Attainment and Achievement Summary 2023-2024 - Care Experienced Learners

North Ayrshire Council · 3 June 2025
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 
3 June 2025 
Cabinet (Education) 
Title:    Attainment and Achievement Summary - Care Experienced
Learners 2023 / 2024 
Purpose:  To update Cabinet on: (i) Curriculum for Excellence Broad
General Education (BGE) attainment levels of care experienced
learners in 2023-24; (ii) Senior Phase attainment of care
experienced school leavers in 2024; (iii) post-school participation
of care experienced learners 
Recommendation:  That Cabinet:
a) Notes the content of the report, including the progress being
made by care experienced learners, specifically in literacy and
numeracy.
b) Notes the achievements of care experienced school leavers in
SQA examinations in 2024.
c) Notes the progress in post-school participation of care
experienced school leavers; and
d) Notes the continued focus on improving outcomes for care
experienced learners in North Ayrshire 
1. Executive Summary 
1.1 The Scottish Government has released new leavers’ data for session 2023/24 through
the benchmarking tool for the Senior Phase: ‘Insight’. Insight provides schools with a
school level statistical summary of attainment. It anonymises data for individual learners
or groups of learners which prevents them from being identified. 
Our Care Experienced learners are among our most disadvantaged learners, whilst
there remains a gap between them and our non-care experienced learners, we can see
a modest narrowing of the gap at Primary stages, particulary in numeracy and some
elements of literacy. (Appendix 2).
There is a sustained focus on attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy, with
North-Ayrshire’s Care Experienced learners almost always performing better than both
national and regional care experienced learners across both Level 4 and Level
5.(Appendix 3). 
1.2 Despite a dip in the last two years, average total tariff scores remain broadly in line with
pre-pandemic levels.

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1.3 Although the trend is ‘lumpy’ due to relatively small numbers, the proportion of care
experienced learners entering a positive destination has broadly trended upwards for
the last 8 years.
2. Background
2.1 North Ayrshire Council has high expectations for all learners and is committed to
improving educational outcomes for all children and young people. Two of the current
five strategic priorities for the Education Directorate are directly linked to raising
attainment:
• Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy
• Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and
young people
2.2 Care experienced young people are categorised for the purposes of our management
information system SEEMIS as: Looked After at Home, Looked After Away from Home
and Previously Looked After. The total number of Care experienced young people in
North Ayrshire at the annual census date in September each year is shown in the charts
in Appendix 1. In 2024 there were 755 care experienced young people enrolled in North
Ayrshire schools, with 55 leavers in 2024.
2.3 National Benchmarking Measures
One of the functions of Insight is to provide an analysis of four national benchmarking
measures showing the performance of pupils at the point of exit from school. This
provides a consistent benchmark and emphasises that attainment and achievement in
S4 to S6 are cumulative. These measures are connected and should be looked at
together when considering the performance of a school or local authority and the next
steps to be taken in seeking further improvements.
2.4 The four National Benchmarking Measures are:
- Improving attainment in literacy and numeracy
Our aim is for all our school leavers to be highly literate and numerate, increasing their
life chances greatly.
Curriculum for Excellence stresses the responsibility of all teachers for developing
literacy and numeracy skills. This reflects the importance placed on these crucial skills
which unlock learning in all other areas of the curriculum and are vital for success in
learning, life and work in the modern world and workplace.
- Improving attainment for all
The overall aim of this measure, along with tackling disadvantage, is to have our pupils
attain as high as possible 'across the board'.
Attainment is an individual’s passport to personal, social, cultural and economic
opportunities. Raising attainment means improving life chances. This does not mean
just focusing on exam results but instead looking at attainment in its widest sense. It is
this rich attainment which enables all of our children and young people to make good

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progress and develop the skills, ambition, and know-how they need to improve life
chances.
- Attainment versus Deprivation: tackling disadvantage – improving equity of
outcome irrespective of SIMD
The overall aim of this measure, together with improving attainment for all, is to have
our pupils attain as high as possible 'across the board'.
This measure is aimed at reducing the gap in attainment associated with the
incidence of higher and lower deprivation and has the same aspirations for our
learners as improving attainment for all.
- Increasing post-school participation
Considering the destinations of our leavers is a vital part of ensuring that the
Curriculum for Excellence is a success in our schools. The measure focuses on initial
destinations and is linked with Skills Development Scotland's information.
2.4 This report focuses on the following key measures:
1. Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy across the Broad General Education for care
experienced learners for 2024.
2. Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy and overall attainment in all qualifications at
Senior Phase level for care experienced school leavers in 2024.
3. Average Total Tariff Score of school leavers.
4. Post-school participation of care experienced school leavers for 2023.
2.5 Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy in Broad General Education for care
experienced learners (These highlights are supported by charts in Appendix 2)
The charts at Appendix 2 indicate that the attainment of care experienced learners at
BGE stages P1, P4 and P7 as 39% for Literacy and 56% for Numeracy. At all stages,
achievement of Literacy and Numeracy levels have increased for care experienced
learners from 2021 figures. The gap between the attainment of all learners and care
experienced learners remains, however it is closing, most significantly in levels of
literacy.
2.6 Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy and overall attainment in all qualifications
at Senior Phase level for care experienced school leavers
(These highlights are supported by charts in Appendices 3-5)
2.6.1 It should be noted that the cohort size for care experienced school leavers varies from
year to year and is generally around 50 young people. Therefore, care must be taken
when analysing variations in performance for this group. For example, one care
experienced learner attaining/not attaining a specific qualification may account for more
than 2 percentage points of a difference in the overall attainment measures for care

