2. Main Statistics
2.1 In September 2007 there were a total of 692,215 pupils in 2,729 publicly funded schools in Scotland.
2.2 There were 375,946 pupils in 2,168 primary schools, 309,560 pupils in 378 secondary schools and 6,709 pupils in 183 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 0.99 per cent in 2006 and 0.97 per cent in 2007.
2.3 The average number of pupils in a primary school was 173, a figure which has fallen each year since peaking in 1997 at 192. About 34 per cent of primaries had fewer than 100 pupils. The average number of pupils in a secondary school was 819. This has remained fairly constant since the steady increase during the nineties. About a third of secondaries had over 1,000 pupils ( table 1.2)
2.4 There were 36,510 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 29,833 pupils (4.4 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 29,173 pupils in 2006, a 2.3 per cent increase. Eighty-five 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, up to November 2007, all pupils who had a RoN were to be re-assessed. It is not possible to say from the data what proportion of pupils had been re-assessed by September 2007. However, while there were 13,157 pupils with a RoN in 2005 and 11,708 in 2006, there were still 7,439 pupils with ongoing provision from a RoN by September 2007. The number of pupils with CSPs had risen from 326 in 2006 to 1,881 in September 2007. ( 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 three quarters 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 (14.4 pupils per 1,000), specific learning difficulties in language and or mathematics - including dyslexia (10.7 pupils per 1,000) and social emotional and behavioural difficulties (10.3 pupils per 1,000).
2.7 Overall, 70 per cent of pupils with additional support needs were boys, the same proportion as in 2005 and 2006 ( table 1.9).
2.8 Of those pupils whose ethnic background was declared, 91.4 per cent were White- UK. The largest other groupings were White-other (1.8 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent), Asian-Pakistani (1.4 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent) and Mixed (0.8 per cent, unchanged). ( table 1.11)
2.9 The average class size in primary schools was 23.3 pupils, down from 23.6 in 2006. P1 classes had the smallest average size of single stage classes at 21.1 pupils, down from 22.9 in 2006 ( table 2.11). The proportion of pupils in composite classes increased from 25.2 per cent in 2006 to 26.0 per cent ( table 2.12).
2.10 In P1 there were 2,291 pupils (five per cent) who were in class sizes of more than 25, down from 17,476 (34 per cent) in 2006 ( table 2.14). Twelve per cent of P1-P3 pupils were in class sizes of 18 or less ( table 2.17).
2.11 There were 2,601 pupils receiving Gaelic medium education, up from 2,454 in 2006. A further 1,096 were taught Gaelic through the medium of Gaelic, down from 1,206 in 2006. Another 5,049 were taught Gaelic as a learner, down from 5,321 in 2006 ( table 1.14).
2.12 There were 10,926 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.
2.13 There were 138 different languages reported as the main home language. The most common after English were Punjabi and Urdu, with Polish moving into third place, followed by Cantonese, Arabic and then French moving above Gaelic. ( table 1.15). Polish was the most common main home language after English in 16 authorities, with Punjabi in nine authorities ( table 5.8).
2.14 There were 15,411 pupils identified as having English as an additional language and who were not fluent in English. Of these 3,595 were considered "New to English". This is an increase of 5,925 from the 2006 figure, though some of this is likely to be due to improved implementation of the new reporting procedures. ( table 5.9)