5. School Attendance Analysis Report 2024-25 - Cabinet (Education) - 27 January 2026
North Ayrshire Council · 27 January 2026
Back to Cabinet — 27 January 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Some pages contain no extractable text. They may be blank, graphics or scanned pages. OCR has not been applied.
Page 1
NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 27 January 2026 Cabinet (Education) Title: School Attendance Analysis Report 2024-25 Purpose: To provide Cabinet with a summary analysis of school attendance statistics and trends in North Ayrshire and an update on current and future planned activity to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence. Recommendation: It is recommended that Cabinet: (a) Notes the contents of this report; and (b) Agrees to receive further updates, for example through the Standards and Quality Report and through a subsequent separate annual attendance report, as necessary. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 School attendance rates in Scotland, including North Ayrshire, have yet to recover fully to pre-pandemic levels, with a significant correlation between attendance and deprivation. North Ayrshire’s school attendance rate of 89.6% in 2024-25 reflects a slight improvement on the previous two years but still ranks among the lowest in Scotland. 1.2 Persistent absence remains a critical challenge for North Ayrshire, with 35.6% of pupils missing more than 10% of possible attendances in 2024-25. While this is the second highest rate in Scotland, it represents a 2.3 percentage point improvement from the previous year. 1.3 The Scottish Government has prioritised improving attendance through national programmes, increased data monitoring, and targeted support initiatives. Locally, North Ayrshire has implemented thematic workstreams focused on universal supports, policies and processes, targeted interventions, and partnership working and has developed a new attendance tracking and monitoring tool to support establishments to target interventions to raise attendance levels. 1.4 Recognising that there is still significant scope for further improvement, North Ayrshire aims to build on this progress through continued collaboration with Education Scotland, enhanced professional learning, further support for vulnerable groups, and strengthened partnerships. Attendance improvement will remain a service-wide priority embedded in school and quality improvement plans.
Page 2
1.5 So far in session 2025-26, overall attendance in North Ayrshire is tracking slightly below where it was this time last year. This is consistent with the national picture, which is also slightly lower (0.4 percentage points) than last year at this point. The service is analysing reasons for this and is implementing a range of approaches to secure further improvements throughout the second half of the academic year. 2. Background 2.1 School attendance rates across Scotland remain a significant concern. Attendance rates have not yet recovered to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels (this trend also exists across the UK more widely) and progress remains slower than anticipated. As a result, improving school attendance has become a significant priority, both nationally and locally. We know that lower levels of attendance can have an adverse impact on a young person’s level of participation, attainment, and ultimately future opportunities; it is therefore vital that schools do all they can to promote and ensure good attendance for all of our children and young people. 2.2 To reflect the increased focus on improving attendance, the Scottish Government (SG) has changed its publication schedule for national attendance data from biennially to annually. The latest national dataset summarising statistics from session 2024-25 can be found here: School attendance and absence statistics 2024-25. 2.3 Attendance rates in both Scotland as a whole and North Ayrshire have decreased compared to the period prior to the pandemic. The recovery of attendance figures to pre-pandemic levels has been slower than initially projected. The graph below presents overall attendance rates from 2016-17 to 2024-25. 2.4 In 2024-25, North Ayrshire’s overall attendance rate was 89.6%. This is an increase of 0.5 percentage points on the previous year. North Ayrshire is ranked 30 out of 32 local authorities for the overall attendance rate across all sectors. Since 2022-23, the rate of attendance has improved by a total of 0.8 percentage points both in North Ayrshire and nationally. There is still significant scope for further improvement. 2.5 There is evidence that areas of relatively higher deprivation, as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), were particularly impacted by the Covid- 19 pandemic, both in terms of academic outcome and school attendance levels. The 92.6 92.1 91.4 88.8 89.1 89.6 93.3 93.0 92.0 90.2 90.3 91.0 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 2016/17 2018/19 2020/21 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Overall Attendance Rate (%) 2016-2025 (NAC compared to Scotland) North Ayrshire Scotland
Page 3
graph below illustrates attendance levels of the nine authorities with the highest levels of deprivation (previously known as Challenge Authorities). In 2024-25, the deprivation- related gap in overall attendance rates persisted: all of the local authorities with an overall attendance rate lower than or equal to North Ayrshire (Dundee City, Glasgow City and East Ayrshire) rank among the most deprived areas of Scotland. 2.6 The table below shows the attendance rate within each individual sector over the last three years in North Ayrshire, compared to the national figures. Attendance levels are improving gradually but the current rate of improvement is slower than we would like. Attendance rate by sector, 2023-2025 Primary Secondary Special 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 North Ayrshire 91.1% 91.7% 92.1% 86.0% 86.1% 86.7% 88.2% 87.6% 88.7% Scotland 92.2% 92.3% 93.1% 87.7% 87.6% 88.4% 87.1% 87.3% 87.9% 2.7 Since 2022-23, in addition to overall attendance rates, SG now measures and publishes more detailed absence statistics, including levels of “persistent absence”, which is defined as an absence level of more than 10% of attendance openings across the school session (this equates to 19 days or more lost out of the 190 days of school education in each school year). 