Details of the data requested and how it is collected is available at the Coronavirus (COVID-19): attendance recording for educational settings webpage. The following education settings were asked to complete the form:
- academies (including free schools and studio schools)
- local authority maintained schools
- local authority nursery schools (no longer required to submit data from 12 October)
- independent schools
- non-maintained special schools
- alternative provision
- university technical colleges
- FE colleges and sixth form colleges
- special post-16 institutions or specialist colleges
Validation of submitted data
There are some automatic validations on the data submitted by settings, some of which prevent submission and others that advise the respondent to check their submission.
Checks are carried out to ensure that no setting is double counted - if they submit data more than once per day the latest submission is used.
Manual checks are applied to the data during data processing and comparisons are made to other reported data. Outcomes from these checks are used to develop the validation rules within the data collection.
Data sources
The education settings survey asks schools to provide the number of pupils on roll for use in attendance calculations. For non-responding settings, the total number of pupils on roll on the spring census in the 2019/20 academic year is used.
Data is linked to Get Information About Schools (GIAS) to match in further information about phase and school type.
The following school types from GIAS are included in figures for state-funded schools:
- Local authority maintained schools (Community schools, Foundation schools, Voluntary controlled schools, Voluntary aided school)
- Academies and free schools and sixth form colleges (Converter academies, Sponsor led academies, Free schools, Academy 16 to 19 sponsor led, Free schools 16 to 19, Academy 16-19 converter, Studio schools, University technical colleges)
- Special schools (Community special schools, Foundation special schools, Non-maintained special schools, Special converter academies, Special sponsor led academies, Special free schools)
- Alternative provision (Pupil referral units, Converter academy alternative provision, Sponsor led academy alternative provision, Free school alternative provision)
- City technology colleges
Figures for special post-16 institutions, further education colleges and independent schools are included separately in the ‘Open status and attendance by school or college type’ section of the publication. Figures for local authority nursery schools are not included, as these settings are included in estimates from the local authority early years survey.
We regularly update our GIAS cuts to reflect the live nature of the data. A breakdown of the cuts in relation to the reporting dates can be seen below:
| GIAS cut | Dates reporting |
| 25 August 2020 | 1 September - 10 September |
| 11 September 2020 | 11 September - 23 September |
| 24 September 2020 | 24 September - 11 October |
| 12 October 2020 | 12 October - 1 November |
| 02 November 2020 | 2 November - 3 January |
| 04 January 2021 | 4 January - 2 March |
| 03 March 2021 | 3 March - 22 April |
| 23 April 2021 | 23 April - Present |
Data sharing
Data from the Education Settings Survey are shared across national and local government on a restricted basis for operational purposes. This enables government to monitor the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) and effectively target support. Occasionally unpublished data shared in this way has entered the public domain.
A timeline of changes to policy and the education settings survey
Schools and colleges are encouraged to complete the education settings survey daily. A timeline of notable changes related to the publication are detailed below.
March – May 2020
From 23 March, national lockdown in England meant that schools and colleges were asked to open only to vulnerable children and children of critical workers. During this time, the education settings included in the statistics were 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.
Vulnerable children and critical worker children
Attendance of vulnerable children and young people was prioritised between March 2020 and the end of the summer term, when attendance was limited for other pupils to reduce transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Given this, settings were asked to report the number of vulnerable children and children of critical workers attending. Settings were also asked to provide separate figures for the number of vulnerable pupils split by those with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), those with a social worker and those classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’ attending on site.
The proportion of vulnerable children in attendance was based on an estimate of the total number of pupils who either have an EHCP or are classed as Children in Need, derived from the Children in Need and School Censuses. Settings would have included children classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’ in their count of vulnerable children. As these children were not represented in the denominator from our definition of vulnerable children, the proportion of vulnerable children would have been an undercount.
Data collection and methodology
The Autumn school census 2020 was used in the grossing methodology from the beginning of this period until 2 July 2020.
Figures from Friday 27 March 2020 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.
Some schools provided a count of critical worker children with either EHCPs or a social worker but did not include these in their respective counts for vulnerable children. Therefore, the estimate of the number of vulnerable children may be an undercount. The data suggests the effect of this is approximately 5%.
A low response rate may impact data quality slightly by reducing the reliability of the non-response adjustment methodology (detailed in the below section). The response rate between Monday 6 April and Friday 17 April 2020 was low because it was the Easter break for most settings in England. The response rate for Friday 1 May 2020 was only 14% due to technical issues with DfE sign-in, the online system used by educational establishments to submit attendance data. The response rates for Wednesday 13 and Friday 15 May 2020 were impacted slightly due to technical issues which made it more difficult for some schools to complete the survey. The response rate between Monday 25 May and Friday 29 May 2020 was low because it was half term for most settings in England.
