A Conservative councillor has questioned North Ayrshire's position in refusing to acknowledge Largs Academy's success in the school league tables during a recent council meeting.
Largs councillor Tom Marshall brought up the issue during the recent full council meeting after the 'News' alerted him to the council's refusal to recognise the school league tables which saw Largs move up three places to 27th highest performing school in Scotland.
Cllr. Marshall said that it was a measure recognised by parents and helped promote the town and region.
However, the council have defended their position and say their own 'Insight' figures are more representative and a fairer way.
During the recent council meeting, Cllr. Marshall asked: “Is the better measure of school performance pupils’ “Insight “or “position in school league tables”?”
Councillor John Bell, Cabinet chair of education responded: "In my view, a school’s position in a league table does not manage to summarise all aspects of our learners' achievements.
"The league tables simply measure the percentage of leavers who have gained either 3 or 5 passes at Higher grade.
"Insight provides a better evaluation of how a school has developed all its students including those young people who are aspiring towards vocational, artistic or other specialised careers as well as SQA performance. When it comes to young people, one size definitely does not fit all."
Councillor Marshall asked why the Council did not celebrate schools’ success in terms of league tables, given that this was a measure recognised by parents and which would promote North Ayrshire.
Councillor Bell responded by expressing the view that the achievement and performance of schools should be about all students, while league tables were relevant only to some 50% at best.
He added that, in some other council areas, league tables encouraged competition rather than collaboration between schools.
However, last month Cllr Marshall was highly critical of the council's position.
He told the 'News': ""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."