Glasgow has seen a rise of more than 60 per cent in the number of children being home schooled over the last five years, new figures have shown.

There are now 100 students being educated at home in the city, compared to 61 in 2014/15, figures obtained by Scotland on Sunday show.

The boom compares to a 36 per cent rise across Scotland as a whole.

The figures reveal 48 full-time home-schooled students in Edinburgh, and 73 in Aberdeenshire.

Children who have previously been enrolled in a mainstream school must receive permission from the local authority.

Parents must demonstrate that their children would receive an "efficient" education at home.

If a student has never been to school then parents do not need consent.

In general, high proportion of home-schooled students have additional support needs (ASN).

In Glasgow, 16 of the 100 students had ASN.

Laurie Matthew, a trustee of home education charity Schoolhouse, told Scotland on Sunday: "Generally speaking, those people with children already in a school who get in touch with us do so because they're having problems within the school, within the education system.

"Increasingly it's children with additional learning needs. Some of the children have disabilities or some just have a higher need - an awful lot of parents are now in that category and they get in touch to say school isn't working for them, it's failing," she said.