How many schools are there in the UK?

Across the UK in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there is a wide variety of school types, curriculums, inspectorates, assessment systems and pay scales.

Understanding them all and how they differ from one another - from local authority and multi-academy trust schools in England, to the less diverse systems in Scotland and Wales (but where pupils have the opportunity to learn in Gaelic and Welsh) - can be tough,

And of course, there are private fee-paying schools as well.

The below guide aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the information you need to know about schools across the UK, and the system and structures within which they operate.

How many schools are there in the UK?

There are 29,161 schools in the UK (excluding nurseries). This number is made up the combined totals of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There are 20,778 state-funded primary schools, 27 middle schools, 4,175 state-funded secondary schools or post-primary schools, 2,572 independent schools and 1,609 special or alternative provision settings.

How many schools are there in England?

There are 24,059 schools in England, according to data published by the Department for Education in June 2023,

This number can be broken down as follows:

• 16,783 primary schools
• 3,444 secondary schools
• 2,408 independent schools
• 1,035 special schools
• 335 alternative provision settings
• 54 non-maintained special schools

The vast majority of these schools are classed either as state-maintained or academy schools.

State-maintained schools are those that receive their funding via the local authority in which they are situated while schools within multi-academy trusts receive their finances directly from the government and so have complete oversight of their budgets.

Read more: How does a school become an academy or join a MAT? 

How many schools are there in Scotland?

There are 2,527 schools in Scotland, according to data published by the Scottish government in 2023.

This is broken down as follows:

• 1,988 primary schools
• 361 secondary schools
• 107 special schools
• 71 independent schools

The vast majority of Scottish schools are council run but there are also eight grant-aided schools. Grant-aided schools are financed directly by the Scottish government and follow the Curriculum for Excellence, however they are independent from councils.

About 60 primary schools and 30 secondary schools in Scotland provide Gaelic-medium education, but there are just seven stand-alone GME schools.

How many schools are there in Wales?

There are 1,536 schools in Wales, according to data published by the Welsh government in January 2023.

This number is broken down as follows:

• 1,213 primary schools
• 27 middle schools
• 178 secondary schools
• 39 special schools
• 79 independent schools

Of the 1463 local authority maintained schools in Wales, 439 were Welsh-medium schools as of January 2023.

How many schools are there in Northern Ireland?

There are 1,039 schools in Northern Ireland, according to data published by the Northern Ireland Data and Research Agency.

These include:

• 794 primary schools (including preparatory departments)
• 192 post-primary schools (66 grammar schools and 126 non-grammars)
• 39 special schools
• 14 independent schools

Find out how many teachers there are in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

What types of schools are there in the UK?

Schools in the UK are broadly broken into two main types: primary and secondary. The ages at which pupils attend these two phases varies from region to region.

As well as primary and secondary there are smaller numbers of middle schools, all-through schools (catering for pupils across primary and secondary age), special schools and alternative provision settings.

Primary schools

Primary schools in England cater for pupils from Year 1 to Year 6, which is generally ages four to 11. Primary schools in Scotland cater for pupils from Primary 1 to Primary 7, which is generally ages 4-5 to 11-12.

Primary schools in Wales teach pupils aged from 3-4 to 10, while primary school in Northern Ireland is typically started by children in September if they are four years old by 1 July of that year.

There are also infant and junior schools, which cover slightly different age ranges. Infant schools work with pupils from 5-7, and then junior schools from 8-13, before they move into a secondary school in Year 9.

Secondary schools

Secondary schools in England cater for pupils aged 11-16, from Year 7 to Year 11, and schooling ends with students sitting GCSE exams. Those with a sixth-form college attached will also provide education to those aged 16-18 in Years 12 and 13.

In England, there are also stand-alone sixth-form colleges that work only with pupils aged 16-18 to offer A levels, T levels or other vocational qualifications such as BTECs.

Secondary schools in Scotland cater for pupils aged 11-12 to 17-18, or from Secondary 1 to Secondary 6, and deliver a wide range of qualifications, including National Qualifications such as National 5s; Highers and Advanced Highers, as well as vocational qualifications such as National Progression Awards and Foundation Apprenticeships.

Students can leave school from the age of 16 in Scotland but the vast majority stay on beyond the fourth year and spend five or six years in secondary school. In 2021-22, 12 per cent of Scottish school leavers left in S4, 28 per cent left in S5 and 60 per cent left in S6 (Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, 2023).

Secondary schools in Wales and Northern Ireland both also teach ages 11 to 16 or 18.

All-through or middle schools

All-through schools generally teach pupils right through from the beginning of primary school through to the end of secondary. Middle schools in Wales also teach pupils all the way from ages 3-4 to 16-18.

Special schools

Special schools work with pupils with varying levels of special education needs and disabilities, and who often have an education health and care plan that helps provide information on the specific needs they have within the setting.

These schools occur across the UK and are broadly similar in their approach, however Scotland uses the term “additional support needs” when referring to any additional support.

These schools will have higher staff-to-student ratios and students will often receive alternative types of education that are more suited to their requirements.

Alternative provision

Alternative provision (AP) is a term used to describe settings attended by pupils who, owing to reasons such as illness, medical needs or having been excluded from mainstream education, require education in a different setting.

Pupil referral units

One of the most common types of AP is the pupil referral unit, which caters for pupils for a wide variety of additional reasons, such as having an illness, having been excluded from mainstream education or awaiting a place in a mainstream school.

Private/fee-paying schools

Finally, private schools charge fees to attend and almost always have selective entry criteria, which mean they can choose who is provided with a place. Some of these settings may offer boarding, whereby pupils stay on site for the week or the entirety of term time.

