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 a new tab) for each pupil on their registers during the morning and afternoon sessions.
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.
This release covers the 2024/25 academic year from 09 September to 25 October 2024. National level figures for the week commencing 02 September 2024 are included in underlying data of the first publication of the academic year. For the full 2023/24 academic year and termly pupil absence data, including by characteristics, please see this historical publication.
The figures are published as official statistics in development to give an indicative figure for the absence rate during the 2024/25 academic year, from the 09 September 2024. The pupil attendance dashboard (opens in a new tab) will be updated fortnightly, providing aggregate metrics on overall absence and reasons for absence estimated at national, regional and local authority level only. Due to the timeliness of the data, and that they are based on a subset of schools, figures are estimates that we expect to change as registers are adjusted and should be viewed as an early indicator for the more detailed but less frequent Accredited Official Statistics on pupil absence (which include school level breakdowns). The Accredited Official Statistics are updated termly, with the latest data published in October 2024 relating to the Autumn and Spring term 2023/24, including data on characteristics.
From the start of the 2024/25 academic year, it became mandatory for schools to share attendance data (opens in a new tab) with the DfE. If you are a school that is not already sharing your daily attendance data, you need to approve this in your Wonde portal. This will also give you, your local authority and your multi-academy trust (if applicable) access to daily attendance reports (opens in a new tab) to help identify pupils needing attendance support earlier.
Schools can use the ‘Compare your attendance (opens in a new tab)’ dashboard to compare with other schools in the local authority. This has been updated to show data for this current academic year. Use it to compare absence and unauthorised absence for your school, as well as special educational needs and free school meals pupils.