June – July 2020
From 1 June 2020, 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 2020, secondary schools, sixth form and further education colleges were asked to provide face-to-face support to students in years 10 and 12 to supplement their learning from home, alongside full-time provision for students from the priority groups.
When schools reopened to these year groups, the following indicators were also included in the publication:
- Children attending nursery/ reception/ year 1/ year 6/ year 10/ year 12
- Proportion of nursery/ reception/ year 1/ year 6/ year 10/ year 12 children attending
- Proportion of nursery/ reception/ year 1/ year 6/ year 10/ year 12 children in open settings attending
These indicators were relevant to all settings except university technical colleges, FE colleges and sixth form colleges, and special post-16 institutions/specialist colleges.
This remained in place until the end of the academic year 2019/20.
Vulnerable children and critical worker children
Vulnerable children and those of critical workers continued to have on-site provision alongside the wider reopening to priority year groups. From 1 June, the total number of vulnerable children was no longer collected but counts of children of critical works, those with an EHCP, those with a social worker and otherwise vulnerable were still collected separately. From 16 June, the proportion of children in attendance with an EHCP or a social worker was reported alongside the number of children classified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’ in attendance. This calculation was backdated to 23 March 2020 and published in the accompanying data tables.
Data collection and methodology
Figures for Monday 1 June 2020 relate to data as at 3pm. This may have affected the accuracy of the figures, making the non-response adjustment methodology slightly less reliable.
From 3 July 2020, the Spring school census was used in the grossing methodology. This change had the biggest impact on the proportion of nursery children in attendance. We estimate that this proportion fell by 5 percentage points when compared to using the Autumn census. Other year group attendance rates saw a change of around 0.1 percentage points.
September – December 2020
During the 2020/21 autumn term, all pupils in all year groups were expected to return to school full-time. Figures for state-funded schools were primarily reported in the publication. These include academies (including free schools and studio schools) and local authority maintained schools (including special schools and alternative provision).
From 1 September 2020, schools and colleges were asked to report as ‘fully open’ or ‘not fully open’ to identify those schools affected by COVID-19. Schools were ‘not fully open’ if:
- A group of pupils without COVID-19 symptoms themselves or in their households had been asked to self-isolate
- They were unable to provided face-to-face teaching for all pupils for the entirety of the normal school day
- They were not open to all year groups
- They were not open to pupils because of a training or INSET day
Only those reporting as ‘not fully open’ due to ‘suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19’ were asked to report how many pupils had a suspected or confirmed case or had been requested to remain at home due to potential contact with COVID-19.
From 12 October 2020, the education settings form changed so that all responding schools and colleges were asked to report pupils in the following categories:
- Suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Requested to remain at home due to potential contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside your educational setting
- Those remaining at home due to potential contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) from outside your educational setting including self-isolation
The number and proportion of schools that had requested 1 or more pupils to remain at home due to a potential contact with a case of COVID-19 inside their educational setting was reported. This was not comparable to the previous data on schools that were reported as ‘not fully open’, which intended to capture schools with a ‘group’ of such pupils. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils were self-isolating for different reasons. Further additions included questions on workforce absence and attendance, explained in the workforce section of this methodology.
Vulnerable children and children of critical workers
The provision for and attendance of vulnerable children continued to be monitored during the autumn term. Schools were asked to report on the attendance of children with an EHCP or social worker each day. The metric for the attendance of critical worker and otherwise vulnerable children was no longer collected.
Workforce absence
From 12 October 2020, the survey of educational settings asked schools and colleges for the following information on the absence of teachers and school leaders, and teaching assistants and other staff, who were unable to work on-site:
- Number on roll at the setting
- Number absent with a confirmed case of COVID-19
- Number absent with a suspected case of COVID-19
- Number absent due to self-isolation because of potential contact with a case of coronavirus inside the school
- Number absent due to self-isolation because of potential contact with a case of coronavirus outside the school
- Number absent for other reasons
The purpose of this data collection was primarily to understand attendance and teacher availability. This data was reported directly by schools via DfE's daily education settings survey. It was not the primary source of data on infection, incidence, and COVID-19 cases overall. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published an analysis of the number of school workers who have had COVID-19 within their Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey publication on 6 November.
Workforce absence data from 12 October to 17 December has been published at national level in underlying data table 1D and at local authority level in underlying data table 1C.
Data collection and methodology
On 25 September and 2 October 2020, 1% of state-funded schools reported an inset or training day. Schools or colleges with inset or training days were considered as 'open' but not 'fully open'.
On Wednesday 7 October 2020, a burst water pipe in East London resulted in a number of schools closing.
