Primary education
In Scotland, children who are aged four years after 29th February can start primary school in the August of the same year. Parents/carers can defer entry to primary school if their child’s fifth birthday falls between November to February after the August start, although there is variation between local authorities. Therefore, throughout an academic year, a primary one class could have children ranging in age from four and a half years to six years. Children in Scotland attend primary school for seven years (P1 to P7) before progressing to secondary school.
Number of Primary schools
In 2022, there were 1,994 publicly funded Primary schools across Scotland.
In Glasgow City Region there were 141 Primary schools: 61% were non-denominational (i.e. a school based on Christian beliefs but people of any religion can attend) and 39% were Roman Catholic. Inverclyde (45%) and Glasgow City (39%) had the highest proportion of Roman Catholic Primary schools compared to any other local authority.
Primary school population
In 2022, there were 388,920 pupils enrolled in primary schools across Scotland. Glasgow City had the highest proportion of primary pupils (40,576) enrolled in primary schools compared to any other local authority, reflecting the population density of the city.
Class Sizes
Average class sizes across all primary stages in Scotland was 23.3 pupils. Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire, and Dundee City all had the highest average class sizes of 25 pupils or more. While Na h-Eileanan Siar had the lowest average class sizes of 16.9 pupils, also reflecting the relatively low population density of the islands.
The average class size in primary school in Glasgow City Region was slightly higher than the national average at 24.2.
Pupil Profile
Ethnicity
Across Scotland, children who identified as white British made up more than three quarters (79%) of the primary school population. This was followed by children who identified as minority ethnic (11%), and 'White and Other' (7%). A small proportion (3%) were listed as 'not known' or 'not disclosed'.
Glasgow City Region had the highest proportion of minority ethnic primary pupils (27%) followed by East Renfrewshire (24%) and Edinburgh (24%), while Orkney islands had the lowest proportion (3%).
English as additional language
Across Scotland, 2% of primary pupils were new to the English language. Glasgow City Region (5%) and Aberdeen City (6%) had the highest proportion of pupils new to the language, while Midlothian and East Dunbartonshire each had the lowest proportion of pupils (0.5%, respectively).
This information was not recorded for the islands presumably due to low population numbers.
Additional Support Needs
Some children require support in addition to, or different from, that which is received by children the same age to ensure they benefit from education. Additional Support Needs (ASN) can be due to disability or health, learning environment, family circumstances, and social and emotional factors; it can be short or long term; or simply be help a pupil needs to get them through a difficult period.
More than one quarter (28%) of primary school pupils across Scotland had additional support needs (ASN). North Lanarkshire had the smallest proportion of primary pupils with ASN (11%) and Aberdeenshire had the highest (45%). Glasgow City Region had 27% of pupils across its primary schools with ASN.
Of the 11,102 primary pupils in Glasgow City Region with Additional Support Needs, over half (57%) were accessing support because they had English as an additional language; 11% were accessing support because of a social, emotional or behavioural difficulty; and 10% because of autism spectrum disorder.
Financial Assistance
Free School Lunch
In Scotland, all primary school children from P1 to P5 who are attending local authority run schools are entitled to a free school lunch during term-time. Children in P6 and P7 are entitled to free school meals if their parents/carers are in receipt of certain benefits or in instances of financial hardship (i.e. having no recourse to public funds, waiting on first Universal Credit payment). Parents/Carers whose children receive free school meals can also apply for support during the six school holidays.
Across Scotland, one fifth of pupils in P6 (21%) and P7 (20%) were in receipt of free school meals. Glasgow City Region had the highest proportion of P6 (40%) and P7 pupils (42%) receiving free school meals, at rates which were twice as high as the national average. East Renfrewshire had the lowerst proportion of P6 (7%) and P7 (9%) pupils receiving free school meals.
Free School Breakfast
Children who are entitled to free school lunches are also entitled to free breakfast at school every day. Although this is not a national policy and there is likely to be variation across local authorities.
Primary schools in Glasgow City Region offer a supervised breakfast service every morning on school days starting at 8.15am. Children have a choice of cereal, toast, and fruit prior to the start of the school day. While all children can attend the breakfast service, children who are entitled to free school lunches will recieve this breakfast free, otherwise there is a charge of £2 per day.
Data is not routinely collected on uptake of free school breakfast in Glasgow City or across Scotland.
School Clothing Grant
In Scotland, parents/carers in receipt of certain benefits can apply for the School Clothing Grant to help with the cost of the school uniform. While there is some local variation in who an apply and how much is paid, every family who is entitled can receive £120 per child of primary school age, per year. This paid via cash into a bank account.
In 2023, Glasgow City Region had the highest proportion of children in low income families, subsequently, the highest share of Grant Aided Expenditure for the School Clothing Grant (17%) compared to any other local authority in Scotland.
Best Start Grant
The Best Start Grant - School Age Payment, offers financial support to families to help with the cost of a chlid starting Primary 1. All elligible families are entitled to a one-off payment of £314.45 per child which is paid via cash into a bank account.
In the period December 2018 to November 2022, 103,410 applications were submitted, across Scotland, for the School Age Payment. Of these, three quarters (70%) of appplications were authorised and one quarter (27%) were denied.
In the same period, there were 16,680 applications in Glasgow City Region for the School Age Payment, totalling over £3 million which although was the highest across all local authorities it is reflective of the population density of the city.
Notes
School Clothing Grant data is available from Scottish Government Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2023-24.
Best Start Grant data is available from Scottish Government Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods 2023.
The following data is not available at a local authority level: deprivation, asylum and refugee status, and disability.
This page was updated in June 2024.