School estates statistics 2019

Statistics from the annual school estates core facts survey, including information on school condition and suitability, and the number of new builds and refurbishments.

This document is part of a collection


Chapter 3: School condition

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.

In November 2017 new guidance was provided to local authorities on measuring school condition. Condition was recorded using this guidance for the first time in the 2019 School Estates Core Facts Survey. Differences between this and the previous guidance mean that a school’s condition rating may have changed when there has been little or no change to the physical condition itself. Therefore, caution is advised when comparing the 2019 figures with previous years.

Some authorities were unable to implement the new guidance before the 2019 collection and have therefore reported the condition of their schools under the ratings from the old guidance. As a result comparisons between authorities may not be valid. Please see section 6.3 of the background notes for more details.

The proportion of schools in good or satisfactory condition has increased 6.5 percentage points from 81.8 per cent in April 2013 to 88.3 per cent in April 2019 (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 six percentage point increase in the proportion of pupils educated in good or satisfactory condition schools from 83.6 per cent in April 2013 to 89.6 per cent in April 2019 (Table 3.2).

Table 3.1: Condition of schools, 2013-2019(1)

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019(2)
Count
A: Good 623 620 641 666 703 696 709
B: Satisfactory 1,477 1,498 1,479 1,453 1,462 1,470 1,491
C: Poor 449 422 406 396 345 331 284
D: Bad 17 16 11 8 5 3 4
Condition not recorded 1 2 1 1 1 1 4
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 2,100 2,118 2,120 2,119 2,165 2,166 2,200
C: Poor or D: Bad 466 438 417 404 350 334 288
Percentage
A: Good 24.3 24.2 25.3 26.4 27.9 27.8 28.5
B: Satisfactory 57.5 58.6 58.3 57.6 58.1 58.8 59.8
C: Poor 17.5 16.5 16.0 15.7 13.7 13.2 11.4
D: Bad 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2
Condition not recorded 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 81.8 82.8 83.5 84.0 86.0 86.6 88.3
C: Poor or D: Bad 18.2 17.1 16.4 16.0 13.9 13.4 11.6

1. Condition as reported in April. Changes to the guidance used to measure condition mean that caution should be used when comparing figures between years. Please see section 6.3 of the background notes for more information.

2. Condition was measured using new guidance in the 2019 survey. Please see section 6.3 of the background notes for more information. Condition was not recorded for three schools in 2019 as they were new builds which had not yet been surveyed. No condition was recorded for one other school as it is a special school located in a hospital.

Table 3.2: Pupils by condition of schools, 2013-2019(1, 2)

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019(3)
Count
A: Good 241,392 241,605 225,505 236,260 253,369 265,717 266,569
B: Satisfactory 318,799 321,568 347,360 335,159 343,506 336,660 347,374
C: Poor 103,815 103,635 98,387 102,526 83,810 78,475 69,536
D: Bad 5,889 5,422 4,277 3,604 2,137 1,884 1,046
Condition not recorded 0 213 0 0 0 0 629
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 560,191 563,173 572,865 571,419 596,875 602,377 613,943
C: Poor or D: Bad 109,704 109,057 102,664 106,130 85,947 80,359 70,582
A: Good 36.0 35.9 33.4 34.9 37.1 38.9 38.9
B: Satisfactory 47.6 47.8 51.4 49.5 50.3 49.3 50.7
C: Poor 15.5 15.4 14.6 15.1 12.3 11.5 10.1
D: Bad 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.2
Condition not recorded 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1
A: Good or B: Satisfactory 83.6 83.8 84.8 84.3 87.4 88.2 89.6
C: Poor or D: Bad 16.4 16.2 15.2 15.7 12.6 11.8 10.3

1. Condition as reported in April. Changes to the guidance used to measure condition mean that caution should be used when comparing figures between years. Please see section 6.3 of the background notes for more information.

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 for that school year unless they chose to supply this figure during this collection. Please see section 6.1 of the background notes for more information.

3. Condition was measured using new guidance in the 2019 survey. Please see section 6.3 of the background notes for more information. Condition was not recorded for three schools in 2019 as they were new builds which had not yet been surveyed. No condition was recorded for one other school as it is a special school located in a hospital.

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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