Week 2 2021

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

Data guidance

Published 12 January 2021

Description

A summary of attendance in education settings from Monday 23 March to Thursday 17 December and early years settings from Thursday 16 April to Thursday 17 December.

From 12 October, the education settings survey changed and therefore some metrics that used to be presented have been discontinued. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils are isolating from school for different reasons. There are no comparable figures to these from previous weeks.

This publication provides a high-level national summary of estimates from the Department for Education's education settings survey and local authority early years survey. We are working to expand the scope of published data in future releases. 

Coverage

The data covers England only. Statistics in table 1a and 1b are shown at national level. Table 1c is shown at local authority level. 

File formats and conventions

All files are .csv format. 

Where metrics have been discontinued due to a change in the education settings survey, a “-” symbol is used in that particular cell. 

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Table 1A- Daily attendance in education settings during the COVID-19 outbreak (data for half term dates only - 19th October - 23rd October and 2nd November)

• Filename: table_1a_daily_attendance_in_state_schools_during_covid19__half_term_data_19oct_to_2nov.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 Week 43 to 2020 Week 45
• Content:

  ; This file contains daily attendance data for state-funded education settings for half term dates only -19th October - 23rd October and 2nd November.

  Schools within Local Authorities which were on half term were removed from calculations. For this reason, data within this file is not comparable to data within table 1b.

  Data is in this file has been scaled to account for non-response so it is nationally representative.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
Attendance_in_all_state_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Attendance in all state schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
date	Date
Number_of_children_attending_state_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of children attending state schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Number_of_open_state_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of open state schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Number_of_pupils_with_a_SW_attending_in_all_state-funded_schoolsexcluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of pupils with a SW attending in all state-funded schools(excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Number_of_pupils_with_an_EHCP_attending_in_all_state-funded_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of pupils with an EHCP attending in all state-funded schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Number_of_state_schools_responded_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of state schools responded (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Number_of_state_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Number of state schools with one or more pupils self isolating due to COVID contact within school (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Proportion_of_open_state_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Proportion of open state schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Proportion_of_pupils_with_a_SW_attending_in_all_state-funded_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Proportion of pupils with a SW attending in all state-funded schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Proportion_of_pupils_with_an_EHCP_attending_in_all_state-funded_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Proportion of pupils with an EHCP attending in all state-funded schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Proportion_of_state_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Proportion of state schools with one or more pupils self isolating due to COVID contact within school (excluding schools on half term or inset days)
Response_rate_from_state_schools_excluding_schools_on_half_term_or_inset_days	Response rate from state schools (excluding schools on half term or inset days)

Footnotes

1. From 12 October, the education settings survey changed and this new metric was added. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils are self-isolating for different reasons. There are no comparable figures to these from previous weeks.
2. All national-level figures are adjusted for non-response. See accompanying document for full methodology.
3. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (excluding local authority nursery schools), non-maintained special schools, alternative provision and university technical colleges.
4. From 12 October, schools were asked to exclude nursery children from their submission. A corresponding decrease was observed in submitted number on roll in schools with nurseries.
5. 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.

Table 1B- Daily attendance in education settings during the COVID-19 outbreak (excludes half term dates 19th October - 23rd October and 2nd November)

• Filename: table_1b_daily_attendance_in_state_schools_during_covid19_from1sept_excluding_half_term.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 Week 37 to 2020 Week 51
• Content:

  This file contains daily attendance data for state-funded education settings for dates excluding half term dates. Half term includes 19th October - 23rd October, and 2nd November.

  Data is in this file has been scaled to account for non-response so it is nationally representative.

