WIREDGOV

An accredited official statistics publication.

The school attendance, absence and exclusions statistics 2024-25, published today, brings together statistics from the annual attendance and absence collection and the biennial exclusions collection.

The key points are as follows:

Attendance

• The attendance rate in 2024/25 was 91.0%. This is an increase from 90.3% in 2023/24 but lower than the pre-COVID-19 (2018/19) level of 93.0%.
• Although the overall unauthorised absence rate has decreased since 2023/24, the rate of unauthorised holidays has increased slightly, from 1.0% of all openings in 2023/24 to 1.1% in 2024/25, the highest since the start of the time series in 2009/10.
• Attendance varied by local authority with highest attendance rates in East Renfrewshire (93.6%) and lowest in East Ayrshire (89.1%). All local authorities except Shetland Islands increased their attendance rate from 2023/24 to 2024/25.
• The attendance rate was lower for pupils with an Additional Support Need (ASN; 88.2%) compared to pupils without an ASN (92.9%), a gap of 4.7 percentage points. This is higher than the gap of 4.6 percentage points in 2023/24.
• Attendance decreased with increased deprivation in 2024/25; the attendance rate for pupils in the 20% least deprived areas was 94.1% compared to 87.6% for pupils in the 20% most deprived areas, a gap of 6.5 percentage points. This is lower than the gap of 6.7 percentage points in 2023/24.
• The rate of persistent absence (Percentage of pupils who were absent 10% or more of all half day sessions) was 28.5% in 2024/25, a decrease compared to 31.4% in 2023/24 but higher than the pre-COVID-19 (2018/19) level of 21.8%.

Exclusions

• Cases of exclusion decreased from 11,673 in 2022/23 to 10,647 in 2024/25. This is consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006/07.
• The rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils decreased from 16.6 in 2022/23 to 15.2 in 2024/25. This is consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006/07.
• No pupils were removed from the register in 2024/25. This is the first time there has been no pupils removed from the register since records began in 2002/03.
• The rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils for pupils with an ASN was 28.9 in 2024/25, almost five times the rate for pupils without an ASN (5.8), a gap of 23.1. This is lower than the gap of 27.5 in 2022/23.
• The rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils for pupils in the 20% least deprived areas was 6.2 compared to 23.9 for pupils in the 20% most deprived areas, a gap of 17.7. This is lower than the gap of 18.1 in 2023/24.

Background

This is the first time attendance, absence and exclusions data has been published as a stand-alone report. Previously, this data was published in “Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland”, an accredited official statistics publication that provides information from (i) the annual pupil census, (ii) the annual school staff census, (iii) the annual early learning and childcare (ELC) census, (iv) the annual attendance and absence collection and the (v) biennial exclusions collection.

The school attendance, absence and exclusions statistics 2024-25 publication, as well as school attendance and absence and school exclusion supplementary tables, is available on the school education statistics website.

Accredited Official Statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Information on attendance and absence is collected annually and is next scheduled to be collected for the 2025/26 school year. Information on exclusions is collected biennially and is next scheduled to be collected for the 2026/27 school year.

The attendance, absence and exclusions collection covers all publicly funded local authority schools in Scotland. The attendance and absence collection also covers Jordanhill, the grant-aided mainstream school. Neither collection covers grant-aided special schools, independent schools or early learning and childcare establishments.

Any school that was open and had pupils on its roll during the collection year is included in the statistics, regardless of the length of time it was open for. Schools that opened or closed during the year will still be captured.

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).

Further information on what is collected in the attendance, absence and exclusions collections may be found in the collection specification.