School estate statistics 2020
Results of the 2020 School Estate Core Facts Survey.
Chapter 4: School suitability
86.5% of schools of a good or satisfactory suitability in April 2020.
88.3% of pupils in schools of a good or satisfactory suitability in April 2020.
Suitability provides a measure of the extent to which a school building and its grounds provide an environment which supports quality learning and teaching. The following ratings are used to measure school suitability:
- A: Good – Performing well and operating effectively;
- B: Satisfactory – Performing well but with minor problems;
- C: Poor – Showing major problems and/or not operating optimally;
- D: Bad – Does not support the delivery of services to children and communities.
The proportion of schools with a good or satisfactory suitability has increased 5.4 percentage points from 81.1 per cent in April 2014 to 86.5 per cent in April 2020 (Table 4.1).
Taking into account the different number of pupils in each school, there has been a 5.3 percentage point increase in the proportion of pupils in good or satisfactory suitability schools from 83.0 per cent in April 2014 to 88.3 per cent in April 2020 (Table 4.2).
Information on the suitability of schools in Dundee City in 2020 was not available at the time of this publication. Therefore, ratings from the 2019 School Estates Core Facts Survey have been used for schools in in Dundee City to produce comparable statistics for Scotland as a whole. See section 6.2 of the background notes for more information.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020(2)(3) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | A: Good | 688 | 706 | 728 | 777 | 788 | 816 | 862 |
| B: Satisfactory | 1,387 | 1,339 | 1,324 | 1,271 | 1,295 | 1,327 | 1,292 | |
| C: Poor | 451 | 463 | 445 | 447 | 405 | 336 | 328 | |
| D: Bad | 28 | 26 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 6 | |
| Suitability not recorded | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 2,075 | 2,045 | 2,052 | 2,048 | 2,083 | 2,143 | 2,154 | |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 479 | 489 | 467 | 463 | 413 | 345 | 334 | |
| Percentage | A: Good | 26.9 | 27.8 | 28.8 | 30.9 | 31.5 | 32.7 | 34.6 |
| B: Satisfactory | 54.2 | 52.8 | 52.5 | 50.5 | 51.8 | 53.3 | 51.9 | |
| C: Poor | 17.6 | 18.2 | 17.6 | 17.8 | 16.2 | 13.5 | 13.2 | |
| D: Bad | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | |
| Suitability not recorded | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 81.1 | 80.6 | 81.3 | 81.4 | 83.3 | 86.0 | 86.5 | |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 18.7 | 19.3 | 18.5 | 18.4 | 16.5 | 13.8 | 13.4 | |
1. Suitability as reported in April of relevant year.
2. No suitability was recorded for one school as it is a special school located in a hospital.
3. Suitability ratings from April 2019 have been used for schools in Dundee City as their 2020 ratings were not available at the time of publication.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018(3) | 2019(3) | 2020(4)(5) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | A: Good | 234,021 | 240,245 | 250,508 | 271,260 | 279,971 | 281,391 | 289,046 |
| B: Satisfactory | 323,994 | 316,170 | 312,851 | 302,296 | 311,869 | 324,392 | 326,281 | |
| C: Poor | 102,527 | 107,368 | 104,009 | 101,321 | 92,890 | 83,050 | 77,597 | |
| D: Bad | 11,581 | 10,393 | 8,095 | 5,795 | 2,292 | 2,300 | 3,668 | |
| Suitability not recorded | 320 | 1,353 | 2,086 | 2,150 | 2,180 | 643 | 0 | |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 558,015 | 556,415 | 563,359 | 573,556 | 591,840 | 605,783 | 615,327 | |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 114,108 | 117,761 | 112,104 | 107,116 | 95,182 | 85,350 | 81,265 | |
| Percentage | A: Good | 34.8 | 35.6 | 37.0 | 39.7 | 40.6 | 40.7 | 41.5 |
| B: Satisfactory | 48.2 | 46.8 | 46.2 | 44.3 | 45.3 | 46.9 | 46.8 | |
| C: Poor | 15.2 | 15.9 | 15.4 | 14.8 | 13.5 | 12.0 | 11.1 | |
| D: Bad | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | |
| Suitability not recorded | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 83.0 | 82.4 | 83.1 | 84.0 | 85.9 | 87.6 | 88.3 | |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 17.0 | 17.4 | 16.5 | 15.7 | 13.8 | 12.3 | 11.7 | |
1. Suitability as reported in April of relevant year.
2. Refers to pupils on the school roll the previous September except where rolls have been updated to reflect the number of pupils on 1st April. Schools opened after September but before April will have no pupils recorded unless the school roll was supplied during this collection. Please see section 6.1 of the background notes for more information.
3. Pupil rolls for 2018 and 2019 were corrected in September 2020 as special school pupils were missing from these figures.
4. No suitability was recorded for one school as it is a special school located in a hospital. Zero pupils were on its roll.
5. Suitability ratings from April 2019 have been used for schools in Dundee City as their 2020 ratings were not available at the time of publication. Pupil rolls have been updated to September 2019.
Contact
Email: school.stats@gov.scot
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