AS home to some of Scotland's most affluent suburbs the exam performance of East Renfrewshire's schools is sometimes derided as expected rather than exemplary.

Because the single biggest drag on academic performance is poverty the lack of pupils from disadvantaged communities in some of the council's schools obviously has an impact on how well they do.

A school such as St Ninian's High, in Giffnock, which regularly tops the Scottish exam league tables, is a case in point with 53 per cent of its pupils from the most affluent areas in Scotland and virtually none from the poorest.

Williamwood High School, in Clarkston, which is also a very high performing school, is even more socially one-dimensional with 70 per cent of pupils from the richest backgrounds.

In fact, while good exam results would be expected in an environment such as this, a new Scottish Government measure which calculates how well schools should be doing shows East Renfrewshire is delivering better results to its most affluent pupils than other councils. And this added value appears to be spreading.

New figures show East Renfrewshire schools which serve more deprived areas are also having a positive impact on the performance of their pupils both in comparison with previous years and when compared to similar schools in other local authorities.

Since 2011/12 pupils from the poorest backgrounds in the council area have seen a 22 per cent jump in overall exam performance with improvements being led by Barrhead High and St Luke's High, also in Barrhead, where 40 per cent and 25 per cent of pupils are from the poorest backgrounds respectively.

Officials believe improvements are based on a number of factors including the use of standardised testing and rigorous analysis of pupil performance by quality improvement officers who look at factors such as gender, ethnicity, looked after pupils and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

That means headteachers and teachers can tell at a glance which pupils are doing well and which are underperforming and need more support.

The results also throw up an interesting conundrum on a national level. The Scottish Government's stated aim is to close the attainment gap between rich and poor at the same time as driving up standards for all.

Because the Scottish Government doesn't feel enough progress has been made to date it has brought forward plans to introduce controversial standardised tests as well as shifting power and funding away from councils with direct funding of schools and the setting up administrative educational regions.

It is ironic that ministers are in danger of alienating a council which is already delivering the aim of closing the gap while raising attainment for all and which is also a strong advocate of standardised testing by introducing a policy which potentially undermines its work.

For East Renfrewshire a great strength of the current system is the ability to shape and fund coherent policies from the centre which successfully address the disparate needs of pupils in schools which serve a variety of different communities.