've got his number. He's accessible at most times and he'll be phoning kids at 9pm at night and parents will be getting in touch with him too.

"He's so embedded in the school the kids call him Craig now."

Each month the school holds an Opportunities For All team meeting where a group of staff and others discuss each child and put strategies in place to support them.

The school also forges links in the wider community, with Marks & Spencer at Glasgow Fort taking on 10 pupils for festive jobs in the store.

The firm had only been looking for one or two temporary staff from Lochend but were so impressed by the young people they hired all 10 applicants.

Despite the 100% achievement, David is looking to improve on the schools success - despite the challenges the coronavirus pandemic brings.

He said: "Although we're at 100% we want more kids going in to university and those going into jobs going into further and higher education. And we want those going into training to go straight into employment.

"So there's always an ambitious drive to improve."

He added: "I think for young people going on for education that's going to be about the results.

"But when people are going on to employment that's going to be tougher because so many people will be unemployed, there will be more competition from people who already have experience.

"That's going to be more challenging for young people nowadays.

"So it's about how do we support those young people to be as knowledgeable as they can be for when they are going to those interviews."

At the Easterhouse school, the percentage of pupils coming from SIMD1 and SIMD2, the most deprived postcodes, is at 91%.

In comparison, some schools in more affluent areas might have no pupils from those postcodes.

David said: "This will be an ongoing priority because it's about making sure we are getting it right for every child.

"It's making sure no one is left behind, which is more important than five Highers because not every child will get five Highers.

"So looking at it that way, Lochend is the best school in Glasgow, or the best school in Scotland, because we got 100%."