Data for 18 December 2020
On Friday 18 December, many schools were expected to be on inset days or have started Christmas break [15]. The response rate to the survey of educational settings fell to 58% and 11% of responding schools reported an inset day or non-COVID related closure. Therefore, figures for 18 December 2020 are given for responding schools only, excluding schools that reported inset days or non-COVID related closures and in areas expected to have started Christmas break. Figures have not been adjusted for non-response and are therefore not nationally representative.
Of 11,300 responding state-funded schools on 18 December, excluding those with inset days or on Christmas break:
- 98% of state-funded schools reported they were open, this figure was 98% for state primary schools and 96% for state secondary schools
- 76% of pupils in state-funded schools were in attendance, this figure was 83% in state primary schools and 65% in state secondary schools
- 72% of children with an EHCP and 74% of children with a social worker were in attendance in state-funded schools
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[15] The vast majority of schools in the following local authorities were expected to be on Christmas break on 18 December: Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire. Some schools in other local authorities were also on Christmas break or had inset days - academies are not required to follow local authority term dates and schools can set their own inset days.
Data for 4 January 2021
Ahead of the start of the 2021/21 spring term, the Government asked schools to make the following arrangements for week commencing 4 January:
- Primary schools to provide on-site education to all pupils from their first day of term, except those in areas where contingency framework guidance applied [16]. In areas affected by the framework, primary schools were asked to provide on-site education for vulnerable children and children of key workers only.
- Secondary schools to provide on-site education to vulnerable children and children of key workers only in week commencing 4 January.
- Special schools to provide on-site education for all pupils, however they were given flexibility to phase return of pupils.
- Alternative provision to provide on-site education for all pupils.
From 5 January, schools were asked to provide on-site education for vulnerable children and children of key workers only. Settings were not required to complete the educational settings survey from 5 January while the survey was changed to reflect these new arrangements. The survey reopened on Monday 11 January.
On Monday 4 January, many schools were expected to still be on Christmas break or have planned inset days [17]. The response rate to the survey of educational settings on 4 January was low (45%) and nearly half of responding schools reported an inset day or non-COVID related closure (47%). Therefore, figures for 4 January 2021 are given for responding schools only, excluding schools in areas expected to still be on Christmas break and those that reported inset days or non-COVID related closures. Figures have not been adjusted for non-response and are therefore not nationally representative.
Of 5,400 responding state-funded schools on 4 January 2021, excluding those with inset days or on Christmas break:
- 88% of state-funded schools reported they were open, this figure was 90% for state primary schools and 72% for state secondary schools
- 45% of pupils in state-funded schools were in attendance, this figure was 65% in state primary schools and 5% in state secondary schools
- In state primary schools in areas affected by the contingency framework (where attendance was restricted to vulnerable children and children of critical workers) attendance was 6%, compared to 74% in state primary schools areas not affected by the contingency framework
- 47% of children with an EHCP and 50% of children with a social worker were in attendance in state-funded schools.
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[16] Primary schools in the following 60 areas were asked to open only to vulnerable children and children of key workers: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Basildon, Rochford, Harlow, Chelmsford, Braintree, Maldon, Southend on Sea, Thurrock, Dartford, Gravesham, Sevenoaks, Medway, Ashford, Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Swale, Hastings, Rother, Milton Keynes, Watford, Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Three Rivers.
[17] The vast majority of schools in the following local authorities were expected to still be on Christmas break on 4 January: Suffolk, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Rutland, Bury, Stockport, Wigan, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Central Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, West Berkshire, North Yorkshire. Some schools in other local authorities were also still on Christmas break or had inset days - academies are not required to follow local authority term dates and schools can set their own inset days.
Data for 11 January
On 4 January, the Prime Minister announced that schools would close to pupils except vulnerable children and the children of critical workers from 5 January. Between 5 and 8 January, schools were advised that they did not need to complete the daily collection of attendance data to allow it to be updated to reflect these changes. From Monday 11 January, schools were asked to complete an updated version of the survey.
On Monday 11 January, 82% of state-funded schools responded to the survey of educational settings. Data is presented here based on 18,000 responding state-funded schools with no adjustments for non-response. A full breakdown of data for 11-14 January, following adjustment for non-response, will be published on 19 January. This means that figures may change, however any changes are likely to be small given the high response rate.
Open rates [18]
- Approximately 99.2% of responding state-funded schools reported they were open. This figure was 99.2% among state primaries, 99.6% among state secondaries, 98% among special schools and 98% among alternative provision.
Attendance rates
- 14% of pupils on roll in responding state-funded schools were in attendance. This figure was 20% in state primaries, 4% in state secondaries, 29% in special schools and 24% in alternative provision [19].
Attendance figures for i) pupils with an EHCP and ii) pupils a social worker are not mutually exclusive - some pupils have a social worker and an EHCP and are counted in both sets of figures.
- 34% of pupils with an EHCP in responding state-funded schools were in attendance. This figure was 46% in state primaries, 25% in state secondaries, 29% in special schools and 36% in alternative provision.
- 40% of pupils with a social worker in responding state-funded schools were in attendance. This figure was 50% in state primaries, 24% in state secondaries, 41% in special schools and 33% in alternative provision. Pupils with a social worker are considered ‘children in need’. Our analysis 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 [20]. Therefore these estimates only account for pupils with a social worker that are identified by schools.
Figures for attendance of children of critical workers are not provided, as schools are only able to confirm how many children of critical workers requested a place, rather than how many are on roll. We intend to publish an estimate of the total number of children of critical workers in attendance, following adjustments to account for non-responding schools, in January 2021.
Distribution of attendance
- Among responding open primary schools, 11% reported less than 10% attendance, 47% less than 20% and 98% less than 50%.
- Among responding open secondary schools, 91% reported less than 10% attendance, 99% less than 20% and almost 100% [21] less than 50%.
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[18] Open rates are rounded to 1dp for state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and all state-funded schools. For other phases, rates are reported to 0dp given level of uncertainty around these estimates due to smaller population sizes.
[19] Our attendance in alternative provision estimates may be depressed due to alternative provision reporting dual-registered pupils as on roll. Pupils dual-registered with a mainstream setting are not required to attend alternative provision full-time.
[20] Statistics: children in need and child protection Schools report on the form how many children with a social worker (SW) they have on roll. Our analysis suggests that the total number of children with a SW differs by at least 30% compared to published figures for children with a social worker. This means our attendance figures for pupils with a social worker are likely to overestimate attendance.
[21] Note that this figure is rounded to the nearest percentage point and a very small proportion (less than 0.5%) of secondary schools reported attendance over 50%.
