Last week, students from across Renfrewshire received their exam results.

I remember well the anxious wait for the postie to deliver my own results through the letterbox.

After years of studying, weeks of revising and months of waiting, it can feel like the end of the process.

In reality, however, it is just the beginning of the next stage in your educational journey – a journey that should last our whole lives.

Before I was an MSP, I taught piano to students of all ages across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire.

While it was a great pleasure to see students as young as five or six rapidly improve with every passing week, the pupils who could be most inspirational were often those in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

After years of wishing they could play a musical instrument and perhaps thinking they’d left it too late, they decided to take the plunge and arrange a lesson.

Many of those students, while juggling the commitments of work and family, went on to sit their grades and surprised themselves by achieving things that they once thought impossible.

What I learned from this experience was that it is never too late to start and the only thing that limits our potential is our ambition and self-belief.

Many students across Renfrewshire will now be getting ready to start their next year at school or go on to college, university, a modern apprenticeship, employment or may even start their own business.

Some, however, may have not received the marks they hoped for and some may simply have no idea what they’d like to do next.

For those unsure of what their next step is, it’s important to remember that there is no wrong path.

When I left school just before my 18th birthday, I hadn’t achieved the marks I’d hoped for – or needed – but I went on to be the first person in my family to go to university, teach music to others and run a business that allowed me to work all over Scotland.

Then I managed to get elected to represent my home area in the Scottish Parliament – all by the time I was 30.

All through that process, I drew on the example of those I had met who didn’t let age or time get in the way of pursuing their ambition.

My message to students across Renfrewshire is that you can achieve whatever you put your mind to – regardless of exam results.

If a lad fae Baurheid whose faither was born in a single end can become an MSP, the sky is the limit for all of our students.