Scottish Government

Background Notes

1. Sources

1.1 The information in this publication is derived mainly from the Pupil Census from 17th September 2007 and previous years.

2 Coverage and Timing

2.1 The Pupil Census covers all publicly funded schools in Scotland (local authority and grant-aided). Where a school has more than one department, for example a secondary school with a primary department, these are counted as separate schools. The census of independent schools is published separately and will be available on the Scottish Government website. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00647

2.2 Schools which provide education predominantly for children with special educational needs often have pupils from a wide age range and the data collected from this sector reflects this. Where pupils attend a 'special unit' attached to a mainstream school, they are usually included in the figures for the mainstream school. Some schools and local authorities have reported pupils from 'special units' separately.

2.3 Pupils who are withdrawn from school, for example, because of long-term illness, are not included in the school census returns. Information on such pupils is provided by local authorities in the annual survey of children educated outwith school, results of which are available on the Scottish Government website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00621

In 2006/07, 1,875 children were reported by local authorities to have received education outwith school at some point during the year.

2.4 From 2003 a separate staff census has taken place. Results of this will be published in "Teachers in Scotland, 2007" and will be available on the Scottish Government website.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubTeacherCensus

3 Census content

3.1 The content of the Pupil Census is considered each year in consultation with the Data Exchange in Education and Children Services Group ( DEECS). This group includes representatives from local authorities, teaching unions and headteachers associations, as well as staff from the Scottish Government. The committee operates in the light of National Statistics guidelines, which restricts the department to collecting only the information that is required, at a level which is fit for purpose, whilst always trying to minimise the burden on data providers. Recommendations for changes to the census are made to DEECS through the Scottish Exchange of Educational Data (ScotXed) network.

4 Collection methods

4.1 The information required to complete the September 2007 Pupil Census was collected electronically, through local authorities, from all publicly funded primary, secondary and special schools, as part of the ScotXed programme. The information is stored on schools' management information systems, thus reducing the burden on schools.

4.2 ScotXed supports and promotes effective and secure data exchanges so that key partners in school education in Scotland can benefit from access to information to monitor and improve education services. Partners include local authorities, schools, the Scottish Qualifications Agency, HM Inspectorate of Education, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Government Education Directorate. Further information, including specifications of the data exchanges, can be found at www.scotxed.net.

5. Definitions and Data Quality

5.1 Tables in this publication cover publicly funded schools only, i.e. local authority and grant-aided. Information on independent schools will be available on the Scottish Government website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubIndSchoolCensus

5.2 Where numbers of pupils are given, these relate to pupils based at the school. Pupils who are attending the school but are based at another centre (for example, students from a Further Education College who are taking some classes at a school) are not included.

5.3 A class is a group of pupils normally supervised by one teacher. The group may sometimes be supervised by more than one teacher, for example, when pupils are receiving learning support from a teacher who is not the class teacher. Only pupils on the school roll have been included in the figures in order to avoid double counting of pupils.

5.4 Maximum class sizes in primary schools are as follows:

• 30 for single stage class P1-P3 (with 25 set as a norm for P1)
• 33 for single stage class P4-P7
• 25 for composite stage class

5.5 A composite class is a class of pupils from two or more stages.

5.6 The ethnic background and national identity categories were based generally on those collected in the 2001 population census and were agreed following consultation. Pupils and parents were given the option of not disclosing their ethnicity and in such cases pupils were not attributed a category. Over 97.5 per cent of pupils disclosed their ethnic background, up from around 97 per cent in previous years.

5.7 There would appear to be inconsistency between schools and between local authorities in the reporting of special schools as separate identities, as well as changes over the past years. We therefore advise caution when comparing results with previous years and across local authorities.

A few authorities do not have special schools and may fund places in neighbouring authorities for their pupils. The number of special schools includes 34 where there were no pupils based, but which received pupils based in other schools.

