Photo: david cameron photographer · CC BY-SA 2.0The secondaries around Paisley get lower results than 60% of Scottish towns
Around Paisley, the share of leavers with five or more National 5s is 64%, below Renfrewshire’s towns (69%) and close to Scottish towns (65%). 4 secondary schools are in Paisley itself; the School Grade uses the 14 secondaries its children go to, on school leavers’ results. Paisley grades C+ for schools against Scotland’s towns, #9 of 11 in Renfrewshire.
Figures for the area are leaver-weighted across the secondaries the grade uses; Scotland’s are all leavers in 2024-25.
What stands out about Paisley’s schools
Close to similar pupils
Scotland compares each secondary with a “virtual comparator”: pupils from other schools with the same mix of sex, additional support needs, age and home area. Barrhead High and Johnstone High do clearly better than theirs on five National 5s. St Andrew's Academy, Rosshall Academy, Linwood High and 3 more do clearly worse. The rest are within two points of theirs. Against similar pupils ↓
8 Catholic schools; Gaelic-medium teaching
Scotland’s councils run Roman Catholic schools alongside non-denominational ones, open to every family; across Scotland 15% of mainstream schools are Catholic. Paisley’s are St Andrew's Academy, St Catherine's PS, St Charles' PS and 5 more. West PS teaches in Gaelic, for any family that asks. Every school ↓
Primary classes about Scotland’s size
The average primary class in Paisley has 23.8 pupils, against 23.7 across Scotland. Classes are capped at 25 in P1, 30 in P2 and P3 and 33 from P4, and composite classes mix two year groups.
Support for learning
45% of pupils in Paisley’s schools have an additional support need recorded, against 42% across Scotland’s mainstream schools. Scotland counts any pupil who needs extra help, for a short time or long, so its figures are far higher than England’s special needs register. Support for learning ↓
Written from the Scottish Government’s school statistics and leavers’ results on this page.
Paisley grades C+ for schools
Against Scotland’s towns only: Scotland sets its own exams, so its schools are never ranked against England’s.
Scotland publishes results for secondary schools only, for the pupils who leave each year, whether in S4, S5 or S6. Its secondaries take pupils from catchment areas that often reach well beyond a town, so the grade takes the schools Paisley’s children go to: every secondary in the town or within 3 km of its boundary, each counted by its leavers. For Paisley that is the town’s own 4 and 10 more within 3 km.
The measure is the share of leavers with five or more awards at National 5 or better (SCQF level 5), averaged over the three years to 2024-25. It is ranked against Scotland’s towns only, never England’s: Scotland sets its own exams, and a National 5 isn’t a GCSE. Primary schools don’t count, because Scotland publishes primary results only in broad bands.
Where Paisley’s 24 schools are
Each school at its address, coloured by denomination (Gaelic-medium schools teal) and sized by pupils. Squares are secondaries, triangles special schools. The dashed shape is Paisley’s locality boundary.
The 24 schools in Paisley
Paisley has 24 state schools inside its locality boundary, from the Scottish Government’s school list. A secondary’s letter compares its leavers’ results with every other graded secondary in Scotland. Primary and special schools have no letter. Each school’s page has its pupils, results and nearby schools.
How Paisley’s secondaries do with the pupils they have
Leavers 2022-23 to 2024-25, weighted by leavers.
A school’s results depend on its pupils as much as its teaching. Scotland’s dashboard builds each secondary a “virtual comparator”: for every leaver, ten pupils from other schools with the same sex, additional support needs, stage of leaving and home area deprivation. The bar is the school’s own share of leavers with five or more National 5s; the black tick is its comparator’s. The figure after it is the gap in points. Green bars are two points or more ahead, amber two or more behind.
Show all 14 schools
Scottish Government School Information Dashboard: breadth and depth of leavers’ qualifications, the school and its virtual comparator.
Leavers with Highers
Leavers with three or more Highers (SCQF level 6), 2022-23 to 2024-25. The black tick is Scotland, 2024-25.
Highers, usually taken in S5 and S6, are what Scottish universities ask for; four or five good Highers is a typical offer. Across the secondaries in Paisley’s grade, 65% of leavers have at least one Higher, 48% three or more and 35% five or more, against 68%, 54% and 41% of all Scotland’s leavers in 2024-25. 24% leave with an Advanced Higher, the S6 course nearest to A level (Scotland 26%). Highers are shown, not graded: the grade uses National 5s, which nearly every pupil sits.
Show all 14 schools
Scottish Government School Information Dashboard: breadth and depth of leavers’ qualifications.
Where school leavers go next
Initial destinations, around three months after leaving school.
At these schools around Paisley, 95% of leavers went into education, employment, training, voluntary work or personal skills development, weighted by each school’s number of leavers.
Renfrewshire council: where leavers go
All 1,815 secondary leavers across the council, 2024/25; these are council figures, not figures for Paisley or its individual schools.
Scottish Government: School Information Dashboard (school totals); SSAILD 2026, Table L2.1 (council categories).
