Definitions and glossary

Primary schools

Children usually start school between age 4 years and 6 months and age 5 years and 6 months

There are seven stages from Primary 1 (P1) to Primary 7 (P7).

Pupils are not streamed by ability at primary school and automatically move up a stage each year.

Secondary schools

Pupils attend for up to six years (S1 to S6).

Special schools

Most children with ASN are educated in mainstream schools but some with complex or specific needs are educated in special schools.

Not all local authorities have special schools.

In these statistics pupils attending special schools are not assigned to primary or secondary or to a stage.

Publicly funded schools

Includes local authority and grant-aided schools.

Local authority schools

Schools which are run and financed by the local authority.

Grant-aided schools (GAS)

Schools that are supported financially directly by the Scottish Government and follow the Curriculum for Excellence but are independent from Local Authorities. Grant-aided schools are not equivalent to schools termed ‘academies’ in some parts of the UK.

Additional support needs (ASN)

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2004 (as amended) states that a child or young person has an additional support need where they need additional support in order to benefit from school education.

SIMD – Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across Scotland.

Least deprived

Pupils whose home address is in the 20% of least deprived data zones as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Most deprived

Pupils whose home address is in the 20% of most deprived data zones as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Attendance rate

Rates of attendance and absence relate to the total number of possible half day attendances. This number will differ for each pupil enrolment as it accounts for on the length of time the pupil is on the roll of the school, the number of half day openings the school operates, and whether the pupil has any ‘extended leave with parental consent’ recorded (openings recorded as extended leave with parental consent are not considered to be possible attendances).

Persistent absence

Persistent absence refers to the proportion of pupils who miss 10% or more of the academic year.

Cases of exclusion

Cases of exclusion refers to the number of incidences of exclusion, not the number of pupils excluded, as a pupil can be excluded multiple times.

Temporary exclusion

This is when a pupil is excluded from school but remains on the school’s register because they are expected to return after the period of exclusion.

Removed from the register

This refers to a pupil who is excluded and their name removed from the school register. Such a pupil would then be educated at another school or via an alternative form of provision.