2.8 In 2024-25, the persistent absence level in North Ayrshire was 35.6%. This is the second highest persistent absence level in Scotland and is significantly higher than the Scotland-wide figure of 28.5%. However, this is a 2.3 percentage point improvement on 2023-24 where persistent absence levels in North Ayrshire were 37.9%. The table below shows how these statistics vary across the different sectors, both locally and nationally. It can be noted that although North Ayrshire is clearly experiencing challenges with this measure, we can see improvements across every sector with an overall reduction in persistent absence of 4.2 percentage points since 2022-23. It is also pleasing to note that our persistent absence rates for Lockhart Campus are significantly better that the national average for special schools. Percentage of pupils who missed more than 10% of possible attendances: All Sectors 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Primary 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 North Ayrshire 39.8 37.9 35.6 North Ayrshire 31.9 28.8 26.8 Scotland 32.5 31.4 28.5 Scotland 25.6 23.9 21.1 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 2016/17 2018/19 2020/21 [note 1] 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Overall attendance Rate (%) 2016-2025 (Challenge Authorities) Clackmannanshire Dundee City East Ayrshire Glasgow City Inverclyde North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Renfrewshire West Dunbartonshire
Page 4
Secondary 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Special 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 North Ayrshire 49.2 48.1 45.8 North Ayrshire 34.7 38.0 31.6 Scotland 41.0 40.6 37.4 Scotland 38.6 37.7 35.8 Actions to improve school attendance across Scotland 2.9 A national campaign promoting positive attendance ran throughout November. This was widely shared by our establishments, and it was a North Ayrshire pupil who starred in the accompanying video. A link to the resources on the ParentClub website is included here: School attendance FAQs and Help if your child refuses to go to school 2.10 Education Scotland ran a Quality Improvement Programme which five North Ayrshire Establishments were invited to join. 2.11 The Scottish Government shares fortnightly attendance data with local authorities to support improved tracking and monitoring of attendance. 2.12 Education Scotland publishes support materials on the National Improvement Hub to help schools and local authorities consider how to approach Improving attendance effectively. The published resources include good practice from Blacklands Primary School, who have been working on improving attendance, particularly through further improving their transitions processes into school. Education Scotland also leads a National Attendance Network along with the ADES Performance and Improvement Network. Actions to further improve school attendance in North Ayrshire 2.13 Recognising the importance of this issue, improving attendance remains a key area of focus in The Education Service Improvement Plans 2024-25 and 2025-26, with improvement work for school attendance being coordinated by the Attendance Service Improvement Group organised under the following four thematic workstreams: • Universal supports • Policies, processes and data • Targeted interventions and supports for vulnerable groups • Partnership working 2.14 Key improvement activities throughout session 2024-25 were summarised in the Service Standards and Quality Report, approved by Cabinet in September 2025. A summary of progress so far during session 2025-26 is as follows: 2.15 Universal supports This session we launched our local campaign to promote positive attendance. Examples of our posters are included at Appendix 1. Key slogans have been developed in collaboration with parents/carers and children and young people. These have been shared with parents and carers at transition events and more widely: • “Attendance Matters – Every day in school counts right from the start”, and • “Attendance Matters – Building your tomorrow today”. 2.16 Policies, processes and data A new process, guidance and associated tool for monitoring and tracking attendance and interventions has been developed. This is currently being piloted in two clusters
Page 5
and following evaluation will be launched in March 2026. This tool supports establishment staff to easily identify patterns of attendance and evaluate the impact of supportive interventions. Intensive analysis of SEEMiS attendance data has begun and some patterns identified, particularly among the group of Secondary learners with attendance between 80 and 85%. Key themes identified for further investigation include: multiple incidents of sickness absence; patterns of regular non-attendance on one particular day of the week (often Friday); and the impact of family holidays in term time (with 32% of young people in this group having had at least one family holiday during Term 1). Additional staffing resource will be allocated to the further analysis of this data to inform future actions across the Education Service. 2.17 Targeted interventions and supports for vulnerable groups A Professional Learning package has been developed which will support establishment staff to assess reasons for school non-attendance and to identify appropriate supports. This too will be launched in March 2026, alongside a robust implementation plan to support establishment staff and build confidence and skills to manage emotionally based school non-attendance. 2.18 Partnership working A wide range of multi-agency partners have collaborated with the education service to promote improved school attendance. A working party has been established, and a number of partnership programmes are being evaluated. 2.19 Improving Attendance Quality Improvement Programme Five North Ayrshire establishments were involved in an Education Scotland-led Attendance Quality Improvement Project in session 2024-25. The five schools involved (Hayocks Primary, St. Winning’s Primary, Corsehill Primary, Irvine Royal Academy and Ardrossan Academy) attended a number of sessions which supported them to utilise the quality improvement process to develop tests of change using the ‘plan, do, review’ cycle. Examples of projects include providing pupils with alternative educational provision and positive experiences through outdoor learning to enhance health & wellbeing. This had a positive impact on attendance for a small group of identified pupils, with a 3-percentage point improvement in attendance noted over this short period (May and June). A further project worked with a small group of targeted learners whose attendance was between 80 and 90%. Through the use of reflective tools and discussions, key barriers for some learners and families were identified. The process recognised the importance of early intervention and consistent communication, with some pupils seeing a positive impact on attendance. For those with no improvement, this approach ensured staff had a full understanding of the wider impacts on the individual children’s barriers. 