School Estate Statistics 2021

Results of the 2021 School Estates Core Facts Survey.


Chapter 3: School condition

  • 90.2% of schools were in good or satisfactory condition in April 2021.
  • 91.6% of pupils were in schools in good or satisfactory condition in April 2021.

A school's condition is the current state of its fabric. The following ratings are used to measure school condition:

  • A: Good – Performing well and operating efficiently;
  • B: Satisfactory – Performing adequately but showing minor deterioration;
  • C: Poor – Showing major defects and/or not operating adequately;
  • D: Bad – Economic life expired and/or risk of failure.

The proportion of schools in good or satisfactory condition has increased 6.7 percentage points from 83.5 per cent in April 2015 to 90.2 per cent in April 2021 (Table 3.1). This is a result of investment and reorganisation of the school estate.

Taking into account the number of pupils in each school, there has been a 6.8 percentage point increase in the proportion of pupils educated in good or satisfactory condition schools from 84.8 per cent in April 2015 to 91.6 per cent in April 2021 (Table 3.2).

Table 3.1: Condition of schools, 2015-2021 (1)
  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021(2)
Count
A: Good 641 666 703 696 709 700 716
B: Satisfactory 1,479 1,453 1,462 1,470 1,491 1,538 1,523
C: Poor 406 396 345 331 284 248 241
D: Bad 11 8 5 3 4 2 1
Condition not recorded 1 1 1 1 4 1 1
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 2,120 2,119 2,165 2,166 2,200 2,238 2,239
C: Poor or D: Bad 417 404 350 334 288 250 242
Percentage
A: Good 25.3 26.4 27.9 27.8 28.5 28.1 28.8
B: Satisfactory 58.3 57.6 58.1 58.8 59.8 61.8 61.4
C: Poor 16.0 15.7 13.7 13.2 11.4 10.0 9.7
D: Bad 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.0
Condition not recorded 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 83.5 84.0 86.0 86.6 88.3 89.9 90.2
C: Poor or D: Bad 16.4 16.0 13.9 13.4 11.6 10.0 9.8

1. Condition as reported in April of relevant year.

2. No condition was recorded for one school as it is a special school located in a hospital.

Table 3.2: Pupils by condition of schools, 2015-2021 (1, 2)
  2015 2016 2017 2018(3) 2019(3) 2020 2021(4)
Count
A: Good 225,505 236,260 253,369 268,689 269,455 265,643 277,671
B: Satisfactory 347,360 335,159 343,506 339,619 350,555 369,063 364,044
C: Poor 98,387 102,526 83,810 79,010 70,030 60,836 58,148
D: Bad 4,277 3,604 2,137 1,884 1,093 1,050 855
Condition not recorded 0 0 0 0 643 0 0
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 572,865 571,419 596,875 608,308 620,010 634,706 641,715
C: Poor or D: Bad 102,664 106,130 85,947 80,894 71,123 61,886 59,003
Percentage
A: Good 33.4 34.9 37.1 39.0 39.0 38.1 39.6
B: Satisfactory 51.4 49.5 50.3 49.3 50.7 53.0 52.0
C: Poor 14.6 15.1 12.3 11.5 10.1 8.7 8.3
D: Bad 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1
Condition not recorded 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 84.8 84.3 87.4 88.3 89.6 91.1 91.6
C: Poor or D: Bad 15.2 15.7 12.6 11.7 10.3 8.9 8.4

1. Condition 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 condition was recorded for one school as it is a special school located in a hospital. Zero pupils were on its roll.

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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