Educational Improvements for Dundee Primary Pupils

Dundee’s primary pupils are making significant educational progress during the earliest stages of their learning journey.

The Children, Families and Communities Committee will hear that since 2018/19 primary pupils living in the most deprived areas of the city have continued to show higher levels of literacy and numeracy attainment compared to the Scottish average.

There has also been improvement across all Primary 1, 4 & 7 pupils in the city in reading, writing, listening and talking, literacy, and numeracy.

The gap between pupils from the most and least deprived areas has remained relatively steady. This is mainly because of increased performance of pupils living in the least deprived areas.

There are several key strategies and actions to build on this success, actions are being taken to embedding ‘Every Dundee Learning Matters’ (EDLM) improvement strategy, redesigning Head Techer Learning Together Days, and creating stronger working links with Education Scotland Attainment advisors.

Children, Families and Communities Convener Stewart Hunter said: "This report highlights the great work going on in the city to make sure our primary pupils get good quality education from the start of their learning journey.

"It’s encouraging to see that the poverty-related attainment gap in Dundee is smaller than the national average and continuing to narrow, highlighting the great work taking place in our schools.

"We know how important it is to get it right for every pupil and we are committed to ensuring best practice across all our schools, we have several ways in which we are looking to achieve this, including using data to drive improvement and investment with our schools.

"I want to thank the staff who are doing a great job delivering for our young people and getting their education off to the right start.

“We will not become complacent, and we will continue to work to give every Dundee learner the best start to their learning journey.”

This Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels 2023/24 update provides information on the proportion of primary school pupils who have achieved the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels in literacy and numeracy relevant to their stage in academic session 2023/24.

The report is focused of the % of P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined achieving expected Curriculum for Excellence Levels in both literacy and numeracy.

The Children, Families and Communities Committee will meet on Monday 3rd March.