5.8 At September 2007 there was one grant-aided mainstream school, with primary and secondary departments, and seven grant-aided special schools. These schools are included in national totals, but are identified separately in the local authority level tables. In publications prior to 2003 they were included within the local authority of their location.

5.9 Free school meal data collected in the Pupil Census only counts those pupils who are registered for free school meals at the time of the census. More complete information is collected in the February School Meals Survey. The figures collected in the annual School Meals Survey are currently used in funding calculations and in benchmarking schools. Information from the Pupil Census is used only where linkage to other pupil characteristics, or attainment, exclusions and attendance data is necessary. This year the Pupil Census information on registrations appears particularly incomplete and should only be used with caution.

5.10 Education authorities must have arrangements in place to identify pupils with additional support needs who require a co-ordinated support plan and the particular additional support needs of the pupils so identified. The statutory criteria and content for a co-ordinated support plan can be found in the supporting children's learning code of practice at:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/inclusiveeducation/additionalsupportforlearning/index.asp

5.11 For those pupils who had a Record of Needs immediately prior to the commencement of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, on 14 November 2005, the education authorities were, within 2 years (November 2007), to establish whether or not such pupils required a co-ordinated support plan. The provision being made for the recorded pupil is preserved as a minimum level of support unless there is a significant change in the individual's additional support needs or until the date that it is established that they require a plan, or if they do not require a plan, 2 years from the date that that is established. Such pupils are referred to in this publication under the heading "with RoN".

5.12 Individualised Educational Programmes ( IEPs) are written plans setting targets that a child, with special educational needs, is expected to achieve. Targets should be limited in number and focus on key priorities of learning. They should be simple, clearly expressed and measurable.

5.13 Pupils may have an IEP with another record of support needs but they cannot have both a CSP and an RoN. Pupils with any combination of support needs are categorised in this publication as having Additional Support Needs.

5.14 Pupil census figures on children looked after by the local authority appear to be incomplete when compared with similar data from social work departments. They are published this year alongside the social work figures, as at 31st March 2007, for comparison.

5.15 The urban/rural classifications in Table 1.3 are defined as in the Scottish Household Survey, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/08/17898/24432.

5.16 For the purposes of this report denominational schools have been restricted to those schools where a specific denomination is named. Multi- and inter-denominational schools have therefore been grouped with non-denominational schools.

5.17 In order to assist in monitoring the Disability Discrimination Act, information has started to be collected on the number of pupils having a disability and the need for physical, curriculum or communication adaptation. These figures are published in tables 1.10, 2.9, 3.9, 4.8 and 8.10.

5.18 Data for 2006 on Gaelic medium education and Gaelic learners has been revised since its original publication.

6. Rounding

6.1 All percentages are rounded separately and breakdowns may consequently not sum to 100 per cent.

7. Disclosive data

7.1 Numbers less than five are generally deemed to be disclosive and hence not published. Where figures have been removed they are replaced by *. Other figures in the table may also be removed to stop a disclosive figure from being calculated from the total. However, in some cases where there are a large number of pupils in the unknown category, i.e. ethnic background and national identity, there often exists a large enough amount of uncertainty for figures to be published.

7.2 Occasionally, as in data for grant aided schools, it has been preferable to swap a small number of data rather than removing figures elsewhere in the publication. Swapped data has still usually been marked as *.

8. Other data

8.1 Some further data, for example some school level data, will be made available on the Scottish Government website www.scotland.gov.uk/schoolstats. Ad-hoc tables are available on request.

8.2 Analysis on a more local level will also be available via the Neighbourhood Statistics website - http://www.sns.gov.uk.

9. Symbols

9.1 The following symbols are used:

10. General

10.1 This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

10.2 The report was edited by: Raymond Sloan, Mal Cooke, Carrie Graham.

10.3 All tables are available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00641

11. Enquiries

11.1. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this bulletin should be addressed to

Telephone 0131 244 0183
or e-mail school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

11.2 Media enquiries about the information in this notice should be addressed to:

Alison Gilfillan: 0131 244 5193

26th February, 2008