From 12 October, the education settings survey changed, and some metrics were discontinued. The changes were made to give more comprehensive data about how many pupils were self-isolating for different reasons. There are no comparable figures to these from weeks prior to 12 October 2020.
Where COVID-19 related pupil absence categories are combined - for example to report the total proportion of pupils absent due to COVID-19 or, the proportion self-isolating that are not a confirmed/suspected case - the proportion is reported as a range to account for possible double counting. Numbers of pupils are presented as ‘up to’ the upper bound of the range. Settings were asked not to count pupils in multiple categories, however analysis of responses found some evidence of double counting.
The range is calculated as such:
- Minimum assumes maximum double counting by taking the largest figure from across each of the categories
- Maximum assumes no double counting by taking the sum of all categories
Some examples are provided below.
| Confirmed case of COVID-19 | Suspected case of COVID-19 | Self-isolating - potential contact inside | Self-isolating - potential contact outside | Minimum total COVID-19 related absence | Maximum total COVID-19 related absence | |
| School 1 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 26 | 30 |
| School 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| School 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
January – 5 March 2021
Ahead of the start of the 2020/21 spring term, the Government asked schools to make the following arrangements for week commencing 4 January:
- Primary schools to provide on-site education to all pupils from their first day of term, except those in areas where contingency framework guidance applied. In areas affected by the framework, primary schools were asked to provide on-site education for vulnerable children and children of critical workers only.
- Secondary schools to provide on-site education to vulnerable children and children of critical workers only in week commencing 4 January.
- Special schools to provide on-site education for all pupils, however they were given flexibility to phase return of pupils.
- Alternative provision to provide on-site education for all pupils.
Data was collected via the education settings survey on 4 January. The policy changed from the 5 January 2021 whereby national restrictions were re-introduced across all year groups. Data was not collected for the period 5 – 8 January and resumed on 11 January 2021, when the policy stated that provision on site should once again be provided only for vulnerable children and children of critical workers.
On 4 January, the Government asked schools to provide on-site education for vulnerable children and children of critical workers only from 5 January. Settings were not required to complete the educational settings survey between 5-8 January while it was changed to reflect these new arrangements. The survey reopened on Monday 11 January.
From 8 March 2021, all children were again expected to attend school.
Vulnerable children, children of critical workers and children eligible for free school meals
Data was once again collected on the attendance of vulnerable children, split by those with an EHCP, those with a social worker and children of critical workers. Further questions were asked on pupils eligible for free school meals. Some children had both an EHCP and social worker.
Education providers were able to offer provision to children they identified as ‘otherwise vulnerable’. Data collected through the educational setting survey identified the number of children with an EHCP and social worker, as well as critical worker children (who were advised not to be included as a vulnerable child). Based on published statistics about the number of Children in Need, we assumed that 21.6% of children with a social worker also had an EHCP. To calculate the number of children in attendance who have a social worker and/or an EHCP we used the following calculation:
Total children with an EHCP and/or a social worker in attendance = (Number of children with an EHCP in attendance + Number of children with social worker in attendance) - (0.216 * Number of children with a social worker in attendance)
Using this, we could calculate how many otherwise vulnerable children were in attendance:
Number of otherwise vulnerable children attending = total children attending – children of critical workers attending - total children with an EHCP and/or a social worker attending
The number of children who were otherwise vulnerable was an estimate and, as such, was not equivalent in quality to other attendance figures. Virtually all children on roll at a special school have an EHCP, so we did not apply the calculation to this phase. We excluded state-funded special schools from the state-funded total for this measure.
Although schools were told not to count a child in the critical worker category if they were also vulnerable, there were instances when this occurred, and some pupils were double counted. This reduced the accuracy of the ‘otherwise vulnerable’ measure.
Workforce absence
From 5 January 2020, schools were asked to provide remote education for the majority of pupils which enabled many staff to work remotely. As such, data on reasons for workforce absence were collected from 11 January 2020 where staff were unable to teach on site or remotely. This meant that staff who had a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus or who were self-isolating but could work remotely were not included in the figures. Figures from 11 January are not comparable to data on workforce absence collected in the autumn term.
Despite the change in the data collection, it was possible that some schools continued to report COVID-related absences for affected staff who were working remotely in the same way as the autumn term. We therefore advise caution in interpreting these estimates, particularly when broken down in greater detail than set out below, as they may slightly over-estimate the proportion of workforce unable to work on site or remotely.