A 2022 survey by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools showed that there are 29,414 pupils in 71 independent schools, or 4.2 per cent of all pupils in Scotland.

Alternative-medium or bilingual schools

In Scotland, the first Gaelic units were established in primary schools in Glasgow and Inverness in 1985. They began with a couple of dozen pupils in total; now more than 5,000 pupils are taught through the medium of Gaelic in Scotland, according to the 2022 pupil census.

However, not all councils offer Gaelic medium education - about half of councils have primary provision but only about a third offer GME in secondary.

Wales is officially a bilingual nation. Education is delivered in Welsh-medium, English-medium and/or bilingual settings.

Regardless of the medium of instruction, all children in Wales are required to learn Welsh throughout the compulsory schooling period and the Welsh government has set itself the goal that by 2050, the number of Welsh speakers should reach one million. According to the 2021 census, 538,300 Welsh residents report being able to speak Welsh.

As of January 2023, 108,866 pupils (23 per cent) were being educated in Welsh. The government target is 40 per cent by 2050, with the interim target of 30 per cent by 2031.

In Northern Ireland, Irish-medium schools and units see pupils primarily taught in Irish rather than English, and exist in both the controlled and maintained sectors.

Who controls UK schools?

With its devolved education system, the UK contains four different bodies in charge of educating its young people.

England

In England the responsibility for education sits with the Department for Education, which oversees several key areas, including the teaching and learning of children from early years through to young people in further and higher education.

It is also tasked with supporting those working in education, helping disadvantaged young people and making sure local services protect and support children. The education secretary is Gillian Keegan.

Scotland

The Scotland Act 1998 gave the Scottish Parliament power to make laws on devolved matters. Education and training is a devolved matter.

The Scottish government therefore sets the policy and direction when it comes to education but it is the country’s 32 local authorities that are responsible for running schools. The education secretary is Jenny Gilruth.

Wales

As in Scotland, since devolution in 1999, Wales has had responsibility for education policy, and overall responsibility for the school system lies in the hands of the Welsh government.

However, the 22 local authorities in Wales are responsible for direct allocations of funding to publicly funded schools and for supporting vulnerable students. The minister for education and Welsh language is Jeremy Miles.

Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Department of Education is responsible for the administration of pre-school, primary and post-primary education. Education at a local level is administered by education and library boards.

Currently there is no education minister, at a time when the Northern Ireland Assembly continues to be suspended.

Who inspects UK schools?

Ofsted (England)

In England schools are inspected by Ofsted, (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills). Schools are usually inspected every two and a half to four years and are given a rating of either “outstanding”, “good”, “requires improvement” or “inadequate”.

Sir Martyn Oliver is the new chief inspector and took over the role in January.

Education Scotland

In Scotland a sample of 120 schools is inspected every year by Education Scotland, the agency charged with supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education - so schools are not inspected on a cyclical basis.

This means that a school can go for long periods without being inspected, something the Scottish government has come under fire for.

In 2021, following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s review of the Scottish curriculum, the government announced that responsibility for inspection would no longer sit with Education Scotland.

However, the creation of an independent inspectorate has been hit by delay. Early government timelines suggested the new body would be in place by 2024 but now it is not expected to appear until 2025.

Estyn (Wales)

Estyn is the body responsible for inspecting education and training in Wales. It was announced in 2022 that the inspectorate planned to move away from judging schools and towards supporting them to continuously improve.

This means that inspection reports will no longer include summative gradings (eg, “excellent”, “good” or “adequate”). However, the plan is to inspect more regularly.

Traditionally, Estyn has inspected schools once every six years but the plan is to inspect schools twice every six years. The new inspection framework is due to start in September 2024. The chief inspector is Owen Evans, who took up the post in January 2022.

Education and Training Inspectorate (Northern Ireland)

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) is responsible for inspecting schools in Northern Ireland. The ETI adopted a new inspection approach in 2017, aiming to visit schools (outside the full inspection or follow-up process) about every three years.

What are children in the UK taught?

National curriculum (England)

All local-authority-maintained primary and secondary schools in England are legally required to teach the national curriculum. While academies are not legally obliged to teach the national curriculum, most do use this document as the basis for their teaching.

Curriculum for Excellence (Scotland)

Scotland moved away from a prescriptive curriculum with the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in 2010. CfE sets out what students should be able to do at different ages and stages through its “experiences and outcomes” and was designed to give teachers more freedom over what they taught.

The way CfE was implemented has been criticised, however, and in December, after a poor set of results in the most recent round of the Programme for International Student Assessment, Ms Gilruth announced that the curriculum would be reviewed, beginning with maths.

Curriculum for Wales

Curriculum for Wales (CfW) began to be introduced in all primary and secondary schools this academic year (2023-24). Originally the roll-out was due to take place in September 2022 but secondary schools were given the flexibility to delay its introduction for a year because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

CfW borrows heavily from the Scottish curriculum and is no longer organised by key stages. Rather, it is designed to be a seamless curriculum for children aged 3 to 16. It also aims to give more power to teachers over how to teach and what to teach.

Schools are being asked to design their own curricula, within the requirements of a national framework, “with the four purposes at the heart”: ambitious, capable learners; enterprising, creative contributors; ethical, informed citizens; and healthy, confident individuals.

Northern Ireland curriculum

Children aged 4-16 in grant-aided schools must follow the Northern Ireland curriculum, which was introduced in 2007 for all 12 years of compulsory education.

Primary pupils must cover six subject areas: language and literacy; maths and numeracy; the arts; the world; personal development and mutual understanding; and physical education. The post-primary curriculum builds on earlier learning and also works on students’ life and work skills.