Pupil attendance and absence data including termly national statistics and fortnightly statistics in development derived from DfE’s regular attendance data
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National
Includes national level attendance and absence rates on 6 September 2022 for state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England.
Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.
This data file provides figures related to the attendance of 5 to 15 year old (i.e. compulsory school age) pupils in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England.
These figures are derived from regular data automatically submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) by participating schools. The data is submitted on a daily basis and includes the attendance codes (opens in new tab) for each pupil on their registers during the morning and afternoon sessions.
The figures are published as national level management information to give an indicative figure for the absence rate at the start of the 2022/23 academic year. New reports will be published on a fortnightly basis from 29 September 2022 providing aggregate metrics on overall absence and reasons for absence estimated at national, regional and local authority level only. These are intended to continue the series that was previously sourced from the daily Educational Settings Survey (EdSet). Due to the timeliness of the data and that they are based on a subset of schools, the figures are estimates that we expect to change as registers are adjusted. They should be viewed as an early indicator for the more detailed but less regular National Statistics on pupil absence (which will include school level breakdowns).
65% of state-funded primary, secondary and special schools have opted in to submitting data. On 6 September 2022, on which these figures are based, DfE received data from 61% of all schools. The lower response rate reflects how some schools operate inset days on their first days back and so may not have turned on their school registers. The response rate for schools whose first day back was expected to be Thursday 1 September was 64% and 56% for those expected to be back on Monday 5 September.
Users should be aware of the following:
Overall absence rates are provided broken down by state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. An overall absence figure is also provided across all schools. In recognition that response rates are not equal across school types and, therefore, not representative of the total school population, the overall absence figure for all schools has been weighted based on the Spring 2022 school census. Response rates for state-funded primary, secondary and special schools were 62%, 58% and 47% respectively.
For further information see the ‘Methodology’ section.
The figures relate to the attendance of 5 to 15 year old (i.e. compulsory school age) pupils in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England.
These figures are derived from regular data automatically submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) by participating schools. The data is submitted on a daily basis and includes the attendance codes (opens in new tab) for each pupil on their registers during the morning and afternoon sessions.
65% of state-funded primary, secondary and special schools have opted in to submitting data. On 6 September 2022, on which these figures are based, DfE received data from 61% of all schools. The lower response rate reflects how some schools operate inset days on their first days back and so may not have turned on their school registers. The response rate for schools whose first day back was expected to be Thursday 1 September was 64% and 56% for those expected to be back on Monday 5 September.
The figures only consider pupils who were expected to attend on the day. For example, if a pupil was not expected to be in school due to an inset day, they are not included in the analysis.
In recognition of the uncertainty around inset days, reporting lag and reduced response rate, rates have been rounded to 0 decimal places.
If you have a specific enquiry about Pupil attendance in schools statistics and data:
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Telephone: 020 7783 8300
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)
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