A FORMER Largs Academy teacher says he is 'flabbergasted' that North Ayrshire Council are unwilling to recognise the recently published school league tables - which saw Largs named 27th best performing school in Scotland.

Councillor Tom Marshall says the school deserves the plaudits after jumping three places in the Education Scotland list due to an improvement in pupils' exam results.

But the decision was today defended by council chiefs who say they have their own system which recognises local performance.

A spokesman for North Ayrshire Council explained that the council do not recognise the tables as they have their own INSIGHT system for analysis.

But Cllr Marshall says the system fails to accurately uses pupil passes as a way of calculating performance - and says more must be done to improve education across the region.

He added: "The INSIGHT figures are highly complicated and points are obtained as each child passes their way through the school system - it doesn't record the number of passes per pupil.

"One of the problems in North Ayrshire is the schools are not performing well enough, and on this basis, we don't attract young families to move to the area, especially when you compare North Ayrshire to the likes of East Renfrewshire, which performs around three times better in general.

"I am a bit flabbergasted that NAC are not willing to talk up a good story which encourages parents to move to the Largs area. I think I will consider putting forward a motion on this basis to the next North Ayrshire Council full meeting."

The national league table analysis is based on the 2017 exam results which showed 16 per cent of pupils passed two advanced Highers or more, 51 per cent achieved five or more passes and 82 per cent gaining five National Fives or more.

This year Largs Academy moved from its secondary school premises in Flatt Road, which was built in the 1960s, to the new state of the art campus building in Alexander Avenue.

Councillor Marshall, a former maths teacher, says he is pleased to see the local secondary moving in the right direction.

He said: "We were 12th in these tables at one stage but more recently it was way down at 37th. This is good news for Largs, but it should be better given the catchment area and the quality of the pupils we have.

"Hopefully we can move back up."

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson: “We believe that the simplistic method of ranking schools in a league table format is outdated and does not properly reflect the outstanding work which is being delivered throughout our schools in North Ayrshire.

“Schools across the authority, including Largs Academy and others, continue to make very good progress in raising attainment and achievement across the board.”

Labour councillor Alex Gallagher would not be drawn on the council's move not to formally recognise the league tables, but said: "It is a fabulous result to see Largs moving up the league table.

"The pupils and staff should be congratulated on this result, specially considering the school was preparing to move to the new campus.

"It is a fantastic teaching machine at the new Largs Campus and I hope to see these figure improving in the years ahead."