School Estate Statistics 2021
Results of the 2021 School Estates Core Facts Survey.
Chapter 4: School suitability
- 87.4% of schools of a good or satisfactory suitability in April 2021.
- 88.9% of pupils in schools of a good or satisfactory suitability in April 2021.
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 6.9 percentage points from 80.6 per cent in April 2015 to 87.4 per cent in April 2021 (Table 4.1).
Taking into account the different number of pupils in each school, there has been a 6.5 percentage point increase in the proportion of pupils in good or satisfactory suitability schools from 82.4 per cent in April 2015 to 88.9 per cent in April 2021 (Table 4.2).
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021(2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | |||||||
| A: Good | 706 | 728 | 777 | 788 | 816 | 862 | 893 |
| B: Satisfactory | 1,339 | 1,324 | 1,271 | 1,295 | 1,327 | 1,292 | 1,277 |
| C: Poor | 463 | 445 | 447 | 405 | 336 | 328 | 304 |
| D: Bad | 26 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| Suitability not recorded | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 2,045 | 2,052 | 2,048 | 2,083 | 2,143 | 2,154 | 2,170 |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 489 | 467 | 463 | 413 | 345 | 334 | 309 |
| Percentage | |||||||
| A: Good | 27.8 | 28.8 | 30.9 | 31.5 | 32.7 | 34.6 | 36.0 |
| B: Satisfactory | 52.8 | 52.5 | 50.5 | 51.8 | 53.3 | 51.9 | 51.5 |
| C: Poor | 18.2 | 17.6 | 17.8 | 16.2 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 12.2 |
| D: Bad | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Suitability not recorded | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 80.6 | 81.3 | 81.4 | 83.3 | 86.0 | 86.5 | 87.4 |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 19.3 | 18.5 | 18.4 | 16.5 | 13.8 | 13.4 | 12.4 |
1. Suitability as reported in April of relevant year.
2. No suitability was recorded for one special school located in a hospital, one primary school temporarily located in a community center and one primary school in a refurbished building that has not yet been surveyed.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018(3) | 2019(3) | 2020 | 2021(4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | |||||||
| A: Good | 240,245 | 250,508 | 271,260 | 279,971 | 281,391 | 289,046 | 295,385 |
| B: Satisfactory | 316,170 | 312,851 | 302,296 | 311,869 | 324,392 | 326,281 | 327,344 |
| C: Poor | 107,368 | 104,009 | 101,321 | 92,890 | 83,050 | 77,597 | 74,384 |
| D: Bad | 10,393 | 8,095 | 5,795 | 2,292 | 2,300 | 3,668 | 3,412 |
| Suitability not recorded | 1,353 | 2,086 | 2,150 | 2,180 | 643 | 0 | 193 |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 556,415 | 563,359 | 573,556 | 591,840 | 605,783 | 615,327 | 622,729 |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 117,761 | 112,104 | 107,116 | 95,182 | 85,350 | 81,265 | 77,796 |
| Percentage | |||||||
| A: Good | 35.6 | 37.0 | 39.7 | 40.6 | 40.7 | 41.5 | 42.2 |
| B: Satisfactory | 46.8 | 46.2 | 44.3 | 45.3 | 46.9 | 46.8 | 46.7 |
| C: Poor | 15.9 | 15.4 | 14.8 | 13.5 | 12.0 | 11.1 | 10.6 |
| D: Bad | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Suitability not recorded | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| A: Good or B: Satisfactory | 82.4 | 83.1 | 84.0 | 85.9 | 87.6 | 88.3 | 88.9 |
| C: Poor or D: Bad | 17.4 | 16.5 | 15.7 | 13.8 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 11.1 |
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 special school located in a hospital, one primary school temporarily located in a community center and one primary school in a refurbished building that has not yet been surveyed.
Contact
Email: school.stats@gov.scot
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