From 11 January, the survey asked schools and colleges for the following information on i) teachers and school leaders and ii) teaching assistants and other staff:
- Number on roll at the setting
- Number working on-site
- Number unable to work on-site or remotely due to a confirmed case of COVID-19
- Number unable to work on-site or remotely due to a suspected case of COVID-19
- Number unable to work on-site or remotely due to self-isolation as a result of potential contact with a case of coronavirus inside the school
- Number unable to work on-site or remotely due to self-isolation as a result of potential contact with a case of coronavirus outside the school
- Number unable to work on-site or remotely for other reasons
Since January, lateral flow devices have been provided to all schools and schools can offer workforce who are on-site access to two rapid results tests every week. Rates of confirmed cases and self-isolation among workforce may be impacted by levels of testing.
Staff in schools with higher levels of attendance may be less likely to work remotely. Similarly, 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 both higher rates of on-site attendance and higher rates of staff unable to work on-site or remotely in primary and secondary schools.
Data from 11 January has been published at national level in underlying data table 1E and at local authority level in underlying data table 1c.
Data collection and methodology
Data from the spring 2020 census continued to be used for the grossing methodology as the summer census did not go ahead.
Due to poor weather conditions in parts of England, there was an increase in non-COVID related closures on the following dates: 14, 15, 25 and 26 January, 2, 8, 9, 10 and 11 February.
8 March 2021 – 10 June
Following the announcement of the Prime Minister’s 4-step roadmap to COVID-19 recovery, schools could reopen more widely from 8 March 2021. Secondary schools, special schools and colleges were given the flexibility to phase the return of pupils from 8 March whilst completing on site asymptomatic testing.
The education settings survey changed to reflect this reopening, broadly aligning to the same data collected between 12 October and 17 December, with the addition of information on wraparound childcare provision. In the first weeks back, eligible schools were also asked how many pupils were absent due to phased returns whilst facilitating asymptomatic testing. A detailed phase breakdown has been included in the underlying data since wider reopening on 8 March 2021. This includes data for independent schools, FE colleges and special post-16 institutions.
Vulnerable children, children of critical workers and children eligible for free school meals
Provision for vulnerable children continues to be monitored and schools continue to be asked to report the number of pupils with an EHCP, the number with a social worker and the number eligible for free school meals on roll and in attendance each day.
Data on children of critical workers is no longer collected as all pupils of all ages are expected to attend on site. The otherwise vulnerable measure was also discontinued from 8 March, when schools were asked to open again to all pupils.
Workforce absence
From 8 March 2020, the data collected on teachers and school leaders and teaching assistants and other staff aligns with that collected between 12 October and 17 December. From 8 March, teachers should have had access to asymptomatic at home testing. Rates of confirmed cases and self-isolation among workforce may be impacted by levels of testing.
Workforce absence data from 8 March onwards has been once again published at national level in underlying data table 1D and at local authority level in underlying data table 1C.
Data collection and methodology
The number of further education students attending was included in the publication and underlying data from 30 March 2021 and back-dated to 11 January. This required an alternative non-response methodology to that of mainstream education settings, which is outlined in the non-response adjustment methodology section below.
Secondary schools, special schools and colleges were given the flexibility to phase the return of pupils from 8 March whilst completing on site asymptomatic testing. Attendance figures were impacted for the two weeks following 8 March.
On Thursday 6 May 2021, a number of settings (particularly primary) were closed as they were polling stations. This impacted school open and attendance rates. On Thursday 13 May 2021, attendance and open rates at schools were impacted by the festival of Eid. Approximately 7% of open state-funded schools also mentioned an impact of Eid on attendance on Wednesday 12 May , as reported in the free text of the education settings survey returns.
To estimate the impact of different provisions for Year 11 and 13 students (which might include study leave, educational visits, independent study or remote provision) during the summer term, we identified schools with an increase in non-COVID related absence of between 9 and 34 percentage points compared to 21 April. The methodology was validated by reviewing free text responses where available. Where free text responses were available, almost all schools identified by this methodology reported study leave among year 11 and/or year 13 pupils as a factor affecting attendance.
10 June - present
Data collection and methodology
During the summer term secondary school, special school, alternative provision and independent school attendance is affected by year 11-13s who are not expected on-site due to other approved educational activities. This will include reasons such as visits to education providers, independent study, or other arranged activities outside of school. From 7 June we began collecting data to allow us to adjust attendance and absence rates by excluding these pupils from the number of pupils on roll and publish adjusted totals and proportions of pupils in attendance or absent, including for COVID-19 related reasons.
Data quality checks to daily data performed shortly after the introduction of the new question showed that more than 80% of state funded secondaries responded that one or more year 11 - 13 pupils were absent for reasons described above. There were less than 0.1% of primaries responding in this way which was expected and demonstrates the question has been understood. Removing students identified as not in attendance for approved purposes resulted in an increase in the proportion of students attending metric by more than 15 percentage points in state funded secondary schools.