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experienced learners (whereas in the general population, one pupil would make less
than 0.07 percentage points of a difference in the same attainment measure).
2.6.2 Performance in Literacy and Numeracy at SCQF levels 4 and 5 is consistently lower for
care experienced leavers than for the overall school leaver cohort in North Ayrshire.
However, North Ayrshire care experienced school leavers almost always perform better
than their counterparts nationally and in the SWEIC authorities (see Appendix 3).
2.6.3 For Level 4 Literacy (73%) and Numeracy (73%) in 2024, care experienced leavers in
North Ayrshire are attaining above the national and SWEIC performance. For Level 5
Literacy (38%) in 2024, North Ayrshire care experienced leavers’ performance was
above the SWEIC figure of 36% but below the national figure of 41%. Similarly, in Level
5 Numeracy (31%), North Ayrshire care experienced leavers attained above the SWEIC
figure of 30%, but marginally below the national performance of 33%. Over the last 6
years, NAC care experienced performance at Level 5 has been above the national
figures in 4 of those years for literacy and 5 years for numeracy.
2.6.4 In 2024, 85% of North Ayrshire’s care experienced leavers attained at least 1
qualification at SCQF Level 4 or better, this is slightly lower than the 2023 figure of 87%.
For Level 5, 63% of care experienced leavers achieved at least 1 qualification at SCQF
Level 5, , which is marginally higher than the previous year (61%). The proportion of
care experienced school leavers achieving at least 1 Level 6 award was 34%, slightly
above the 2023 figure of 33%. Whilst some variation is to be expected from year to year
with such a small cohort of leavers, the trend for the last 5 years is that North Ayrshire
care experienced leavers (and those who were recorded as looked after at the point of
leaving) generally perform better than the national comparator against these
benchmarks.
2.6.5 The average total tariff score (ATTS) achieved by North Ayrshire care experienced
leavers was lower in 2024, at 355 tariff points, than the general trend over the last 5
years. A slightly higher proportion than average of care experienced learners left before
the end of S6 in 2024, which has contributed in part to the lower average total tariff
score. Schools have analysed the data locally, and have a clear narrative for individual
circumstances. The service will continue to focus on improving this benchmark of
achievement for care experienced learners.
2.7 Post-school participation of care experienced school leavers
(These highlights are supported by charts in Appendix 6)
The overall percentage of North Ayrshire care experienced school leavers entering a
positive destination has declined in 2024 to 85%. This is a drop of 9 percentage points
from the previous high of 94%. Whilst the NAC performance has been in line with or
above the national figure in 5 out of the last 6 years, this is an area for further focused
attention in future years..
2.8 Proposed Improvement Actions

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The Education service continues to prioritise on improving outcomes for all learners
including our most disadvantaged. Attainment of care experienced learners is
specifically referenced within the education service plan. Quality Improvement visits and
attainment discussions with senior school leaders will include a focus on the attainment
and achievement of this group of learners to ensure consistency of delivery of
interventions with a positive impact. During this coming session all staff will be provided
with the opportunity to improve their knowledge of the role of education in keeping The
Promise. In addition, the focused work of all schools in raising attainment outcomes for
care experienced learners will be supported and monitored through the newly
developed role of a service-wide virtual Head Teacher. Mindful that education alone
cannot improve outcomes for care experienced children and young people, we will
continue to collaborate with both local and external partners to provide care
experienced children and young people with positive learning experiences.
3. Proposals
3.1 It is proposed that Cabinet:
a) Notes the content of the report, including the progress being made by learners,
specifically in literacy and numeracy; and
b) Notes the achievements of school leavers in SQA examinations in 2023.
c) Notes the progress in post-school participation of care experienced school leavers;
and
d) Notes the continued focus on improving outcomes for care experienced learners in
North Ayrshire.
4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty
Financial
4.1 None.
Human Resources
4.2 None.
Legal
4.3 None.
Equality/Socio-economic
4.4 Tackling inequality is a key aspect of this report. The Council is committed to a
continued focussed approach to improve outcomes for care experienced leavers.

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Climate Change and Carbon 
4.5    None. 
Key Priorities 
4.6 NAC Council Plan 2023-28: Wellbeing: To transition to a wellbeing economy,
delivering prosperity, wellbeing and resilience for local people: 
• Improving educational attainment and achievement and closing the attainment gap
• Developing the Young Workforce and ensuring positive destinations for school
leavers 
This work relates to the following priorities in the Education Service Plan 2023-26: 
• Improvement in attainment and achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy
• Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and
young people. 
Community Wealth Building 
4.7    The Council will continue to consider the pillars of community wealth building in any
future developments in this area. 
5. Consultation 
5.1    None specifically related to this report. 
Andrew McClelland
Chief Education Officer, Head of Service (Education) 
For further information please contact Eilidh James, Quality Improvement Officer, on
01294 324443. 
Background Papers
None.