Additional support needs in Paisley’s schools
45% of pupils in Paisley’s mainstream schools have an additional support need recorded, against 42% across Scotland. Under Scotland’s Additional Support for Learning Act a need can be anything that gets in the way of learning, from dyslexia or autism to a family bereavement or caring for a parent, so a high share can mean a school that looks hard for needs as much as a school with more of them.
10% of pupils are learning English as an additional language (Scotland 10%). Mary Russell is the town’s special school, with 202 pupils.
The black tick is Scotland’s share for the phase (primary 37%, secondary 49%).
Show all 23 schools
Scottish Government, summary statistics for schools in Scotland 2025: pupils with an additional support need, English as an additional language.
How children get a place in Paisley
Starting school
Children born between March and the following February start P1 together in August, aged four and a half to five and a half; a child who is still four in August can defer a year. Every home has a catchment primary, and usually a catchment Catholic primary too. Families register in January; a child in the catchment area gets a place there, and a family can make a placing request for any other school. Paisley’s Catholic primaries are St Catherine's PS, St Charles' PS, St Fergus PS and 4 more.
Moving up to S1
Pupils move from P7 to S1 at 11 or 12, normally to the secondary their primary feeds. There are no entrance tests at council schools; a placing request for another secondary is granted where it has room. Pupils can leave after S4, at 16, or stay for S5 and S6 to sit Highers. Gaelic-medium education is open to any family, whatever language they speak at home.
Renfrewshire council admissions, catchment areas and placing requests are on the council’s website. Grant-aided and independent schools set their own admissions.
13th of 16 Scottish towns and cities of 36,000 to 167,000
Ranked by School Grade, best first: the towns and cities either side of Paisley, and the top and bottom of the group.
| # | Town | Schools | 5+ National 5 | 1+ Higher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Livingston West Lothian | A | 77% | 84% |
| … | ||||
| 9 | Coatbridge North Lanarkshire | B− | 65% | 64% |
| 10 | Perth Perth and Kinross | B− | 65% | 65% |
| 11 | Dundee Dundee City | B− | 65% | 62% |
| 12 | Stirling Stirling | B− | 65% | 67% |
| 13 | Paisley Renfrewshire | C+ | 64% | 65% |
| 14 | Inverness Highland | C | 62% | 62% |
| 15 | Glenrothes Fife | C− | 59% | 65% |
| 16 | Kirkcaldy and Dysart Fife | C− | 57% | 58% |
Paisley and the places around it
Coloured by School Grade.
| Town | Schools | 5+ National 5 | 1+ Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paisley 24 schools | C+ | 64% | 65% |
| Elderslie area schools · 2.3 mi | B− | 65% | 67% |
| Renfrew area schools · 2.8 mi | C | 62% | 65% |
| Linwood area schools · 3 mi | B+ | 71% | 73% |
| Barrhead area schools · 3 mi | B | 66% | 66% |
| Johnstone area schools · 3.4 mi | B− | 66% | 69% |
| Neilston area schools · 3.8 mi | A− | 75% | 69% |
| Erskine area schools · 4.4 mi | B− | 66% | 64% |
Neilston has the best-graded schools nearby (A−). Neighbouring towns can share area schools.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Leavers, not one year group. Scotland’s school results count each pupil once, when they leave, whether after S4, S5 or S6, with everything they gained at school. England and Northern Ireland count one year group sitting GCSEs, so the figures don’t compare across the border, and the School Grade ranks a Scottish town only against Scotland’s towns.
- National 5 and SCQF levels. National 5 is SCQF level 5, roughly a GCSE at grade 4 or above; Highers are level 6 and Advanced Highers level 7. “5 or more at level 5 or better” counts any five awards at National 5, Higher or above, in any subjects.
- Three years, weighted by leavers. Each school’s figure is the average of 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, each year weighted by its leavers, so one unusual year moves it less. A secondary needs 20 leavers a year on average to be graded.
- After school. The school figure is the share in a positive initial destination in 2024/25, weighted by leavers at the area schools with published figures. The detailed destination categories are for the whole council, not the town. Other positive destinations include voluntary work and personal skills development. Suppressed categories are left out; they are not zero. Initial destinations are measured around three months after leaving.
Questions about schools in Paisley
Are schools in Paisley good?
The secondaries around Paisley earn a C+ against Scotland’s towns: 64% of their leavers had five or more awards at National 5 or better over the three years to 2024-25, against 69% of all Scotland’s leavers in 2024-25. The grade weights each school by its leavers. Scotland publishes no primary results by school.
How many schools are in Paisley?
Paisley has 19 primary schools, 4 secondary schools and 1 special school, with 9,592 pupils in September 2025. 14 graded secondaries are in the grade.
Is there a Catholic secondary near Paisley?
Yes: St Andrew's Academy (in town), Trinity High School (1.4 km) and St Benedict's High School (1.6 km). Catholic schools are run by the council and open to every family.
How do I get a school place in Paisley?
Through Renfrewshire council. Every home has a catchment school, and a child in the catchment area gets a place there; families can make a placing request for another school, granted where it has room.
Sources: Scottish Government school contact list (31 July 2026) and school summary statistics (pupil census, September 2025); School Information Dashboard leavers’ attainment by school, 2022-23 to 2024-25 (data.gov.scot) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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.