Vulnerable children, children of critical workers and children eligible for free school meals
For this publication, pupil attendance and COVID-19 related absence figures for secondary schools, special schools, alternative provision and independent schools are adjusted to exclude year 11-13 pupils identified as not in attendance because they are off-site for approved purposes, to improve the accuracy of attendance estimates (see methodology for more detail). This approach is in line with the approach taken in the national publication of absence data which excludes pupils in Y11 and above in the second half of the summer term. To minimise the burden on providers, we have not requested additional characteristic information for year 11-13 pupils identified as not in attendance for these reasons and from 7 June until the end of the summer term are unable to continue to publish reliable percentage estimates of attendance among pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM), pupils with an education and health care plan (EHCP) in these settings. Data for state-funded primary schools will be published as before.
Response rate
The response rate has typically been above 70% among state-funded schools.
Since the response rate is not 100%, we estimate the situation in settings who have not responded in order to get a full national picture (a ‘grossing methodology’) for most national-level measures. This methodology is set out below. Note that local authority level data is not adjusted for non-response.
Figures prior to 12 October 2020 relate to data as at 4pm on each day. From Monday 12 October, figures are given as of midnight for completeness. This does not impact comparability, negligible changes to the estimates were seen between 4pm and midnight.
Non-response adjustment methodology
Given that the response rate from educational providers is not 100%, attendance figures have been adjusted to account for schools and colleges that did not respond to the survey, to create a full national picture. This is known as the grossing methodology. The methodology has been updated and adjusted as and when further information from non-responding settings has become available or when the educational settings survey changed. A summary of these changes is detailed in Table 1.
The methodology used from 11 January assumes that state-funded schools that did not respond were no more likely to be closed to vulnerable children and critical worker children or have lower attendance than non-responding schools. The same methodology has been used for data from schools reopening on 8 March 2021.
This follows analysis of response patterns and data collected from a sample of non-responding schools to identify any closed schools. A sample of 165 state-funded schools that had not responded on 11 and 12 January was taken, and school websites checked for information about their open status. This found that up to 10% of non-responding state-funded primary schools and state-funded special schools were closed, compared to less than 1% and around 1% of responding schools, respectively. Adjusting for this would reduce open rates for these school types by up to 1 percentage points but would have a negligible impact on attendance rates (less than 0.5%), given high response rates (over 80%) and relatively low attendance rates. Therefore, no adjustments have been made at this time, but we will continue to review the non-response methodology. Figures for state-funded schools have been weighted to take account of differences in response rate between different school types.
Response rates for independent schools are lower than other settings (less than 60%) and, following review of a sample of non-responding independent schools, we found non-responding independent schools were more likely to be closed than responders. Figures for independent schools have not been adjusted to account for this response bias and are presented based on responding schools only.
Table 1. A description of changes to the non-response methodology from 23 March 2020 to present
| Time period | Summary and changes to non-response adjustment methodology |
| 23 to 27 March 2020 | Methodology assumed all non-responding providers were as likely to be open and had the same levels of attendance as those that did respond. |
| 29 March to 29 May 2020 | Following analysis of a full week of returns, the following methodology was devised to estimate open rates:
Adjusting the 50% open assumption in non-responding settings by ±10% changed open rate estimates by approximately 1% and has negligible impact on low attendance rates. Adjusting the open assumptions by ±10% for each phase changed the estimated open rates by 0 to 3 percentage points, with independent schools most impacted. Again, the effect on estimated attendance rate was negligible. The main difference this methodology change made was to better understand the proportion of settings that were open. We also improved the denominator used for further education colleges, which was the main driver for the decrease in attendance rate. |
| 1 June to end of 2019/20 academic year | Settings were asked to remain open to children of critical workers and vulnerable children. From 1 June, schools were asked to open to children in nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6 where relevant. From 15th June, schools were also asked to open to children in year 10 and year 12. A method to distinguish between those open to wider years or not was required. For responding settings:
For non-responding settings that had responded since 1 June:
For settings that had never responded:
Attendance rates were calculated using the 2019/20 census returns to calculate the proportion of pupils on roll in the same manner as March to May. The assumptions were checked on a random sample of 125 non-responding settings, stratified by school type and region. 51 of these settings were contacted by phone on 4 June and information on a further 50 obtained from the school websites. From 15 June, 60 settings with years 10 and 12 were researched via school websites. From 22 June, adjusted proportions were based on the school websites of 100 settings. Checks were carried out by adjusting all assumptions by ±10%, which changed estimates to open settings by around 3% and had negligible impact on the attendance rates (<0.5%). |
| 2020/21 academic year | Final estimates on open and attendance rates were obtained via triangulation between data collected in the educational settings survey and regular calls between the DfE and all local authorities, cross-referenced with the collected data. A sample of 200 state-funded schools who had never responded to the survey since 1 September (as of midnight on 8 September) was taken. Direct contact was made with 166 of these and the rest were researched from school websites, social media pages and media reports.
