Education Outcomes for Looked After Children 2024/25

School attendance

• The attendance rate across primary, secondary and special schools for pupils who were looked after was 83.8% for 2024/25, compared to 83.7% in 2023/24. The attendance rate for all pupils increased over the same period from 90.3% to 91.0%.
• Pupils who were looked after at home with parents during 2024/25 had the lowest attendance rates across all accommodation types for looked after pupils (69.8%), with those looked after in foster care placements provided by the local authority and purchased by the local authority having the highest attendance rates (94.0% and 94.9% respectively).
• The gap in attendance rates between looked after pupils (78.5%) and all pupils (88.4%) in secondary schools widened to 9.9 percentage points in 2024/25 (from 9.3 percentage points in 2023/24). For primary pupils, the gap increased from 3.3 percentage points to 3.8 percentage points over the same period.

School exclusions

• Exclusion rates for pupils looked after within the year have decreased in 2024/25, from 97 exclusion per 1,000 pupils in 2022/23 to 77 exclusions per 1,000 pupils in 2024/25.
• The gap in rate of exclusion cases for looked after pupils and all pupils has reduced substantially since 2009/10 to its lowest ever level in 2024/25. However, the exclusion rate for looked after pupils remains around five times the rate for all pupils in 2024/25.
• Children in local authority homes, in voluntary homes and at home with parents had a higher rate of exclusion than those looked after in foster care, with friends or relatives, in other community accommodation, or residential placements.
• Pupils who were looked after within the year with 2 or 3 or more placements had a higher rate of exclusion than those with one placement.

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL)

• Achievement levels across all subjects were lower for pupils looked after during the year compared to all pupils at all stages.
• The gap between looked after pupils and all pupils has increased in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 for all subjects at P1 and S3 stages. The gap decreased in the latest year for all subjects for P4 with the exception of reading, and increased for all subjects for P7 with the exception of writing.

School leavers stages and attainment

• The proportion of looked after leavers who left school in S4 or earlier has declined substantially since 2009/10, from 62.8% in 2009/10 to 31.8% in 2024/25. This is a decrease from 35.1% in 2023/24.
• Attainment for school leavers who were looked after within the year has increased since 2009/10 at all levels but has dropped slightly in each of the last three years.
• 39.9% of school leavers looked after within the year has at least one qualification at SCQF level 5 or better. This compares to 40.7% of those most recently looked after since the age of 12, 52.8% of those looked most recently looked after between the ages of 5 and 12, and 84.1% of all pupils.
• The gap between the proportion of looked after leavers and all pupils who achieve at least one qualification at SCQF level 5 or better has decreased to 48.1 percentage points in 2024/25 from 63.9 percentage points in 2009/10. There has, however, been a gradual increase in the gap over each of the last three years from a 42.1 percentage point gap in 2021/22.  
• Attainment levels were generally higher for school leavers looked after in community accommodation compared to residential accommodation. However, school leavers looked after at home had among the lowest attainment levels of all placement types.
• School leavers who had a single placement in 2024/25 had higher levels of attainment than those with two or more placements, with 42.2% of looked after school leavers with at least one qualification at SCQF level 5 compared to 21.8% and 18.5% with two placements or three or more placements respectively.

School leavers destinations

• Since 2009/10 the proportion of school leavers looked after during the year who enter initial positive destinations has increased overall from 58.1% in 2009/10 to 84.2% in 2024/25. However, this is a decrease from 85.3% in 2023/24.
• Between 2009/10 and 2024/25 the proportion of looked after school leavers in a positive follow-up destination increased from 42.0% to 73.0%. This was an increase in the latest year from 72.4% in 2023/24.
• The gap between the proportion of looked after leavers compared to all leavers who are in positive follow-up destinations was 20.5 percentage points in 2024/25. This has decreased compared to 2009/10 (44 percentage points) and remains fairly consistent with 2023/24 (20.7 percentage points).