Data is available for each Thursday from the week commencing Monday 11 January to Monday 8 February. Note that for week commencing Monday 11 January, data is provided for Wednesday due to the impact of poor weather on Thursday's data.
The following measures can be found in the underlying data at local authority level for all state-funded schools and broken down by primary, secondary and special schools:
- Number and proportion of schools that were open
- Number and proportion of all pupils on roll in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils on roll with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils on roll with a social worker in attendance
- Number of children of critical key workers who are attending on site.
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) within the school setting.
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) outside the school setting.
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to non COVID-19 reasons.
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to COVID-19 reasons.
From 11 January, the education settings survey changed to reflect that most pupils were expected to work from home. Therefore some measures that were published in the autumn term have been discontinued.
Interpretation of local authority level data
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 by school phase or type within local authorities. Different schools within a local authority may respond on different days. Care should therefore be taken when comparing local authorities and when interpreting trends over time because differences could be due to response bias - where responding schools are not representative of all schools - and/or different schools being included in the data.
Where there are differences in response rates between school phase or type, such as a higher response rate in primary schools than secondary schools, data by school phase or type is likely to be more reliable than overall data for all state-funded schools.
Percentages will be more robust than overall numbers of schools or children as these have not been scaled up.
Local authorities with response rates below 50% are flagged as such in the underlying data.
Some data is based on fewer schools than others, making it more sensitive to change.
The number of state-funded schools varies considerably by local authority: from 22 in Rutland to over 600 in Lancashire, excluding City of London and Isles of Scilly which have one each. Data based on a small numbers of schools, particularly when comparing over time, can be more variable.
Data based on one school has been suppressed and data based on fewer than 10 schools are flagged as such in the underlying data.
Typically, attendance is higher in some local authorities than others.
Differences in attendance between local areas before the coronavirus outbreak should be taken into account when comparing local authorities.
Pupil absence in the 2019 autumn term is published by local authority and shows that absence ranged from 2.9 to 6.5% at local authority level. There are some differences in the calculation of pupil absence and our attendance estimates that affect comparability [12].
Summary of attendance by local area
Chart 3 summarises attendance in each region from the first half of the 2020/21 Spring term (from early January to mid February).
- In all regions, attendance in state-funded schools gradually increased from the beginning of January until half term in mid-February. The slight drop in attendance for East of England and the South- East on 11 February was due to an increase in the number of non-COVID related closures in those regions due to poor weather.
- Attendance in state-funded schools was highest in the South West and Yorkshire & Humber throughout the first half of the spring term. Attendance in state-funded schools was lowest in London and the East of England.
- Attendance was highest in special schools in all regions, followed by primary schools. Attendance in secondary schools was low (less than 8%) in all regions.
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[12] Overall absence rates calculated using the school census include pupils aged 5-15 in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. Our attendance estimates include 4-year olds in reception, 16-year olds in year 11 and all students in sixth forms. Pupils on roll in alternative provision (who have a higher than average absence rate) are included in our attendance estimates, but excluded from the overall absence rates. From 12 October, schools were asked to exclude nursery children from their response to the education settings survey. See methodology for further details.
Charts 4 and 5 show attendance in state primaries and secondaries, respectively, in each local authority. Due to poor weather in week commencing Monday 8 February, attendance data is shown for Thursday 4 February.
- The ranges for each chart are automatically set and the same shade does not mean the same level of attendance on each chart.
- Response rates for each data point are available in the ‘Table’ tab alongside each chart.
Summary of workforce absence by local area for staff who are not able to work on site or remotely.
Chart 6 and 7 summarises workforce absence in each region for staff who are not able to work on site or remotely during the first half of the Spring term (from early January to mid-February). The chart shows data for state-funded schools.
- Across all regions, the proportion of teachers and school leaders and the proportion of teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to COVID-19 related reasons has decreased over the half term.
- The proportion of teaching assistants and support staff who cannot work on site or remotely due to COVID-19 reasons is higher than for teachers and school leaders. Teaching assistants and other staff include staff who are essential to the running of schools such as administrative, catering, cleaning and maintenance staff, midday supervisors and technicians. These roles may be more difficult to carry out remotely, which may explain why these staff have higher rates of both on-site attendance and of staff unable to work on-site or remotely.