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 2005. 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 1.1-1.11), then into primary (tables 2.1-2.20), secondary (tables 3.1-3.11) and special (tables 4.1-4.8). Then local authority figures are similarly grouped (tables 5.1-5.6, 6.1-6.14, 7.1-7.12, 8.1-8.10). 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 81, and an index is also provided at the back of the publication.
2. Main Statistics
2.1 In September 2005 there were a total of 713,240 pupils in 2,769 publicly funded schools in Scotland.
2.2 There were 390,260 pupils in 2,194 primary schools, 315,840 pupils in 385 secondary schools, and 7,140 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 1.02 per cent in 2004 and 1.00 per cent in 2005.
2.3 About a third of primary schools had fewer than 100 pupils, with the average size being 178 pupils. The average number of pupils in a secondary school was 820, with almost a third having over 1,000 pupils (table 1.2)
2.4 There were 34,680 pupils who were either based in a special schools or had a RoN and/or IEP in primary or secondary schools (table 1.6). In mainstream schools there were 27,540 pupils (3.9 per cent of all mainstream pupils) with a Record of Needs ( RoN) and/or an Individualised Educational Programme ( IEP). This compares to 25,363 in 2004, a nine per cent increase. Eighty-three per cent of these pupils spent all of their time in mainstream classes (table 1.5).
2.5 Of those with a RoN and/or IEP in mainstream and special schools, the largest categories of main difficulty were moderate learning difficulties (10.3 pupils per 1,000), specific learning difficulties in language and/or mathematics - including dyslexia (10.1 pupils per 1,000) and social emotional and behavioural difficulties (6.2 pupils per 1,000). Overall 70 per cent of pupils with a RoN and/or IEP were boys, the same proportion as in 2004. (table 1.7)
2.6 Of those pupils whose ethnic background was declared, 95 per cent were white- UK. The largest other groupings were White-other (1.3 per cent), Asian-Pakistani (1.3 per cent), and Mixed (0.8 per cent). 3.0 per cent of pupils did not disclose their ethnic background (table 1.8), this compares with 3.7 per cent in 2004.
2.7 The average class size in primary schools was 23.6 pupils, down from 23.9 in 2004. Composite classes had an average of 19.9 pupils, down from 20.2 in 2004. P1 classes had the smallest average size of single stage classes at 23.1 pupils, down from 23.2 in 2004 (table 2.11).
2.8 There were 2,048 primary school pupils receiving at least some of the curriculum through Gaelic medium education with a further 160 being taught Gaelic through the medium of Gaelic and a further 2,924 being taught Gaelic as a learner (table 6.14). There were 433 secondary school pupils receiving at least some of the curriculum through Gaelic medium education with a further 1,292 being taught Gaelic through the medium of Gaelic and a further 2,095 being taught Gaelic as a learner (table 7.12).