  Further details on the column headings can be found in the “Table 1b variable additions and removal log” ancillary file.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
date	Date
number_children_attending_fully_open_state_schools	Number of children attending fully open state schools
number_children_attending_state_schools	Number of children attending state schools
number_fully_open_state_schools	Number of fully open state schools
number_of_state_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school	Number of state schools with one or more pupils self isolating due to COVID contact within school
number_open_state_schools_including_schools_on_INSET	Number of open state schools including schools on INSET
number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open_state-funded_schools	Number of pupils with an EHCP attending in fully open state-funded schools
number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_state-funded_schools	Number of pupils with an EHCP attending in all state-funded schools
number_pupils_with_SW_attending_fully_open_state-funded_schools	Number of pupils with a SW attending in fully open state-funded schools
number_pupils_with_SW_attending_state_funded_schools	Number of pupils with a SW attending in all state-funded schools
number_state_schools_responded	Number of state schools responded
proportion_children_attending_fully_open_state_schools	Attendance in fully open state schools
proportion_children_attending_state_schools	Attendance in all state schools
proportion_fully_open_state_schools	Proportion of fully open state schools
proportion_of_state_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school	Proportion of state schools with one or more pupils self isolating due to COVID contact within school
proportion_open_state_schools_including_schools_on_INSET	Proportion of open state schools including schools on INSET
proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open_state-funded_schools	Proportion of pupils with an EHCP attending in fully open state-funded schools
proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_state-funded_schools	Proportion of pupils with an EHCP attending in all state-funded schools
proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending_in_fully_open_state-funded_schools	Proportion of pupils with a SW attending in fully open state-funded schools
proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending_state_funded_schools	Proportion of pupils with a SW attending in all state-funded schools
response_rate_state_schools	Response rate from state schools

Footnotes

1. From 12 October, the education settings survey changed and this new metric was added. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils are self-isolating for different reasons. There are no comparable figures to these from previous weeks.
2. From 12 October, the education settings survey changed and this metric was discontinued. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils are self-isolating for different reasons.
3. All national-level figures are adjusted for non-response. See accompanying document for full methodology.
4. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (excluding local authority nursery schools), non-maintained special schools, alternative provision and university technical colleges.
5. On Wednesday 7th October, a burst water pipe in East London resulted in a number of schools closing.
6. From 12 October, schools were asked to exclude nursery children from their submission. A corresponding decrease was observed in submitted number on roll in schools with nurseries.
7. Response rates among state-funded schools fell on 17 December by 7 percentage points compared to the previous day. Some schools reported inset days or non-COVID related closures on 17 December (1% of responders). Schools are not required to complete the form if on a planned holiday, such as Christmas break and, previously, decreases in response rates have been associated with an increase in school closures. As a result, it is likely there is a greater proportion of closures among non-responders than responder and we do not know the distribution of these between i) COVID-related closures and ii) schools starting Christmas holidays or having inset days as planned. Therefore, estimates for 17 December are less reliable than previous days and likely overestimate open and attendance rates.
8. On 25 September and 2 October, 1% of state-funded schools reported an inset or training day. Schools or colleges with inset or training days are considered as 'open' but not 'fully open'.
9. Schools are considered fully open if they are able to provide face-to-face teaching for all pupils on roll for the whole school day and they have not asked a group of pupils to self-isolate. School guidance states that where pupils are unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical or public health advice, schools are expected to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education.
10. 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.

Table 1C- Weekly attendance in state schools during the COVID outbreak at local authority level

• Filename: table_1c_weekly_attendance_in_state_schools_during_covid19_since_11_sept_at_la_level.csv
• Geographic levels: Local authority
• Time period: 2020 Week 37 to 2020 Week 51
• Content:

  ; This file contains weekly attendance data for state-funded education settings for each Thursday since 10 September.

