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Additional Support Needs (ASN) schools

Children in Scotland with additional support needs (ASN) can receive education in three formats: education in a mainstream school, education in a ASN school or flexible provision with a mixed approach. Some ASN schools are independently run, often by charities, and the education authority may pay for a child to attend one of these. 

Number of ASN schools

In 2023, there were 107 publicly-funded ASN schools in Scotland. Of these, 105 schools were non-denominational and two were Roman Catholic.

In Glasgow there were 20 ASN schools and of these, 18 schools were non-denominational and two were Roman Catholic.

Number of Additional Support Needs schools by local authority- 2023

Primary school population

In 2023, there were 7,742 pupils enrolled in ASN schools across Scotland. With 7,575 of these pupils attending non-denominational and 167 attending Roman Catholic schools. In Glasgow there were 1,394 pupils enrolled with 1,227 being in non-denominational schools and 167 in Roman Catholic schools.

Glasgow City was the only local authority across Scotland to have a Roman Catholic ASN school.

Number of Additional Support Needs pupils by local authority- 2023

Number of Additional Support Needs pupils- Glasgow- 2005-2023

Pupil profile 

Age 

In 2023, 67% of all pupils enrolled at a ASN school in Glasgow were in secondary stage of education (children move from primary to secondary school at age 11 or 12). There were no children aged four years in ASN schools in Glasgow City. Data for 19 year olds was suppressed due to potentially identifiable data.

Number of Additional Support Needs pupils by age- Glasgow- 2023Gender 

In the same year, male pupils significantly outnumbered female pupils in ASN schools across Scotland and this was the same in every local authority. In Glasgow, almost three quarters (73%) of pupils enrolled in ASN schools were male and 27% female. Data was suppressed for seven local authorities (Angus, East Lothian, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney, Borders and Shetland). 

Support needs 

In 2023, all 1,394 pupils enrolled in ASN schools in Glasgow had additional support needs, the primary reasons being autism spectrum disorder (56%) and learning disability (52%). Around two thirds (62%) of pupils enrolled in ASN schools in Glasgow City were assessed or declared as having a disability. This mirrors national figures.

Ethnicity 

In 2023, 78% of pupils enrolled in ASN schools across Scotland were 'White British', 13% were 'Minority Ethnic' and 5% 'White Other' with 4% reported as 'not known' or 'not disclosed'.

In the same year, 61% of pupils enrolled at ASN schools in Glasgow were ‘White British’, 27% were 'Minority Ethnic', and 5% were 'White Other'. Across the other local authorities, East Renfrewshire and Aberdeen City had the highest proportion of minority ethnic pupils enrolled in ASN schools (34% and 32% respectively) and Dumfries and Galloway did not record any ethnic minority pupils in ASN schools.

Local authority of residence 

There were clear trends in the proportion of pupils who were attending ASN schools outwith their local authority of residence and the number of ASN schools in their local authority of residence.

For example, all pupils in Angus were attending ASN schools outside their local authority of residence, presumably because there were no ASN schools (or no available spaces) in Angus. While in Glasgow City, less than 1% of pupils who lived in Glasgow were attending ASN schools outside the city, potentially because there were 20 ASN schools operating in Glasgow. Due to supressed data, due to potentially identifiable information, it was not possible to report these trends across all local authorities.

English language 

3% of pupils across all ASN schools in Scotland were reported to be new to English language whereas in Glasgow it was slightly higher with 5% of pupils enrolled in ASN schools were new to English language. Data was suppressed or unavailable for 15 of the 32 local authorities. From the data available, the proportion of pupils who were new to English was highest in Clackmannanshire with 9%. 

Free school meals 

In 2023 all ASN school pupils were eligible for free school meals.

Notes

Data is from the 2023 Annual School Pupil Census, published by the Scottish Government in March 2024. Pupils with more than one additional need may appear multiple times. 

Publicly-funded schools include both local authority schools (which are financed and run by the local authority) and grant-aided schools (which are financed directly by the Scottish Government but are independent from local authorities).

Page updated in February 2025.