As such, non-responding settings were assumed no more likely to be closed, partially open or have lower attendance than responding schools. Grossed estimates are obtained by calculating attendance rates in responding settings using the submitted numbers on roll and applying this to non-responding settings using the 2019/20 spring census. Attendance estimates for children with EHCPs, a social worker, or those eligible for free school meals, are calculated by assuming that the same proportion of pupils on roll in non-responding settings have an EHCP, social worker or are eligible for FSM as in responding settings. The attendance rate in responding settings for these groups of pupils are then applied to this estimated number on roll. We remove these for independent schools due to data quality issues from a low response rate. A non-response methodology has also been applied to further education colleges, described in more detail in the section below. |
Non-response adjustments for further education colleges
A grossing methodology has also been applied to attendance data for further education colleges, back-dated to 11 January 2021. The main premise of the methodology remains unchanged to that applied to state-funded schools, by assuming the same open and attendance rates apply for both responding and non-responding settings. The difference is that the number of students enrolled at a further education provider does not indicate the number of pupils expected to attend each day, given variability in programme delivery, the presence of part time learners and attendance not being mandatory from the age of 19.
Given that there is no definitive figure for the number of students on roll each day, non-response adjustments use an average of the daily ‘expected to attend’ figures across a two-week period in the autumn term 2020/21. This was a period when attendance figures were highest in the autumn term and there was a high response rate. From this, a daily ‘expected to attend’ figure was obtained for each provider, from which we could calculate an attendance rate. There are two providers who did not respond to the survey during the period and do not have ‘expected to attend’ figures. These colleges are estimated to account for less than 2% of the further education population and are removed from the grossed attendance figures.
Non-response adjustment for workforce absence
National level workforce absence figures have been adjusted for non-response. Figures at local authority level have not been adjusted and are based on responding schools only.
To calculate grossed estimates of staff absences for each setting type, we first estimated the number of staff on roll in non-responding settings. This is estimated by calculating the average on roll pupil-to-staff ratio for each setting type in the responding settings. These ratios are then applied to the number of pupils on roll, as indicated by the 2019/20 spring census, to calculate the total number of staff on roll in non-responding settings. Absence estimates for staff are calculated by assuming the same proportion of staff on roll in non-responding settings are absent for the same reasons when compared to responding settings.
School holiday periods
Data between 19 to 23 October 2020, for 2 November 2020 and 29 March to 1 April 2021, and for 19 April 2021 are included in a separate underlying data table 1a.
This file can be downloaded from the associated files section of EES. This data is in a separate file as it is not comparable to previous national figures given that some local authorities were on school holidays on these dates.
Adjustments to methodology for figures between 19 to 23 October 2020, 2 November and 29 March to 1 April 2021
Between 19 and 23 October 2020, schools in the following local authorities were expected to be on half term for some or all of that week: Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Warrington, West Berkshire, Swindon, Wiltshire and Norfolk.
On 2 November 2020, Bedford and Isles of Scilly were expected to still be on half term.
Between 29 March and 1 April 2021, schools in the following local authorities were expected to be on Easter break for some or all of that week: Barnsley, Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Bradford, Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire, Darlington, Doncaster, Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, Essex, Hartlepool, Isle of Wight, City of Kingston upon Hull, Kirklees, Knowsley, Lancashire, Leicester, Leicestershire, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, North Tyneside, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Peterborough, Redcar and Cleveland, Rotherham, Sefton, Southend-on-Sea, Stockport, Suffolk, Sunderland, Thurrock, Tower Hamlets, Wakefield, Wirral, York.
Approximately one third of schools submitted data returns from the Easter break week commencing 12 April 2021. Given these very low levels of representation, we did not include figures from these dates in the underlying data.
On 19 April 2021, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and City of London were still on Easter break for one day only.
Some schools in other local authorities were also on half term/Easter break or had inset days during these periods. Academies are not required to follow local authority term dates and schools can set their own inset days.
To provide the clearest picture of attendance in schools that would normally be open, figures for dates affected by October half term or Easter break were adjusted for non-response, resulting in estimates for all schools that were not on holiday. This means our estimates were not directly comparable to previous weeks, which are nationally representative.
Table 1 sets out the proportion of schools included in our estimates each day. Term dates are not held for individual schools, so this was estimated based on local authority term dates.
