Academic year 2020/21

School capacity

School places in primary and secondary state-funded schools including sixth form. Local authorities’ pupil forecasts and planned changes to school places.

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  • Estimates of future school place demand (place planning)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Estimates of future school places needed to meet modelled demand, calculated at planning area level and aggregated to local authority, regional and national level. Estimates reflect the position reported by local authorities at May 2021 through the School Capacity survey, supplemented with data from administrative sources on centrally funded programmes. Excludes sixth form and nursey places.

    Number of rows
    161,669
    Indicators
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need as positives and spare places as negatives
    • Estimated number of places needed: Additional need only
    Filters
    • National curriculum year group
    Time period
    2021/22 to 2027/28
    Data set information page for Estimates of future school place demand (place planning)
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  • School capacity

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Includes number of school places; number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; the number of schools at or in excess of capacity and the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity; the number schools with one or more unfilled places and the number of unfilled places. All data includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places.

    Number of rows
    226,990
    Indicators
    • Number of pupils on roll
    • Number of school places
    • Number of schools
    Filters
    • School phase
    Time period
    2009/10 to 2020/21
    Data set information page for School capacity
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  • Local authority pupil forecasts

    Local authority, National, Regional

    2020/21 pupil numbers on roll from the January 2021 School Census; pupil number forecasts by national curriculum year group as provided by local authorities; forecast number of pupils expected to attend places expected to be funded by housing developer contribution (HDC) agreements; forecast number of pupils expected to attend places expected to be funded by housing infrastructure fund (HIF) agreements. Includes national curriculum year groups from reception to Year 14.

    Number of rows
    210,886
    Indicators
    • Forecast housing developing contribution (HDC) funded places
    • Forecast housing infrastructure fund (HIF) funded places
    • Local authority pupil forecasts (includes 2020/21 actual pupil numbers)
    Filters
    • Year group
    Time period
    2020/21 to 2027/28
    Data set information page for Local authority pupil forecasts
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  • Local authority planned changes to school places

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Places reported by local authorities in summer 2021 as planned to be added or permanently removed from their school capacity. Includes only projects with firm plans for delivery. Includes sixth form places. Excludes nursey places.

    Number of rows
    95,509
    Indicators
    • Additional places (permanent)
    • Bulge places (temporary for large cohort)
    • Places to remove (permanent)
    Filters
    • National curriculum year group
    Time period
    2021/22 to 2023/24
    Data set information page for Local authority planned changes to school places
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  • School capacity - national only

    National

    Includes number of school places; yearly and cumulative change in the number of school places; number of pupils on roll from the May School Census; the number of schools at or in excess of capacity and the number of pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity; the number schools with one or more unfilled places and the number of unfilled places. All data includes sixth form places and excludes nursery places.

    Number of rows
    37
    Indicators
    • Net change in number of school places since 2010
    • Net change in number of school places since previous SCAP survey
    • Number of pupils on roll
    Filters
    • School phase
    Time period
    2009/10 to 2020/21
    Data set information page for School capacity - national only
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  • School sixth form capacity

    Local authority, National, Regional

    School sixth form capacity as reported by local authorities; sixth form pupil numbers on roll from the May School Census. School sixth form capacity was collected as a voluntary field in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 School Capacity surveys.

    Number of rows
    6,736
    Indicators
    • Number of schools with reported sixth form capacity
    • Reported sixth form places
    • Sixth form pupils on roll in schools with reported sixth form capacity
    Time period
    2017/18 to 2020/21
    Data set information page for School sixth form capacity
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Supporting files

Supporting files provide an area for teams to supply non-standard files for download by users where required.

1 supporting data file

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Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘School Capacity: Academic Year 2020/21’ Official Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data.

The methodology accompanying this release should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

A description of how the school place planning estimates have been derived and how to interpret them is also provided in technical guidance document accompanying this release. Users should read this technical guidance to understand the practical applications and limitations of the data.

Coverage

This release reports on school capacity information in state-funded primary and secondary schools in England in the academic year 2020/21, as of 1 May 2021. Data are as reported by local authorities in the annual School Capacity (SCAP) Survey. Information is included on: 

• The numbers of primary and secondary school places from 2009/10 to 2020/21 (2019/20 data is not available due to the cancellation of the 2020 SCAP survey due to Covid-19);

• Sixth form capacity in schools, where submitted, from 2017/18 to 2020/21 (2019/20 data is not available due to the cancellation of the 2020 SCAP survey due to Covid-19);

• Unfilled school places and pupils in places that exceed their school's capacity; 

• Local authorities’ pupil forecasts up to 2025/26 at primary level and 2027/28 at secondary level;

• Forecasts of places to be funded through housing developer contributions (HDCs) up to 2025/26 at primary level and 2027/28 at secondary level;

• Forecasts of places to be funded through the housing infrastructure fund (HIF) up to 2025/26 at primary level and 2027/28 at secondary level; 

• Local authority planned places to 2023/24, including additional, bulge (temporary places for large cohorts) and places to remove; 

• The department ‘s modelled estimate’s of future number of places needed, up to 2025/26 at primary level and 2027/28 at secondary level.

File formats and conventions

Conventions

The following conventions are used throughout the underlying data.
‘z’ Not applicable.
‘x’ Not available.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about School capacity statistics and data:

Pupil Place Planning team

Email: SCAP.PPP@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Robert Miller

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)

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