Education Resources - Resource Plan progress

Our performance management reporting system IMPROVe uses a traffic light format with the following definitions to give a status report on each action or performance measure:

The overall summary of Resource Plan progress to date is as follows:

Data as at 1 April 2026

Key achievements to date against each of the <six> Connect Outcomes are summarised below:

Connect Outcome - Communities and environment

• The Conference of Schools (CoS4) event once again provided an influential platform for young people to educate, inspire and engage their peers on climate action. Designed and delivered by students for students, the event showcased ideas and solutions aimed at tackling climate change at both local and global levels

Connect Outcome - Education and learning

Achievement

• Curriculum Design
  Over 880 individual school visits were undertaken by CQIS officers in 2025/26 supporting curriculum innovation, learning and teaching improvements and strategies for raising attainment.
• Literacy
  Our P1/4/7 literacy continues a general trend upwards since session 2020/2021.  We remain above pre pandemic levels and close to the national average. There was a small dip in performance in 2025/2026.  This contrasts with a strong and improving performance elsewhere in the system and should therefore be seen as a localised fluctuation and not part of a systemic decline.
  S3 literacy remains above the national average and has increased gradually since the pandemic.  Third level continues to show stronger performance.  Fourth level is at its highest since 2016/2017.
  The literacy gap continues to close across P1/4/7 and is now very close to pre-pandemic levels. 
• Numeracy 
  Our P1/4/7 numeracy continues a general trend upwards since session 2020/2021.  We remain above pre-pandemic levels and very close to the national average. Third and fourth level numeracy also remain above the national average. Fourth level has overtaken our pre pandemic levels.
  Our numeracy gap continues to close across P1/4/7, and in S3 our gap remains smaller than the national average.
• Attainment
  Our exam results in 2025 showed steady improvement across the board with National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher attainment all exceeding previous levels.
  Almost 49% of S4 learners achieved 5 or more awards (A-C). The number of S5 pupils achieving 5 or more Higher Awards rose to 18.5% and S6 pupils achieving similar awards at Advanced Higher rose to 21.2%.
  The percentage of pupils from our most deprived areas gaining 5 or more awards rose to their highest levels and are now above the national average.
• Leaver Destinations
  Boosted by improving attainment, the 2025/2026 academic year saw continuing strong performance in positive leaver destinations. Against a difficult economic backdrop, 96.6% of our leavers entered a positive destination. This is above the national average and continues a long-standing upward trend.

Connect Outcome - Health and wellbeing

• Our whole systems approach to mental health and wellbeing ensures early intervention and accessible, high quality support for children and young people. This includes increased access to digital counselling services such as Kooth, the development of peer support programmes in schools, and targeted trauma informed interventions.
  All primary and secondary schools in South Lanarkshire can offer access to counselling for children aged ten and over, with more young people choosing to self refer and reporting improved wellbeing following engagement with support services.
  Alongside this, we invested over £140,000 in equipment and support to help sustain breakfast clubs in every school, recognising the important role they play in promoting wellbeing, readiness to learn and equitable support for all learners.
  We continue to strengthen our partnership with NHS Lanarkshire Public Health Team, working collaboratively to promote positive health and wellbeing. This includes the co production of accessible publicity materials for use in schools, supporting key public health priorities such as immunisation programmes, good hygiene practices, and preventative health measures including hand hygiene, eye and hearing screening, and dental health.

Connect Outcome - Children and young people

• Our focus on inclusion, equity and equality continues to shape practice across establishments and services, ensuring that all children and young people are supported to achieve and participate fully in school life. Through a combination of targeted support, inclusive approaches and strong partnership working, we are reducing barriers to learning and creating more responsive learning environments.
• We have strengthened this commitment through a £1.6 million investment in a revised service model for additional support needs. This includes the creation of 24.0 FTE specialist posts, enhancing capacity to support learners more effectively, improve professional practice and make better use of data to inform targeted interventions and planning.
• Across South Lanarkshire, schools continue to receive national recognition for their inclusive ethos, with a growing number achieving awards and working towards accreditation that reflects their commitment to children’s rights, equity and high‑quality learning experiences for all.
• Creative and cultural opportunities also play an important role in promoting inclusion. Music and arts programmes bring together learners from a wide range of backgrounds, including those in additional support needs settings, providing meaningful opportunities for participation, collaboration and achievement.
• The Instrumental Music Service continues to make a significant contribution to inclusive practice across South Lanarkshire, delivering high‑quality, accessible music education that supports participation, achievement and community engagement.

Connect Outcome - Housing and land

• No Resource Outcomes for this Connect Outcome

Connect Outcome - Our economy

• No Resource Outcomes for this Connect Outcome

In addition to working towards these Outcomes, we recognise that the council is committed to continuous improvement, ensuring the effective and efficient use of resources while conducting business with integrity, transparency, and via the highest standards. The identification and review of Resource outcomes are embedded within the broader ambition of Delivering the Plan and Achieving Best Value, underpinning our efforts to enhance service delivery and drive meaningful progress.

Progress to date against the full suite of measures is contained in the Resource Plan progress report presented to the Education Resources Committee.

No measures have been classified as ‘red’ (major slippage against timescale or shortfall against target) in this reporting period.

A further analysis introduced to aid scrutiny of performance is to highlight and explain all measures that have changed status from Quarter 2 to Quarter 4. None were identified in this reporting period.

• 1 measure changed from green to blue
• 10 measures changed from amber to green
• 13 measures changed from “report later/contextual” to green
• 1 measure changed from “report later/contextual" to amber