Week 27 2020

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

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• Published: 7 July 2020
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A summary of attendance in schools and colleges since Monday 23 March and early years settings since Thursday 16 April.

These statistics have been produced quickly in response to developing world events. The Office for Statistics Regulation, on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority, has reviewed them against several key aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics and regards them as consistent with the Code’s pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.

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Headline facts and figures - 2020

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Background

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the government asked early years settings, schools, and colleges to close from Friday 20 March 2020 to all children except those of critical workers and those classified as vulnerable.

From 1 June, the government asked schools to welcome back children in nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6, alongside children of critical workers and vulnerable children from all years. Early years settings were also asked to begin welcoming back all children from 1 June.

From 15 June, secondary schools, sixth form and further education colleges were asked to begin providing face-to-face support to students in year 10 and 12 to supplement their learning from home, alongside full time provision for students from priority groups.

Education settings survey

To help understand the impact of these decisions, the Department for Education (DfE) established a survey of schools and colleges in England. Schools and colleges are asked to report information to DfE each day, including the number of children and staff in attendance if they are open and when they plan to reopen if they are closed.

The narrative in this document focuses on Thursday 2 July to maintain comparability with previous weeks.

Local authority early years survey

From 6 April 2020, DfE asked local authorities (LAs) to regularly report similar information for childcare settings. The focus of this survey was narrowed to early years settings from 16 April.

Data coverage

This data release includes data for schools and colleges from 23 March to 2 July and early years settings from 16 April to 2 July. The data will continue to be published on a weekly basis every Tuesday.

Non- response adjustment

Education settings survey

The response rate for the education settings survey has been between 30% and 77%, aside from the four bank holidays where response rate was lower, and on 1 May when the response rate was affected by technical issues.

Attendance figures in this release are adjusted to account for schools and colleges that did not respond to the survey.

The methodology used to make this adjustment has been revised four times:

• after the first full week of reporting
• from 1 June to reflect wider opening of primary schools
• from 15 June to reflect wider opening of secondary schools
• from 22 June to reflect the increase in open primary and secondary schools

The methodology used between 23 and 27 March 2020 assumed that schools and colleges that did not respond were as likely to be open as those that did.

Following review of the first week’s response patterns, analysts developed a new methodology that no longer made this assumption. Therefore, non-response is accounted for differently from 30 March onwards.

From 1 June, and again from 15 June and 22 June, the methodology was updated to account for wider opening of some schools. See the methodology section for further detail about methodologies used.

Local authority early years survey

For the local authority early years survey, figures for the number of settings open and closed and the number of children attending for those LAs which did not respond are estimated based on the proportions reported by LAs which did respond. The national estimate comprises reported figures from LAs which did respond combined with these estimates (see the methodology section). From 1 June onwards, this methodology has been revised to take into account the wider opening of early years settings.

Open schools and colleges and overall attendance

17,700 schools and colleges responded to the survey on 2 July. This represents 71% of all schools and colleges.

The following figures are adjusted for non-response. The open rates are more sensitive to changes in this methodology than the proportions of children attending, therefore there is more uncertainty surrounding these figures. More information can be found in the Methodology section of this release.

• Approximately 1,599,000 children attended school or college on 2 July, up from 1,483,000 on 25 June. This represents 16.9% of all children who normally attend, up from 15.6%.
• These children were cared for by 271,000 teaching staff and 374,000 non-teaching staff. The number of teaching staff and non-teaching staff in attendance has increased compared to 25 June, when 261,000 and 356,000 were in attendance respectively.
• We estimate 93% of schools and colleges were open on 2 July, around 23,100, the same as  on 25 June. This figure includes independent schools and further education (FE) colleges, a proportion of which continue to provide online teaching to students. We estimate that over 94% of state-funded primary and secondary schools were open in some capacity on 2 July.
• Schools and colleges that report being closed are asked the reason for closure and what provision has been put in place for vulnerable children and children of critical workers. Responses to these questions suggest that some that are closed have provision in place for pupils at another school or college.

