Section 2: School condition

A school’s condition rating refers to the current state of its fabric. This includes the state of repair of features and facilities that are part of the school fabric and its current design. It also includes the adequacy and appropriateness of the design, the security of the school fabric, contents and occupancy and general health and safety requirements.

The following ratings are used to measure school condition:

1. Good – Performing well and operating efficiently
2. Satisfactory – Performing adequately but showing minor deterioration
3. Poor – Showing major defects and/or not operating adequately
4. Bad – Economic life expired and/or risk of failure

The current guidance states that full condition surveys of the school estate should be carried out at least every five years. These statistics reflect the latest survey and rating reported by the local authority. School level information, including survey dates, is provided in the supplementary tables.

Construction issues identified in schools between full condition surveys, such as detection of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), may not result in a change to the reported condition rating if remedial/mitigation work has been undertaken, or the issue does not affect the overall condition of the building, or a full condition survey has yet to be conducted since identification of the issue.

A condition rating may not be available for special schools where attendance is solely by pupils who are enrolled at a different school which has been separately reported in the survey. Condition ratings may also not be available for newly built schools or schools based in buildings outwith the school estate such as hospitals. From 2024, schools where no condition or suitability rating would normally be expected have been excluded from the survey.

Further details on school condition ratings are available in the Background Notes while the full set of statistics from 2007 are available in the supplementary tables

Figure 2: Number of schools with poor or bad condition ratings continues to fall

Number of schools by condition rating from 2007 to 2026.

The number of schools with poor or bad condition ratings decreased by 28 between 2025 to 2026. Over the longer term, the number of schools with poor or bad condition ratings has decreased from 993 (37.3%) in 2007 to 167 (6.9%) in 2026, a decrease of 30.4 percentage points.

The number of schools with good or satisfactory condition ratings increased by 19 between 2025 and 2026. Over the longer term, the number of schools with good or satisfactory condition ratings has increased from 1,669 (62.7%) in 2007 to 2,270 (93.1%) in 2026, an increase of 30.4 percentage points.

The main reason for the most recent drop in the number of poor or bad condition schools was that there were more schools that changed from a poor/bad rating to a good/satisfactory rating than vice versa.

The number of schools rated as being in good condition declined for a fourth consecutive year, decreasing from 581 in 2025 to 570 in 2026. In contrast, the number of schools rated as being in satisfactory condition increased from 1,670 to 1,700 between 2025 and 2026.

Figure 3: Number of pupils in schools with poor or bad condition ratings continues to fall

The number of pupils by school condition rating from 2007 to 2026.

The number of pupils in schools with poor or bad condition ratings decreased by 10,086 between 2025 to 2026. This is the lowest number and proportion since recording began in 2007. The number of pupils in schools with poor or bad condition ratings has decreased from 256,794 (37.6%) in 2007 to 42,470 (6.1%) in 2026, a decrease of 31.5 percentage points.

The number of pupils in schools with good or satisfactory condition ratings increased by 3,656 between 2025 and 2026. Over the longer term, the number of pupils in schools with good or satisfactory condition ratings has increased from 426,109 (62.4%) in 2007 to 652,030 (93.9%) in 2026. This represents an increase of 31.5 percentage points and the highest number and proportion since recording began in 2007.

The number of pupils in schools with bad condition rating has fallen for a second consecutive year, from 4,223 last year to 3,058 in 2026. This is well below the 31,862 pupils reported in 2007. This year’s reduction reflects major refurbishment and extension works at one school which reduced the number of schools in this category to five.