Education Outcomes for Looked After Children in Scotland - Official Statistics 2024/2025
The Scottish Government has published (23 June) the latest annual official statistics on achievement, exclusions, and attainment for ‘looked after’ children in Scotland, and leaver destinations of school leavers who had been ‘looked after’. School attendance rate across primary, secondary and special schools during this period, from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025, was 83.8%, up very slightly from 83.7% the previous year, with the attendance rate for all learners at 91%. Children cared for in foster families had the highest attendance, while children who are cared for at home supported by social services, with a Child Supervision Order in place, had the lowest attendance at 69.8%.
39.9% of school leavers who were ’looked after’ within the year had achieved at least one qualification at SCQF level 5 or better. This compares to 84.1% of all learners.
Exclusion rates for learners decreased from 97 exclusions per 1,000 learners, to 77, but are around five times higher than the rate for all children attending school in Scotland.
The report also includes statistics for school leavers who were most recently ‘looked after’ in the last year; for some duration after turning 12 years old, but not in the last year; and between ages 5 and 12. It shows that there has also been a small decline in the proportion of school leavers, ‘looked after’ within the year, who entered initial positive destinations - from 85.3% to 84.2%.