Table 1: Proportion of state-funded schools not on holiday on each day included in estimates. Proportions are given to the nearest percentage point, except where the proportion is over 99%,
| Date | Proportion of schools included in estimates |
| 19 October 2020 | 95% |
| 20 October 2020 | 95% |
| 21 October 2020 | 95% |
| 22 October 2020 | 92% |
| 23 October 2020 | 90% |
| 2 November 2020 | 99.7% |
| 29 March 2021 | 68% |
| 30 March 2021 | 68% |
| 31 March 2021 | 68% |
| 1 April 2021 | 55% |
| 12 April 2021 | 31% |
| 13 April 2021 | 34% |
| 14 April 2021 | 34% |
| 15 April 2021 | 35% |
| 16 April 2021 | 35% |
| 19 April 2021 | 97% |
Grossing methodology for estimates during holiday periods
To reduce burden of data collection, schools are not required to respond to the survey during school holidays. Non-responding schools in local authorities that were expected to be on holiday each day were not included in our grossed estimates for these time periods.
Some schools on half term or Easter break did respond and reported as ‘Closed for non-COVID related reasons’. All schools in this category were also excluded from our estimates. This means a small number of schools (typically less than 10) that were closed for non-COVID related reasons, but were not on holiday, will also have been excluded.
All schools that reported INSET days were also excluded from these estimates and considered to be on half term. This is a change from our usual reporting methodology whereby schools on INSET days are normally included in our open status estimates (counted as ‘Open’) and included in our attendance estimates (counted as having no pupils attending). Typically, a very small number of schools (less than 10) report INSET days between Mondays and Thursdays.
Ensuring estimates are comparable on Thursday 22 October to previous weeks
Figures between 19 to 23 October and 2 November were not directly comparable to previous weeks. However, we analysed the returns from Thursday 22 October and reported whether changes in headline measures compared with Thursday 15 October did broadly reflect a national-level change or were due to schools on half term in certain areas being excluded.
To do this, we compared responding schools from both 15 and 22 October 2020 who also did not report INSET or non-COVID related closures on either day. This analysis captured 64% of all state-funded schools. The table below shows that grossed estimates (excluding INSET days) of attendance, absence and open status rates for 15 October were very similar to the rates for this group of responding schools on the same day. Similar changes between 15 and 22 October were seen both nationally and among this group of schools, suggesting that changes in these rates broadly reflected a national-level increase unrelated to half term. The increase in COVID-related absence (approximately 2 percentage points) accounted for roughly two-thirds of the overall increase in absence between 15 and 22 October (approximately 3 percentage points).
| 15/10 - grossed all schools excluding inset days | 22/10 - grossed all schools without inset days or half term | 15/10 - responded both days excluding inset days and non-COVID closures | 22/10 - responded both days excluding inset days and non-COVID closures | |
| Attendance in state-funded schools (%) | 89.4 | 86.2 | 89.5 | 86.5 |
| Attendance in state-funded primaries (%) | 92.0 | 89.6 | 92.0 | 89.7 |
| Attendance in state-funded secondaries (%) | 86.5 | 82.4 | 86.7 | 82.7 |
| Confirmed COVID cases (%) | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Suspected COVID cases (%) | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Self-isolating (%) | 4.3 | 6 | 4.3 | 5.9 |
| All COVID absence (%) | 4.9 | 6.5 | 4.9 | 6.4 |
| Open state-funded schools (%) | 99.7 | 99.3 | 99.7 | 99.3 |
| Closed state-funded schools (%) | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Schools sent 1 or more pupils to self-isolate (%) | 21 | 26 | 21 | 25 |
Local authority level data
Available data at local authority level
Data is available for each Thursday from 10 September 2020 to 27 May 2021 in underlying data table 1c. Data for some Wednesdays is also provided where this was used for the national commentary, for example when weather affected open rates.
Local authority level data is updated on a half-termly basis.
Note that:
- some schools were on half term on Thursday 20 October 2020
- most schools were on half term on Thursday 29 October 2020
- some schools were on Christmas break on Thursday 17 December 2020
- some schools were on Easter break on Wednesday 31 March and Thursday 1 April 2021
- some schools were closed as they were used as polling stations on Thursday 6 May 2021
- some pupils were celebrating the festival of Eid and therefore absent on Wednesday 12 to Friday 14 May 2021
2020/21 Autumn term 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 schools that asked one or more pupils to self-isolate due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside the school - from 12 October
- 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 and proportion of pupils absent with a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of pupils absent with a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because their school is closed due to coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside the school setting - from 12 October
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) outside the school setting - from 12 October
From 12 October, the education settings survey changed and therefore some measures that used to be presented were discontinued. Measures relating to fully open schools are also available in the underlying data prior to 12 October.
The number and proportion of i) pupils absent because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus and ii) pupils reported absent for COVID-19 related reasons are presented as a range with an upper and lower bound.