  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.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
Date	Date
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
Lower_estimate_self_isolating_as_%_of_all_pupils	Lower estimate for total pupils self-isolating due to a potential contact with COVID-19 as % of all pupils
number_children_attending	Number of children attending schools
number_children_attending_fully_open	Number of children attending fully open schools
number_fully_open_schools	Proportion of fully open schools
number_of_schools_with_one_or_more_pupils_self_isolating_due_to_COVID_contact_within_school	Number of schools with one or more pupils self isolating due to COVID contact within school
number_open_schools	Number of open schools
number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending	Number of pupils with an EHCP attending
number_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open	Number of pupils with an EHCP attending in fully open schools
number_pupils_with_SW_attending	Number of pupils with a SW attending
number_pupils_with_SW_attending_fully_open	Number of pupils with a SW attending in fully open schools
number_schools_responded	Number of schools responded
Phase	Phase of education
proportion_children_attending	Attendance in schools (%)
proportion_children_attending_fully_open	Attendance in fully open schools (%)
proportion_fully_open_schools	Number of fully open schools
proportion_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
proportion_open_schools	Proportion of open schools
proportion_pupils_absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID-19	Proportion of pupils absent with a confirmed case of COVID-19 (%)
proportion_pupils_absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_COVID-19	Proportion of pupils absent with a suspected case of COVID-19 (%)
proportion_pupils_not_attending_because_school_is_closed	Proportion of pupils not attending because school is closed (%)
proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending	Proportion of pupils with an EHCP attending (%)
proportion_pupils_with_EHCP_attending_fully_open	Proportion of pupils with an EHCP attending in fully open schools (%)
proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending	Proportion of pupils with a SW attending (%)
proportion_pupils_with_SW_attending_fully_open	Proportion of pupils with a SW attending in fully open schools (%)
response_rate	Response rate
Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_with_a_confirmed_case_of_COVID-19	Total pupils absent from open schools with a confirmed case of COVID-19
Total_pupils_absent_from_open_schools_with_a_suspected_case_of_COVID-19	Total pupils absent from open schools with a suspected case of COVID-19
Total_pupils_not_attending_because_school_is_closed	Total pupils not attending because school is closed
Upper_estimate_as_%_of_all_pupils	Upper estimate for total pupils unable to attend school because of COVID-19 as % of all pupils
Upper_estimate_for_total_pupils_self_isolating	Upper estimate for total pupils self-isolating due to a potential contact with COVID-19
Upper_estimate_for_total_pupils_unable_to_attend_school_because_of_COVID-19	Upper estimate for total pupils unable to attend school because of COVID-19
Upper_estimate_self_isolating_as_%_of_all_pupils	Upper estimate for total pupils self-isolating due to a potential contact with COVID-19 as % of all pupils

Footnotes

1. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (excluding local authority nursery schools), non-maintained special schools, alternative provision and university technical colleges.
2. Local authority level 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 local authority may respond on different days. Care should be taken when comparing local authorities and when interpreting trends over time because differences could be due to response bias or different schools being included in the data.

Table 2 - Daily attendance in early years settings during the COVID-19 outbreak

• Filename: table_2_daily_attendance_in_early_years_settings_during_covid_19_outbreak.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 Week 16 to 2021 Week 2
• Content:

  ; The data in this file contains weekly attendance data for early years settings. Data is in this file has been scaled to account for non-response so it is nationally representative.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
Children_attending	Number of children attending early years settings
Children_of_critical_workers_attending	Children of critical workers attending early years settings
Closed_settings	Number of closed early years settings
date	Date
Open_settings	Number of open early years settings
Proportion_of_settings_closed	Proportion of early years settings closed
Proportion_of_settings_open	Proportion of early years settings open
Proportion_of_settings_with_unknown_status	Proportion of early years settings with unknown status
Settings_with_unknown_status	Number of settings with unknown status
Vulnerable_children_attending	Number of vulnerable children attending early years settings

Footnotes

1. All figures are adjusted for non-response. See accompanying document for full methodology.
2. From 1 June, the government asked early years settings to begin welcoming back all children in addition to those of critical workers and vulnerable children. The methodology to adjust figures for non-response was also updated to reflect this change.
3. Ordinarily, fewer early years settings are open and fewer children are in attendance during school holidays. This is due to reduced demand for childcare and the closure of school-based settings.
4. The summer term had ended in most schools by Friday 17 July. Autumn term had typically begun by Monday 7 September and ended by Friday 18 December. Data collection was paused over Christmas and resumed at the start of Spring term, with the first data collected on Thursday 7 January.
5. The Prime Minister announced on 4 January 2021 that early years settings remain open for all children during the national lockdown.
6. From 16 April to 18 June, the local authority early years survey was twice-weekly (Mondays and Thursdays). From 25 June, the survey changed to weekly (Thursdays).

