Data set from Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Table 1C - Attendance in state-funded schools during the COVID-19 outbreak at local authority

Not the latest data

Published 19 October 2021

Last updated 19 October 2021

This file contains weekly attendance data at local authority level for state-funded education settings for each Thursday in the autumn term (from 10 September until 17 December 2020) for the spring term (13 January until 1 April 2021) and the summer term (15 April until 15 July). It also includes workforce absence statistics in the autumn term (from 10 September until 17 December 2020), the spring term (13 January until 1 April 2021) and the summer term (15 April until 15 July).

The data is shown for each local authority and is further split by the following school phases:

state-funded secondary schools
state-funded primary schools
state-funded special schools
all state-funded schools.

Data is in this file has been not been scaled to account for non-response so it is not nationally representative.

Data set details

Theme: COVID-19
Publication: Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Release: Week 42 2021
Release type
Geographic levels: Local authority, Regional
Indicators: Attendance in fully open schools (%)
Attendance in schools (%)
Indicates whether the data is based on a low response rate (50% or less)
Filters: Date
Phase of education
Time period: 2020 Week 37 to 2021 Week 9

Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data
time_period	time_identifier	Date	la_name	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_code	region_name	new_la_code	old_la_code	Phase	number_schools_responded	response_rate	number_open_schools	proportion_open_schools	number_fully_open_schools	proportion_fully_open_schools	number_of_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school	proportion_of_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school	number_children_attending	proportion_children_attending	proportion_children_attending_excl_year_11_13_students_not_in_attendance_adjusted	number_children_attending_fully_open	proportion_children_attending_fully_open	number_pupils_with_SW_attending	proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending	number_pupils_with_SW_attending_fully_open	proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending_fully_open	number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending	proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending	number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open	proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open	number_pupils_eligible_for_FSM_attending	proportion_pupils_eligible_for_FSM_attending	number_children_of_critical_workers_attending_state_funded_schools	proportion_of_all_children_in_attendance_who_are_children_of_critical_workers	Lower_estimate_for_total_pupils_unable_to_attend_school_because_of_COVID-19	Lower_estimate_as_%_of_all_pupils	Upper_estimate_for_total_pupils_unable_to_attend_school_because_of_COVID-19	Upper_estimate_as_%_of_all_pupils	Upper_estimate_for_total_pupils_unable_to_attend_school_because_of_COVID_19_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Upper_estimate_as_percentage_of_all_pupils_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_with_a_suspected_case_of_COVID-19	proportion_pupils_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_COVID-19	proportion_students_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_COVID19_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_with_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID-19	proportion_pupils_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID-19	proportion_students_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID19_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_self_isolating_due_to_contact_inside_setting	proportion_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_self_isolating_due_to_contact_inside_setting	proportion_students_isolating_due_to_potential_contact_with_case_of_COVID19_inside_setting_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_self_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_setting	proportion_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_self_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_setting	proportion_students_isolating_due_to_potential_contact_with_case_of_COVID19_outside_setting_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	Lower_estimate_for_total_pupils_self_isolating	Lower_estimate_self_isolating_as_%_of_all_pupils	Upper_estimate_for_total_pupils_self_isolating	Upper_estimate_self_isolating_as_%_of_all_pupils	Total_pupils_not_attending_because_school_is_closed	proportion_pupils_not_attending_because_school_is_closed	total_students_unable_to_attend_because_setting_is_closed_due_to_COVID19_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	proportion_students_unable_to_attend_because_setting_is_closed_due_to_COVID19_excl_year_11_13_students_who_are_not_in_attendance_adjusted	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_on_roll_in_responding_schools	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_attending_on_site_in_open_schools	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_on_roll_responding_open_schools	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_attending_on_site_in_open_schools	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_on_roll_responding_schools_closed_due_to_covid	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_covid_19	proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_covid_19	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_covid_19	proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_covid_19	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_isolating_due_to_contact_in_school	proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_isolating_due_to_contact_in_school	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_school	proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_school	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_due_to_COVID_19_reasons	number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_for_other_reasons	proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_absent_for_other_reasons	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_on_roll_in_responding_schools	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_attending_on_site_in_open_schools	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_on_roll_in_open_responding_schools	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_attending_on_site_in_open_schools	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_on_roll_responding_schools_closed_due_to_covid	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_covid_19	proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_covid_19	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_covid_19	proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_covid_19	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_isolating_due_to_contact_in_school	proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_isolating_due_to_contact_in_school	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_school	proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_isolating_due_to_contact_outside_school	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_due_to_COVID_19_reasons	number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_for_other_reasons	proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_absent_for_other_reasons	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_suspected_case_of_COVID19	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_suspected_case_of_COVID19	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID19	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID19	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_inside_the_school	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_inside_the_school	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_outside_the_school	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_outside_the_school	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_other_reasons	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_other_reasons	Number_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_all_COVID_reasons	Proportion_of_teachers_and_school_leaders_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_all_COVID_reasons	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_suspected_case_of_COVID19	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_suspected_case_of_COVID19	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID19	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID19	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_inside_the_school	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_inside_the_school	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_outside_the_school	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_in_open_schools_self_isolating_and_cannot_teach_remotely_due_to_potential_contact_with_a_case_of_COVID19_outside_the_school	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_other_reasons	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_other_reasons	Number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_all_COVID_reasons	Proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_who_cannot_teach_on_site_or_remotely_in_open_schools_due_to_all_COVID_reasons	small_flag
2020	Week 37	10/09/2020	Barking and Dagenham	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000007	London	E09000002	301	All state-funded schools	52	86.7	52	100	41	78.8	-	-	32550	82.5	-	26449	86.2	607	82.4	469	85.9	874	76.9	608	88	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
2020	Week 37	10/09/2020	Barking and Dagenham	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000007	London	E09000002	301	State-funded primary	38	88.4	38	100	30	78.9	-	-	17520	80.8	-	14167	84.8	338	86.7	260	89.7	352	87.1	286	88.8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
2020	Week 37	10/09/2020	Barking and Dagenham	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000007	London	E09000002	301	State-funded secondary	11	84.6	11	100	9	81.8	-	-	14723	85.2	-	12101	88	219	76.6	183	83.6	251	83.1	177	83.5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
2020	Week 37	10/09/2020	Barking and Dagenham	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000007	London	E09000002	301	State-funded special	2	66.7	2	100	1	50	-	-	269	64	-	143	97.9	36	100	12	100	269	64	143	97.9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
2020	Week 37	10/09/2020	Barnet	Local authority	E92000001	England	E12000007	London	E09000003	302	All state-funded schools	103	81.7	103	100	86	83.5	-	-	36283	81	-	30681	87.3	462	77.3	396	84.1	1243	79.2	1101	83.7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0

Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 102 variables
Variable name	Variable description
Date	Date
low_response_flag	Indicates whether the data is based on a low response rate (50% or less)
Lower_estimate_as_%_of_all_pupils	Lower estimate for total pupils unable to attend school because of COVID-19 as % of all pupils
Lower_estimate_for_total_pupils_self_isolating	Lower estimate for total pupils self-isolating due to a potential contact with COVID-19
Lower_estimate_for_total_pupils_unable_to_attend_school_because_of_COVID-19	Lower estimate for total pupils unable to attend school because of COVID-19

Footnotes

The purpose of this data collection is primarily to understand attendance and teacher availability. This data is reported directly by schools via DfE's daily education settings survey. It is not the primary source of data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall.
A small proportion of schools (less than 1%) were known to be on half term between 24 and 28 May and have been excluded from our estimates.
Data is based on responding schools only. Unlike national level data, no adjustments are made for non-response. Response rates vary by local authority and different schools within a region may respond on different days. Care should be taken when comparing regions and when interpreting trends over time because differences could be due to response bias or different schools being included in the data.
All proportions are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where open rates are rounded to 100.0%, a small number of settings may have reported that they were closed.
The majority of state-funded schools in Leicester and Leicestershire closed for the end of summer term on 9th July 2021, data will be missing or representative of the low number of schools responding (around 1%) for 15th July 2021 data (week 28).
COVID-19 related reasons include a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus and those required to isolate by NHS Test and Trace due to contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, where they are not exempt from self-isolation under the changes of 16th August 2021.
Pupils with a social worker are considered ‘children in need’. Our analysis after adjusting for non-response suggests that schools may be under-reporting the number of children with a social worker when compared to the most recently published children in need statistics. Therefore these estimates only account for pupils with a social worker that are identified by schools.
Absence rates for teaching assistants and other staff are likely to be less robust as more work part-time. There are likely to be inconsistencies in how schools treat part time staff in their reported data, for example some may update their on roll numbers daily to account for part-time staff ‘expected’ to be on-site and others may not.
Workforce absences are not known in closed schools. This means these figures are likely to be under-estimates of the numbers of workforce with confirmed or suspected cases and self-isolating, particularly when the proportion of schools closed for COVID-19 related reasons is higher.
On-site testing for staff was available from 4 January to 5 March 2021. All staff are now encouraged to take two rapid COVID-19 tests each week at home. Rates of confirmed cases and isolation among workforce may be impacted by levels of testing.
Secondary schools and colleges were given flexibility to phase the return of pupils between 8 and 12 March 2021 to manage testing and the return of pupils. This impacted attendance rates during the week commencing 8 March 2021.
Off-site provision for pupils in year 11 and 13 impacts attendance estimates during the summer term. Prior to 7 June commentary was more focused on COVID-19 related absence to give the clearest picture of the impact of the pandemic on pupil attendance. Between 7 June and 16 July 2021 attendance is adjusted to exclude year 11-13 pupils identified as not in attendance because they are off-site for approved purposes.
COVID-19 related reasons include a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus and those required to isolate by NHS Test and Trace due to contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, where they are not exempt from self-isolation under the changes of 16th August 2021.

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Table 1C - Attendance in state-funded schools during the COVID-19 outbreak at local authority

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