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1. Introduction
1.1 This document contains information on pupils in publicly funded schools in Scotland, mainly derived from the latest annual pupil census which took place in September 2006. As well as the tables contained in this document, the pupil characteristics collected in the census can also be matched against attainment, attendance and exclusions information, and can further be analysed at smaller geographic areas.
1.2 Tables in this publication are grouped into chapters, firstly at a national level into all sector summary figures ( tables 1.1-1.16), then into primary (tables 2.1-2.20), secondary ( tables 3.1-3.11) and special ( tables 4.1-4.10). Then local authority figures are similarly grouped ( tables 5.1-5.9, 6.1-6.16, 7.1-7.14,8.1-8.13). Then there are four tables on schools boards ( table 9.1-9.4). At the bottom of each table a note will direct you to the equivalent national or local authority table. A map of local authorities is given on page 101, and an index is also provided at the back of the publication.
2. Main Statistics
2.1 In September 2006 there were a total of 702,737 pupils in 2,755 publicly funded schools in Scotland.
2.2 There were 382,783 pupils in 2,184 primary schools, 312,979 pupils in 381 secondary schools, and 6,975 pupils in 190 special schools ( table 1.1). Pupil numbers have been reducing, in line with a fall in the population. In recent years the proportion of pupils in special schools has been falling slightly, from 1.11 per cent in 2000 to 1.00 per cent in 2005 and 0.99 per cent in 2006.
2.3 About a third of primary schools had fewer than 100 pupils, with the average size being 175 pupils. The average number of pupils in a secondary school was 821, with almost a third having over 1,000 pupils ( table 1.2)
2.4 There were 36,148 pupils who were either based in a special schools or had Additional Support Needs in primary or secondary schools ( table 1.6). In mainstream schools there were 29,173 pupils (4.2 per cent of all mainstream pupils) with a Coordinated Support Plan ( CSP), an Individualised Educational Programme ( IEP) and/or with provision levels set by a Record of Needs ( RoN) pre-dating the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. This compares to 27,540 pupils in mainstream schools with special educational needs in 2005, a six per cent increase. Eighty-three per cent of these pupils spent all of their time in mainstream classes ( table 1.5).
2.5 During the transition period for the Act, all pupils who had a RoN must be re-assessed. It is not possible to say from the data what proportion of pupils had been re-assessed by September 2006. However, while there were there were 13,157 pupils with a RoN in 2005, there were 11,708 pupils with ongoing provision from a RoN by the census date, and there were 326 pupils with a CSP ( table 1.6).
2.6 During the transition period, information on pupils' needs may be recorded under the old categories (of main difficulty of learning) or new categories (of reason for support). Just over half of pupils with additional support needs have been reported under the new categories. While the two recording systems are not strictly comparable or additive (since reason for support is given for all difficulties, not just the main difficulty) the most prevalent categories are moderate to profound learning difficulties (14.7 pupils per 1,000), specific learning difficulties in language and or mathematics - including dyslexia (10.5 pupils per 1,000) and social emotional and behavioural difficulties (9.0 pupils per 1,000).
2.7 Overall, 70 per cent of pupils with additional support needs were boys, the same proportion as in 2005 ( table 1.9).
2.8 Of those pupils whose ethnic background was declared, 94 per cent were White- UK. The largest other groupings were White-other (1.5 per cent), Asian-Pakistani 1.3 per cent), and Mixed (0.8 per cent). 2.8 per cent of pupils did not disclose their ethnic background ( table 1.11), this compares with 3.0 per cent in 2005.
2.9 The average class size in primary schools was 23.6 pupils, the same as in 2005. Composite classes had an average of 20.0 pupils, up from 19.9 in 2005. P1 classes had the smallest average size of single stage classes at 22.9 pupils, down from 23.1 in 2005 ( table 2.11).
2.10 There were 2,535 pupils receiving at least some of the curriculum through Gaelic medium education, up from 2,480 in 2005. A further 1,596 were taught Gaelic through the medium of Gaelic, up from 1,452 in 2005. Another 5,333 were taught Gaelic as a learner, up from 5,019 in 2005 ( table 1.14).
3. New Information
3.1 There were 10,920 pupils assessed or declared as having a disability ( table 1.10). There are wide variations in the extent to which pupils with disabilities had been identified in different local authorities, and the information should not be considered as complete.
3.2 There were 137 different languages reported as the main home language. The most common after English were Punjabi, Urdu, Cantonese, Polish, Arabic and Gaelic. ( table 1.15). Punjabi was the most common main home language after English in eleven authorities, and Polish in nine authorities ( table 5.7).
3.3 There were 9,486 pupils identified as having English as an additional language and who were not fluent in English. Of these 2,192 were considered "New to English" ( table 5.8)
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