Table 3 - Daily attendance in education settings during the COVID-19 outbreak Pre17 July

• Filename: table_3_daily_attendance_in_education_settings_during_covid19_pre17july.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 Week 13 to 2020 Week 29
• Content:

  This file contains daily attendance data for state-funded education settings from 23 March - 17th July inclusive. Data is in this file has been scaled to account for non-response so it is nationally representative. Please see the methodology document for more information.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
attending_nursery	Children attending nursery
attending_reception	Children attending reception
attending_year1	Children attending year 1
attending_year10	Children attending year 10
attending_year12	Children attending year 12
attending_year6	Children attending year 6
children_attending	Children attending
children_critical_workers_attending	Children of critical workers attending
children_with_ehcp_attending	Children with an EHCP attending
children_with_ehcp_or_social_worker_attending	Children with an EHCP or social worker attending
children_with_social_worker_attending	Children with a social worker attending
date	Date
nonteaching_staff_attending_excluding_teaching_assistants	Non-teaching staff attending (excludes teaching assistants)
nonteaching_staff_attending_including_teaching_assistants	Non-teaching staff attending (includes teaching assistants)
open_settings	Open settings
open_settings_to_nursery_reception_year1_or_year6	Settings open to nursery reception year 1 or year 6
open_settings_to_year10_or_year12	Settings open to year 10 or year 12
otherwise_vulnerable_children_attending	Otherwise vulnerable children attending
proportion_attending_nursery_open_settings	Proportion of nursery children in open settings attending
proportion_attending_nursery_settings	Proportion of nursery children attending
proportion_attending_reception	Proportion of reception children attending
proportion_attending_reception_open_settings	Proportion of reception children in open settings attending
proportion_attending_year1	Proportion of year 1 children attending
proportion_attending_year1_open_settings	Proportion of year 1 children in open settings attending
proportion_attending_year10	Proportion of year 10 children attending
proportion_attending_year10_open_settings	Proportion of year 10 children in open settings attending
proportion_attending_year12	Proportion of year 12 children attending
proportion_attending_year12_open_settings	Proportion of year 12 children in open settings attending
proportion_attending_year6	Proportion of year 6 children attending
proportion_attending_year6_open_settings	Proportion of year 6 children in open settings attending
proportion_children_attending	Proportion of children attending
proportion_children_with_ehcp_or_social_worker_attending	Proportion of children with an EHCP or social worker attending
proportion_of_settings_open	Proportion of settings open
proportion_of_settings_open_to_nursery_reception_year1_or_year6	Proportion of settings usually accepting these year groups open to nursery reception year 1 or year 6
proportion_of_settings_open_to_year10_or_year12	Proportion of settings usually accepting these year groups open to year 10 or year 12
response_rate	Response rate
teaching_staff_attending_excluding_teaching_assistants	Teaching staff attending (excludes teaching assistants)
teaching_staff_attending_including_teaching_assistants	Teaching staff attending (includes teaching assistants)
vulnerable_children_attending	Vulnerable children attending

