A council has been forced into a humiliating climbdown after ordering Scotland’s top secondary school to refuse a prestigious award because it might highlight poor performance by other schools in the area.

Cults Academy in Aberdeen is this year’s recipient of The Sunday Times Scottish State Secondary School of the Year award for its outstanding exam results.

However, last week Aberdeen city council told the school’s headteacher Anna Muirhead to turn down the award because it might highlight the sharp disparity in educational provision across the city of Aberdeen.

Yesterday, following a wave of criticism, the council relented and said it would be “delighted” to accept the award after all.

Educational campaigners had condemned the original decision as politically correct nonsense and an attack on attempts to encourage schools to drive up standards by pursuing academic excellence.

“It’s the first time in 10 years any school has turned down an award,” said Alastair McCall, assistant editor of The Sunday Times’ Parent Power.

“We fail to understand how recognising the achievements of children and the dedication of their teachers can be anything other than good news for Cults Academy and Aberdeen city council.

“To have declined the award in the first place because it might highlight disparities in achievement in other schools in the city was political correctness gone mad.”

Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, added: “These sort of attacks on competition and excellence run contrary to the idea of all schools achieving high standards. People who do well should be given credit.”

Parent Power produces league tables of the best performing schools across the UK and the latest edition will be published online next weekend.

In Scotland, a school’s ranking is based on the proportion of students achieving five or more Highers graded A-C by the end of S6 and the proportion of students achieving five or more awards at credit level at Standard Grade and Intermediate 2s in S4.

Cults Academy achieved an average of 51.3% of students gaining five or more Highers at A-C and 71.7% of students getting the credit level qualifications in S4 between 2005 and 2007.

It is ranked second overall in Scotland, behind Jordanhill in Glasgow, which though a state school, receives its funding directly from the Scottish government.

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