Reason for attendance

Schools only open to children of critical workers or vulnerable children are not asked how many children are attending in each individual year group. Our estimates of attendance by year group therefore exclude children of critical workers and vulnerable children in these year groups in such schools. Our analysis suggests this underestimates attendance by up to 2 percentage points in each year group. Figures for attendance by year group in open schools are unaffected.

Children in nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6

• From 1 June, the government asked schools to welcome back children in nursery, reception and years 1 and 6, alongside children of critical workers and vulnerable children.
• We estimate 88% of schools usually open to children in nursery, reception, year 1 or year 6 were open to at least one of these year groups on 2 July, a similar proportion to 25 June (89%).
• Attendance was highest in year 6, with approximately 302,000 children in attendance on 2 July, up from 279,000 on 25 June. This represents around 44% of all year 6 children, up from 41%.
• Approximately 248,000 children were in attendance in year 1 on 2 July, up from 226,000 on 25 June. This represents around 38% of all year 1 children, up from 34%.
• Approximately 259,000 children were in attendance in reception on 2 July, up from 238,000 on 25 June. This represents around 40% of all reception children, up from 36%.
• In schools open to at least one of these year groups, the attendance rate of year 6 pupils was approximately 49%. We estimate the attendance rate of reception and year 1 pupils in open schools was 44% and 41% respectively.

Students in year 10 and year 12

• From 15 June, secondary schools, sixth form and further education colleges were asked to begin providing face-to-face support to students in year 10 and 12 to supplement their learning from home, alongside full time provision for students from priority groups. The Department’s guidance states that schools and colleges are able to have a quarter of the year 10 and year 12 cohort in attendance at any one time to reduce the risk of transmission.
• We estimate 75% of secondary schools were open to at least one of these year groups on 2 July, a similar proportion to 25 June (74%).[1]
• Approximately 87,000 year 10 students were in attendance on 2 July. This represents around 14% of all year 10 students, a similar proportion to 25 June (13%).
• Approximately 32,000 year 12 students were in attendance on 2 July. This represents around 12% of all year 12 students, a similar proportion to 25 June (13%).[1]
• In schools open to at least one of these year groups, the attendance rate of year 10 and year 12 pupils was approximately 16% and 15% respectively on 2 July. This is the same as on 25 June.[1]

 

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[1] All analysis on wider secondary reopening excludes further education colleges and special post 16 institutions, who are not asked whether they are open to these year groups in their form. Figures for year 12 attendance do not include students at further education and special post 16 institutions, approximately 40% of students.

Vulnerable children and children of critical workers

• Approximately 128,000 of the children in attendance on 2 July had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or a social worker, up from 116,000 on 25 June. We estimate this represents 25% of all children classified as ‘Children in Need’ or who have an EHCP [2], up from 23% on 25 June.
• Approximately 129,000 of the children in attendance on 2 July were classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’, up from 114,000 on 25 June.
• 501,000 of the children in attendance on 2 July were classed by schools as children of critical workers, up from 455,000 on 25 June. We estimate that this represents around 16% of all children of critical workers, up from 15% on 25 June. The number of children of critical workers in attendance may be being under-reported from 1 June. This is because some schools and colleges may not be counting all children of critical workers who are now attending in nursery, reception or years 1 or 6.

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[2] This is an estimate based on the January 2019 school census and 2019 Children in Need census.

Before 1 June, schools and colleges were asked the number of vulnerable children attending. Schools and colleges were also asked to provide separate figures for the number of pupils with an EHCP and those with a social worker attending. The proportion of vulnerable children in attendance was based on an estimate of the total number of pupils who either have an EHCP or are classed as Children in Need or have an EHCP, derived from the Children in Need and School Censuses. Schools and colleges would have included children classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’ in their count of vulnerable children. As these children were not represented in the denominator, the proportion of vulnerable children would have been an undercount. From 1 June, a total number of vulnerable children attending is no longer collected.

Schools and colleges are asked to provide a count of the number of children of critical workers, with an EHCP, with a social worker and otherwise vulnerable attending.

From 16 June, the proportion of children in attendance with an EHCP or a social worker is reported alongside the number of children classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’ in attendance. This calculation has been backdated to 23 March and published in Table 1 in the accompanying data tables.