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218 273 291
211 239 224 217 208 204 149 127
337
367 384
351 346 344 370 346 342
321 315
186
174
176
277 293 330 322
294 296
344 333
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Care Experienced Pupils - All Schools
At home Away From Home Previously Looked After
Appendix1

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‐
23.2
‐
29.0
‐
18.9
‐
29.8
‐
30.6
‐
21.7
‐
22.6
‐
12.5
‐
22.5
‐
22.9
‐
22.7
‐
27.7
‐
19.9
‐
21.0
‐
30.5
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Reading Writing Listening & Talking Numeracy Literacy
PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN ACHIEVING CFE LEVEL
North Ayrshire CE attainment gap P1,P4,P7
2022, 2023, 2024 (percentage points)
Care Experienced Children ‐ 2022 All pupils (not CE) ‐ 2022 Care Experienced Children ‐ 2023
All pupils (not CE) ‐ 2023 Care Experienced Children ‐ 2024 All pupils (not CE) ‐ 2024
Appendix 2

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81.6 79.6
51.0
32.7
79.0 82.5
50.9
36.8
76.8
70.7
44.6
30.1
76.7
71.3
45.4
32.8
75.0
71.2
40.2
28.0
70.5 72.7
42.4
34.1
72.7 72.7
38.2
30.9
70.2
66.0
40.9
32.5
72.1 70.7
36.4
30.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
55.0
60.0
65.0
70.0
75.0
80.0
85.0
90.0
% Level 4 Literacy % Level 4 Numeracy % Level 5 Literacy % Level 5 Numeracy
LAC attainment in Literacy and Numeracy ‐ North Ayrshire vs. National and SWEIC ‐
2022‐2024 (percentage attaining out of annual leavers' cohort)
NAC 2022 NAC 2023 NAC 2024 National 2022 National 2023 National 2024 SWEIC 2022 SWEIC 2023 SWEIC 2024
Appendix 3

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77.5%
85.3%
90.5% 87.1% 85.1%
78.0% 79.0%
88.2% 84.5% 80.0%
97.1% 97.5% 97.3% 97.4% 97.4%
71.8% 70.9%
78.3% 75.7%
0.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Percentage of School Leavers achieving 1 or more qualification 
at SCQF level 4 or better
NAC Care experienced NAC Looked After NAC All Other Leavers (not CE) Looked after leavers ‐ National
53.8%
61.8%
67.4%
61.4% 63.2%
53.7% 50.0%
66.7%
55.2% 58.2%
88.6% 91.8% 90.0% 90.5% 89.3%
38.1% 37.6%
46.1% 42.3%
0.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Percentage of School Leavers achieving 1 or more qualification 
at SCQF level 5 or better
NAC Care experienced NAC Looked After NAC All Other Leavers (not CE) Looked after leavers ‐ National
n/a
28.8%
40.2%
34.7% 32.7% 34.2%
29.3% 32.3%
27.5%
34.5%
25.5%
69.9% 73.0% 70.2% 68.7% 70.4%
14.2% 14.9% 15.9% 15.8%
0.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Percentage of School Leavers achieving 1 or more qualification at 
SCQF level 6 or better
NAC Care experienced NAC Looked After NAC All Other Leavers (not CE) Looked after leavers ‐ National
n/a
Appendix 4

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317
387
320
254
391
338 374 418
272
332
387
346 331
382
441
451 415
355
919 925 936
825
888
946 929
879 879
282 293
291 273 291
335 372 366
323
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Average Total Tariff Score for LAC, Care Experienced and all non‐LAC School 
Leavers NAC vs. National performance for LAC children
North Ayrshire LAC North Ayrshire Care Experienced NAC all Leavers ‐ not Care Experienced* National ‐ LAC Leavers
Appendix5
*not looked after and not previously looked after‐ and unable to determine status for 2016 only

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83.0
87.3
80.9
83.0 84.6
93.3
85.7
94.7
87.3
73.6
76.4
80.4
82.4
81.4
87.9
86.0
87.9 87.2
73.1
77.9 80.0
76.5
86.7
91.9
88.6 88.6 88.6
83.1
88.1
84.4
88.2
86.3
94.1
91.6
94.1
85.1
95.5
93.7
96.2
94.4
92.9
95.3
96.3 96.7 96.4
70.0
75.0
80.0
85.0
90.0
95.0
100.0
2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Percentage of Care Experienced and Looked After Leavers entering a 
Positive Destination
North Ayrshire ‐ LAC National ‐ LAC South West Collaborative ‐ LAC
Care Experienced ‐ NAC Leavers not Care Experienced ‐ NAC
Appendix 6