2.20 Examples of Good Practice Two of our establishments have demonstrated significant improvements to pupil attendance levels: Ardrossan Academy and Glebe Primary school. Both case studies will be showcased as part of an Education Scotland national sharing of good practice series. Ardrossan Academy has seen an overall improvement in attendance rates of 4 percentage points. This has been achieved through a holistic monitoring, tracking and intervention programme, recognising that it is every member of staff’s responsibility to promote positive attendance. Glebe Primary has taken a rigorous approach to monitoring and tracking attendance and it is their process which has formed the basis of the newly developed Attendance Tracking and Monitoring tool noted earlier. Glebe Primary has seen a 2-percentage point improvement in attendance and at 94.2% for
Page 6
session 2024-25, this school sits well above the NAC overall attendance rate for primary schools of 92.1%, and above the equivalent national figure of 93.1%. Current snapshot of attendance in session 2025-26 2.21 In order to give Cabinet a sense of the attendance picture so far in the current session, the table below illustrates cumulative attendance as at the end of December 2025, compared to where it was this time last year. So far this session, overall attendance in North Ayrshire is tracking slightly below where it was this time last year. This is consistent with the national picture, which is also slightly lower (0.4 percentage points) than last year at this point. School attendance is a complex area and there are likely to be multiple contributing factors to the current position. There has been a slightly higher incidence of seasonal illnesses reported so far this session, both locally and nationally. Further analysis work, as outlined at paragraph 2.16, is underway. Overall NAC attendance rate by December (comparison between Dec 24 and Dec 25) Cumulative, by December 2024 Cumulative, by December 2025 Overall attendance rate 89.8% 89.3% Primary attendance rate 92.3% 91.9% Secondary attendance rate 86.9% 86.4% Planned future work 2.22 A comprehensive programme of planned future work will help to further support our ambitions in this area, and includes: • A launch event for the attendance monitoring and tracking tool and the targeted intervention professional learning package has been organised for March 2026. • The Service Operating Procedures for managing attendance will be updated for use in session 2026-27 to reflect the new processes and guidance developed. • During the remainder of session 2025-26 time will be spent conducting a deeper analysis of attendance data, including data around reasons for absence, and this will be triangulated with available health and wellbeing data and the results of our Pupil Attitudes to Self and Schools survey to support a better understanding of the North Ayrshire context and develop bespoke supports. • We will work with partners to develop a directory of attendance supports available across the authority and collaborate to develop and test additional programmes. • Recognising the impact school non-attendance has on the wellbeing of children, young people and families we have made available funds from the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services monies to the third sector and are seeking applications with a focus on improving wellbeing through a promoting school attendance lens. We have received 16 applications which are going through scoring and scrutiny in January 2026, with successful projects starting in April 2026. • A further six establishments have been identified to take part in the next cohort of the Education Scotland attendance quality improvement programme: Garnock Academy, St Matthew’s Academy, Glencairn Primary, Pennyburn Primary, Woodlands Primary and St John Ogilvie Primary. This cohort will begin in late January 2026.
Page 7
2.23 Overarching all of this specific work will continue to be a strong service-wide focus on improving attendance, which will remain a key feature of the new 2026-29 Service Improvement Plan and a regular discussion point at head teacher meetings and quality improvement visits. Underpinning the service-level work, schools will continue to work on the implementation of attendance improvement activities as identified in their School Improvement Plans. 3. Proposals 3.1 It is recommended Cabinet: (a) Notes the contents of this report; and (b) Agrees to receive further updates, for example through the Standards and Quality Report and through a subsequent separate annual attendance report, as necessary. 4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 The funding for the temporary additional staffing resource will be from within the service’s existing overall funding envelope. Human Resources 4.2 Temporary additional staffing resource will be allocated to support the service-wide analysis of attendance data and support senior leaders to develop further focused approaches to improving attendance. This will be funded from within the service’s existing funding envelope. Legal 4.3 None. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 None. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 None. Key Priorities 4.6 Council priorities: The focus of the Education Service is to align with the Council Plan 2023-28 strategic aim to “transition to a wellbeing economy, delivering prosperity, wellbeing and resilience for local people” and more specifically “improving educational attainment and achievement and closing the attainment gap” activities. The extent to which this is achieved will be further enhanced through improved attendance levels in our schools.
Page 8
Community Wealth Building 4.7 Better educational outcomes for children, young people and adults, as well as increased capacity building and resilience in communities are required to underpin a strong local economy. 5. Consultation 5.1 There has been no formal consultation on the overall content of this report, although elements of our approach have been co-designed with partners. Andrew McClelland Head of Service (Education) and Chief Education Officer For further information please contact Eilidh James, Quality Improvement Officer, on 01294 324413. Background Papers (Relevant background papers are provided via embedded links within the document.)
Page 9
Appendix 1
Page 10
No embedded text on this page.
Page 11
No embedded text on this page.