THE thousands of pupils across the city who received their exam results today deserve our congratulations.

Results day is the end of the long wait over the summer and the end of a year of hard work preparing to do their best and getting the best grades possible.

As in every year, many will have exceeded expectations but others will have been left disappointed and now looking to review their options.

In recent years the city overall has been making improvements with more pupils achieving higher grades and schools in the most deprived communities taking good strides forward.

Glasgow is still well behind the rest of the country in terms of attainment which reflects the level of problems that are recognised to affect education and exam results.

It is a long-term job and year after year of steady improvement is required before we can hope to see results reaching the national average.

The social problems should never mean we accept lower results than elsewhere and the causes must be tackled along with the symptoms.

Meantime, to those who opened the envelope today, whatever your results, well done for the hard work and good luck in your future education, whatever you choose.