Footnotes

1. Settings are asked to provide a count of the number of children of critical workers and the number of vulnerable children. Some children are classified as both a child of a critical worker and a vulnerable child. Some settings have been counting these pupils as children of critical workers, but not in the count of vulnerable children. Therefore, the number of vulnerable children is an under-estimate. We estimate the true figure is up to 5% higher.
2. All figures are adjusted for non-response. This methodology was adjusted from Friday 27 March. See accompanying document for full methodology.
3. Figures from Friday 27 March relate to data as at 4pm on each day, prior to this figures related to data as at 6pm. Negligible changes to the estimates were seen between 4pm and 6pm.
4. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (including local authority nursery schools), independent schools, non-maintained special schools and alternative provision.
5. Figures from Friday 27 March relate to data as at 4pm on each day, prior to this figures related to data as at 6pm. Negligible changes to the estimates were seen between 4pm and 6pm. Figures for Monday 1 June relate to data as at 3pm.
6. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (including local authority nursery schools), independent schools, non-maintained special schools, alternative provision, university technical colleges, FE colleges and sixth form colleges, and special post-16 institutions/specialist colleges.
7. The response rate between Monday 6 April and Friday 17 April was low because it was the Easter break for most settings in England. Similarly, the response rate between Monday 25 May and Friday 29 May was low because it was half term for most settings in England.
8. 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. As a result, changes were made to the survey of education settings to capture information about this wider group of attending pupils. 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.
9. The response rate for Friday 1 May was only 14% due to technical issues with DfE sign-in, the online system used by educational establishments to submit attendance data. This may have affected the accuracy of the figures. A lower response rate makes the methodology used to account for non-response slightly.
10. The response rates for Wednesday 13 and Friday 15 May were impacted slightly due to technical issues which made it more difficult for some schools to complete the survey. A lower response rate makes the methodology used to account for non-response slightly less reliable.
11. From 23 March to 2 July the Autumn school census was used to determine year group population size. From 3 July, we switched to using the newly published Spring census. This change has the biggest impact on the proportion of nursery children in attendance. We estimate that this proportion falls by 5 percentage points when compared to using the Autumn census. Other year group attendance rates see a change of around 0.1 percentage points.

Table 4 - Daily attendance in responding education settings during the COVID-19 outbreak not nationally representative Pre 17 July

• Filename: table_4_daily_attendance_in_responding_education_settings_during_the_covid19_outbreak_not_nationally_representative_pre17july.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 Week 23 to 2020 Week 29
• Content:

  ; This file contains daily attendance data for state-funded education settings from 23 March - 17th July inclusive. Data is in this file only contains data on responding schools so it is not nationally representative. Please see the methodology document for more information.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
date	Date
open_responding_settings_not_nationally_representative	Open responding settings (not nationally representative)
open_responding_settings_to_nursery_reception_year1_or_year6_not_nationally_representative	Settings open to nursery reception year 1 or year 6 (not nationally representative)
open_responding_settings_to_year10_or_year12_not_nationally_representative	Settings open to year 10 or year 12 (not nationally representative)
proportion_of_responding_settings_open_not_nationally_representative	Proportion of responding settings open (not nationally representative)
proportion_of_responding_settings_open_to_nursery_reception_year1_or_year6_not_nationally_representative	Proportion of settings usually accepting these year groups open to nursery reception year 1 or year 6 (not nationally representative)
proportion_of_responding_settings_open_to_year10_or_year12_not_nationally_representative	Proportion of settings usually accepting these year groups open to year 10 or year 12 (not nationally representative)
response_rate	Response rate

Footnotes

1. These figures are included for methodological completeness and show the corresponding data before it has been adjusted for non-response.
2. Figures from Friday 27 March relate to data as at 4pm on each day, prior to this figures related to data as at 6pm. Negligible changes to the estimates were seen between 4pm and 6pm.
3. Figures from Friday 27 March relate to data as at 4pm on each day, prior to this figures related to data as at 6pm. Negligible changes to the estimates were seen between 4pm and 6pm. Figures for Monday 1 June relate to data as at 3pm.
4. The following education settings are included: academies (including free schools and studio schools), local authority maintained schools (including local authority nursery schools), independent schools, non-maintained special schools, alternative provision, university technical colleges, FE colleges and sixth form colleges, and special post-16 institutions/specialist colleges.