Pupils from East Renfrewshire achieved the best Higher results in Scotland this year, new online data reveals.

The council's schools were, on average, four percentage points better than their traditional rivals in East Dunbartonshire for the number of pupils gaining five or more Highers this summer, at 32%.

Glasgow is still the lowest mainland authority in the table at just 8%, where it is joined by Orkney, a point worse off than North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, Midlothian, Clackmannanshire, and Dundee.

HeraldScotland has compiled the table using the Scottish Schools Online data published by Education Scotland this morning.

Ministers do not support a narrow and singular focus on a particular attainment indicator, believing that using a particular attainment level cannot represent the diverse nature and quality of education provided by Scotland's schools.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Scottish Schools Online provides valuable information for parents on their local schools. This year we saw Scotland’s pupils achieve the best exam results since records began and with the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence we’ve halted years of decline in Scottish education performance. Recent PISA figures show Scottish pupils perform above average in reading and science and match the OECD average in maths.

“Our young people are leaving school better qualified. Higher pass rates rose from 72.9% in 2006 to 78.9% in 2012 demonstrating the strengths of our broad based education. More young people than ever before are in positive destinations with 87.2 per cent of pupils leaving in 2010/11 still in sustained positive destinations in March 2012.

"However, we are not complacent and where improvement is required Education Scotland provide specific inspection and support to raise standards.”

Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "The latest statistics for exam performance show a worrying trend between our best and poorer performing schools.

"The gap seems to be widening across the country, which chimes with warnings from the further education sector and employers that many of our secondary children are not achieving a good standard of literacy.

"There has to be much more focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation at the earliest stages, and it's up to the Education Secretary to demonstrate this is being introduced in all our schools as part of Curriculum for Excellence."

Labour's Hugh Henry said: "These figures show that there is a two-tier schools system in this country - one for the better-off and one for the poorest, and in too many places the gap is growing.

"This is exactly what Johann Lamont and the Scottish Labour Party has called on the SNP Government to address."

The EIS warned against league tables of schools. General secretary Larry Flanagan said: "While there will always be a demand for some type of measure of school performance, the majority of parents know that schools are about far more than simply producing pass marks in exams.

"The online method of publishing school performance data, with a concerted effort to move away from the simplistic and discredited exams 'league-table' approach, was a positive move that was welcomed by teachers, pupils and parents.

"Merely looking at exam results, with no thought given to the particular circumstances in which any school operates, is a flawed approach that produces highly questionable results.

"Schools in different communities work to meet the particular needs of those communities, often with significant variations in facilities and resources."

Our table shows each of Scotland's 32 councils with the percentage of pupils gaining five or more Highers this year, and a second percentage of those receiving free school meals, to indicate each area's socioeconomic background.

East Renfrewshire 32% (9.8%)

East Dunbartonshire 28 (7.6)

Stirling 21 (12.2)

Edinburgh 16 (15.2)

Perth & Kinross 16 (7)

Shetland 16 (5.3)

South Ayrshire 14 (15.7)

Aberdeen 13 (10)

Aberdeenshire 13 (6.2)

East Lothian 13 (9.1)

Falkirk 13 (13.3)

Highland 13 (11)

Inverclyde 13 (21.6)

West Lothian 13 (14.6)

Dumfries & Galloway 12 (11.1)

Scottish Borders 12 (11.1)

Fife 11 (19.6)

Moray 11 (8.7)

North Ayrshire 11 (20.5)

Renfrewshire 11 (15)

South Lanarkshire 11 (15.5)

Angus 10 (13.1)

Argyll & Bute 10 (14)

East Ayrshire 10 (17.6)

Western Isles 10 (11.4)

Clackmannanshire 9 (19.4)

Dundee 9 (20.2)

Midlothian 9 (16.2)

North Lanarkshire 9 (17.1)

West Dunbartonshire 9 (21.5)

Glasgow 8 (29.3)

Orkney 8 (7.3)

Scotland 13 (15.4)

To check how your school performed, go to scottishschoolsonline