Celebrating our Key Achievements

How we deliver our impact.

September 2023 – August 2024

As the UK’s leading specialist provider of education, quality and impact are at the heart of what we do. Every day we improve the lives of our pupils, their families and local communities through a relentless focus on wellbeing and learning. This report is a summary of our impact over the last academic year – read the full report here.

4,000
pupils education supported
98%
of schools are rated good or outstanding
75
schools across the group

Celebrating exam results

Well done to all our pupils and colleagues on an amazing set of qualifications achieved this year.

Acorn Education

716

Functional skills qualifications were achieved

582

GCSEs achieved

685

Entry level qualifications with a 100% pass rate

Options Autism

298

GCSEs achieved

350

Functional Skills Qualifications

99

Qualifications at a national 4,5 or Higher in Scotland

Acorn Education

716

Functional skills qualifications were achieved

An increase from 641 last year, these qualifications were predominantly in English and Maths but also included ICT and Science. There were also an additional 308 other qualifications at levels 1 and 2.

582

GCSEs achieved

Acorn pupils achieved a total of 582 GCSEs in a wide variety of subjects, increasing from 536 last year. Some highlights include grade 7s achieved in Art, Computer Science, Maths and Music.

685

Entry level qualifications with a 100% pass rate

685 entry-level qualifications and 118 pre-entry in a wide range of academic, vocational and life-skills subjects were achieved with most schools reporting a 100% Pass Rate. This is a huge increase from previous years.

Options Autism

298

GCSEs achieved

An increase from 189 achieved last year. Some of the highest grades included two Grades 8 in Religious Studies, a Grade 8 in Fine Art, a Grade 7 in Physics and a Grade 7 in Psychology.

350

Functional Skills Qualifications

An additional total of 350 Functional Skills Qualifications were achieved (an increase from 200 last year) – predominantly in English and Maths, but also including ICT and Science.

99

Qualifications at a national 4,5 or Higher in Scotland

Our Scottish Schools achieved some amazing results, including 11 ‘L2-5’s, 39 National 3 Awards, 37 National 4 Awards and 12 National 5 Awards.

Futures Team

Over the last year, the Futures Team has supported all schools across the group without any external advisor support.

Having carefully crafted a bespoke approach with our own qualified and apprentice advisors to support pupils, our learners receive unlimited support when they need it, and our schools have a professional on hand to guide them through their careers provision.

Aiden at Longdon Park School

Aiden left Longdon Park in July 2023 and is progressing to the next level at college in September, and they are really happy with his progress. He is now walking to college by himself, which he loves, and goes to the burger van by himself every Wednesday.

Aiden goes hiking every weekend now, and to Birdland nearly every month. Has also been going to the library by himself and is active in a few groups on Discord.

Kieran at Waterloo Lodge School

Since leaving Waterloo Lodge Keiran has received an unconditional offer from his chosen university and will be studying for a BA Hons in Music this September.

Keiran spent three years at Waterloo Lodge School before being admitted to two colleges and gaining recognition for his live performances. The team couldn’t be prouder of his achievements.

Great Places to Work Survey

We scored

77%

For the fifth year running, we are a great place to work. As well as being certified we have been recognised throughout the year in the UK’s Best Workplaces for Wellbeing and the UK’s Best Workplaces for Development 2024.

Looking Ahead

Taking our next steps together

Our focus for the coming year is to continue driving innovation and expanding our services to meet growing demand. This includes opening more schools and creating additional capacity to support more pupils.

Find out more about our impact