School and college type

The response rate varies between school or college types, therefore some are more sensitive to the non-response methodology than others. There has consistently been a low response rate from independent schools and colleges, which means there is much greater uncertainty around estimates for these.

• Attendance in state-funded primary schools was around 26%, higher than attendance in secondary settings (5%).
• Attendance was approximately 20% in special schools (incl. residential special schools), and between 13-20% in alternative provision.
• Attendance in further education colleges was low, reflecting the age group of the students.

 

Table 1: Response rate, % open and % attendance on 2 July by school or college type [3]

Setting type	Response rate	Open	Pupil attendance
State-funded nursery	71%	95%	30%
State-funded primary	74%	95%	26%
State-funded middle	84%	97%	19%
State-funded all-through	74%	91%	10%
State-funded secondary	77%	94%	5%
Special	72%	90%	20%
Independent school	41%	78%	20%
Alternative provision [4]	71%	89%	13-20%
Further education [5]	45%	70%	2%
Special post 16 institution	47%	76%	61%
Total	71%	93%	17%

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[3] The following should be noted when considering the school and college type breakdowns:

• The response rate varies across school and college types and so some are more sensitive to the non-response methodology than others.
• While the methodology for estimating non-response takes into account which schools are eligible to be open to wider years, it does not make consideration of type of school or college beyond this. For example, the proportion of schools who are assumed open to wider years is the same across all establishment types who normally have at least one of these years. Anecdotally we expect this might not hold true in practice, for example, closed independent schools may be less likely to return data. See the Methodology section for further information on the sensitivity of this assumption.

[4] A range is given to better communicate the uncertainty of attendance in alternative provision. Pupils on the roll at these settings will often be enrolled in other settings as well. The upper value uses the total number of pupils who are solely or mainly registered in alternative provision as the denominator, while the lower value also includes pupils with subsidiary registration in the denominator.

[5] Not all further education institutions are included in the data collection. The educational settings collection includes data from general FE colleges, sixth form colleges and specialist FE colleges.

Early years settings

• The response rate to the local authority survey on early years was 89%, with 135 out of 151 LAs submitting data by 6pm on 2 July.
• Early years settings were asked by the government to begin welcoming back all children from 1 June. An estimated 42,000 settings were open on 2 July. This represents 61% of all settings, with 31% closed and 8% unknown.[6]

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[6] Due to rounding, these do not always sum to 100%.

• We estimate 382,000 children attended early years settings on 2 July, up from 320,000 on 25 June. This represents approximately 23% of the number of children who usually attend childcare in term time[7], up from 20% on 25 June.
• Approximately 155,000 children of critical workers attended early years settings on 2 July. This represents around 14% of children of critical workers[8] aged 0 to 4 years old. The number of children of critical workers in attendance may be being under-reported from 1 June. This is because some settings may not be counting all children of critical workers following the wider opening of early years settings.
• Approximately 23,000 vulnerable children attended early years settings on 2 July. This represents around 24% of 0 to 4 year olds classified as ‘Children in Need’ or who have an Education, Health and Care Plan.[9]

 

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[7] The number of children in term time was estimated using outputs from the Childcare and early years survey of parents: 2019 and ONS National Population Projections: 2018 based.

[8] Based on DfE analysis of Labour Force Survey data.

[9] 0 to 4 year olds excluding those in Reception classes. This is an estimate based on the 2019 Children in Need census and January 2019 school census. Attendance rates for vulnerable children are presented as a proportion of the estimated number of children aged 0-4 with an EHCP using formal childcare plus the total number of Children in Need aged 0-4. We do not have estimates of the number of Children in Need who usually use formal childcare, so the attendance rate is presented to allow comparisons to be made over time, rather than the proportion of vulnerable children who would usually attend early years settings.

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Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

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

Official statistics

These are Official Statistics and have been produced in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• meet identified user needs
• produced according to sound methods
• well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

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If you have a specific enquiry about Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic statistics and data:

COVID Attendance Statistics

Email: Datarequests.COVID@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Raffaele Sasso

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