Penicuik High School
39a Carlops Road, Penicuik, EH26 9EP · Midlothian
Penicuik’s School Grade C+ against Scotland’s towns
What stands out about Penicuik High School
- Its own letter, C: 60% of leavers had 5+ awards at National 5 or better, against 66% at the average Scottish secondary
- 3.1 points behind similar pupils elsewhere in Scotland on five National 5s
- 45% of leavers have 3+ Highers (Scotland 54%)
Results
School leavers 2022-23 to 2024-25 · 363 leaversEach bar is a group of schools. The schools Penicuik High beats are shaded green.
5+ awards at National 5 or better 60%
Higher than 30% of Scotland’s 336 graded secondaries.
3+ Highers 45%
Higher than 33% of the same schools · shown, not graded
Against similar pupils
Each bar is the share of Penicuik High’s leavers; the black tick is its virtual comparator, leavers elsewhere with the same sex, support needs, stage of leaving and home area. Green two points or more ahead, amber two or more behind.
Scottish Government School Information Dashboard: breadth and depth of leavers’ qualifications, 2022-23 to 2024-25, weighted by leavers. In 2024-25 alone: 67% with 5+ at National 5.
Results over time
Annual published results; a gap is a year without a published figure.
5+ awards at National 5 or better
3+ Highers
Scottish Government School Information Dashboard. Each year’s school leavers, with awards gained by the time they left. Similar pupils is the published virtual comparator; results during the pandemic reflect different assessment arrangements.
Pupils
Pupil census · September 2025Penicuik High School had 627 pupils in September 2025, with 53 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 12 pupils for each. 1% live in the most deprived fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods and 25% in the least deprived fifth (each fifth holds a fifth of Scotland’s people, on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation). 14% of pupils are registered for free school meals. 370 pupils have an additional support need recorded, 59% of the roll, against 49% across Scotland’s secondary schools. 4% are learning English as an additional language.
Scottish Government, summary statistics for schools in Scotland 2025, school level. Small counts are withheld.
Where leavers go next
Initial destinations, around three months after leaving school.
In 2024/25, 95% of this school’s leavers entered a positive destination: higher or further education, employment, training, voluntary work or personal skills development.
Scottish Government School Information Dashboard. These are this school’s published positive-destination totals. Separate shares for each destination are not published in this school-level dataset; council percentages are not substituted. Missing figures stay missing.
Side by side
Penicuik’s 2 graded secondariesLeavers with five or more awards at National 5 or better, against the town’s other secondaries. Each black tick is that school’s virtual comparator.
How the letter is worked out
Penicuik High’s C is its place among Scotland’s 336 graded secondaries on the share of leavers with five or more awards at National 5 or better, averaged over the three years to 2024-25: better than 30% of them. Every pupil is counted once, when they leave, with everything they gained at school, so a school whose pupils stay to S6 isn’t penalised for those who leave at 16 with fewer awards.
The bands are the site’s own: A+ is the top 5%, A the next 10%, and so on down to D− for the bottom 5%. The letter is raw results, not progress: the comparator bars above show how the school does with the pupils it has.
Schools near Penicuik High School
Every mainstream school within 3 km. Secondaries are squares, with their letter; Gaelic-medium schools are teal.
The five nearest
- Sacred Heart PS · Roman Catholic · 0.2 km
- Cuiken PS · Non-denominational · 0.4 km
- Cornbank PS · Non-denominational · 0.6 km
- Strathesk PS · Non-denominational · 1 km
- Mauricewood PS · Non-denominational · 1.3 km
Schools of the same phase near Penicuik High School
Nearest first, within the same nation, as the crow flies. Up to 8 km, or 25 km where there are fewer than three nearby. Catchments and admissions rules decide which school a child gets.
Penicuik High School: common questions
Is Penicuik High School a good school?
By its leavers’ results it earns a C among Scotland’s secondaries: 60% of its leavers had five or more awards at National 5 or better over the three years to 2024-25, against 66% at the average Scottish secondary. Pupils like its own elsewhere in Scotland: 63%.
How many pupils go to Penicuik High School?
627 in September 2025.
How do I get a place at Penicuik High School?
Through Midlothian council. A child living in the school’s catchment area gets a place; families outside it can make a placing request, granted where there is room.
Not on this page yet: Education Scotland’s latest inspection and attendance.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.