2020/21 Spring term data
The following measures can be found in the underlying data at local authority and regional level for all state-funded schools and broken down by primary, secondary and special schools:
For all dates
- Number and proportion of schools that were open
- Number and proportion of all pupils on roll in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils with a social worker in attendance
Up to 11 February
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff working on-site
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff unable to teach 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 unable to teach 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 unable to teach on-site or remotely due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside the school setting
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff unable to teach on-site or remotely due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) outside the school setting
From 8 March, following wider opening of schools
- Number and proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals with a social worker in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils absent with a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent with a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because their school is closed due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Total number and proportion of pupils reported absent for COVID-19 related reasons
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside the school setting
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) outside the school setting
- Total number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to COVID-19 related reasons
From 11 January, the education settings survey changed to reflect that schools were asked to open only for children of critical workers and vulnerable children. From 8 March, the survey changed again to reflect the wider opening of schools. Therefore, some measures were discontinued.
2020/21 Summer term data
The following measures can be found in the underlying data at local authority and regional 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 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils with a social worker in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals with a social worker in attendance
- Number and proportion of pupils absent with a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent with a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because of self-isolation due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of pupils absent because their school is closed due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Total number and proportion of pupils reported absent for COVID-19 related reasons
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a suspected case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) inside the school setting
- Number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to suspected contact with a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) outside the school setting
- Total number and proportion of teachers and school leaders/ teaching assistants and support staff absent due to COVID-19 related reasons
Interpretation of COVID attendance statistics
Comparability of attendance estimates and typical absence rates
The overall absence rate in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England in the 2018/19 academic year was 4.7%. There are some differences in the calculation of this figure and our attendance estimates that affect comparability. Overall, these differences depress our attendance estimates when compared to the 2018/19 absence rate.
COVID attendance statistics are estimates of the number and proportion of pupils attending on-site. There are some cases where pupils are off-site, and therefore not counted as attending, but would not be considered absent in the 2018/19 overall absence rates. This includes where pupils are not on-site due to dual-registration, an approved educational activity, work experience, an educational visit/trip or approved absence.
From 7 June 2021 we began collecting data to allow us to adjust attendance and absence rates by excluding year 11-13 pupils identified as not in attendance because they are off-site for approved purposes.
2018/19 overall absence rates include pupils aged 5-15 in state-funded primary, secondary and special schools. The following groups were included in our attendance estimates from 9 September, but are excluded from the 2018/19 overall absence rate:
- Children in school-based nurseries, for whom attendance is not mandatory and many attend part-time (not included from 12 October)
- Children in state-funded alternative provision, for whom the absence rate is higher than average
- 4 year-olds on roll in state-funded schools, for whom the absence rate is higher than average
- 16 to 18 year-olds on roll in state-funded schools, for whom the absence rate is higher than average
We compared attendance in primary schools with and without nurseries, which suggested excluding children in school-based nurseries could increase our attendance estimate for state-funded schools by up to 1.5 percentage points. From 12 October 2020, schools were asked to exclude nursery children from their submission. A corresponding decrease was observed in submitted number on roll in schools with nurseries.
Interpretation of absence data
Reasons for absence are reported directly by schools via DfE's daily education settings survey at school level. It is not the primary source of data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. Further detail can be found within the coronavirus in the UK dashboard, national COVID-19 surveillance reports and coronavirus infection survey pilot statistics.
For pupils, COVID-19 related absence includes pupils with a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus, those self-isolating and those on roll in schools closed due to COVID-19 related reasons. Pupils that are shielding would not be included in these figures.
For workforce, COVID-19 related absence includes staff with a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus and those self-isolating. Staff that are shielding would not be included in these figures. All staff are also encouraged to take two rapid COVID-19 tests each week at home.
Absences are not known in closed schools.
- Data on pupil and workforce absence are not collected from closed schools.
- All pupils on roll in schools closed due to COVID are counted as absent for COVID-related reasons, therefore all pupils in closed schools are included in the denominator for overall COVID related absence. Figures for pupil absence due to specific reasons – such as a suspected case of COVID – use pupils in open schools as the denominator.
- From 12 October to 17 December, both closed and non-responding schools were assumed to have the same proportions of COVID-related workforce absences as open schools. During this time, a very small number of schools were closed due to COVID-related reasons, where workforce absence due to a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19, or self-isolation, was thought to be higher. It is therefore likely that the assumptions on absence are an under-estimate for these schools, though this had little impact on the overall figures. From 11 January 2021, workforce absence reasons were calculated for open schools only.
COVID-related absence rates may be impacted by levels of testing.
- Since January 2021, workforce and secondary-age pupils should be offered asymptomatic testing. Rates of confirmed cases and self-isolation among pupils and workforce may be impacted by levels of testing. This should be taken into consideration when comparing absences between different types of schools.
Absence rates for teaching assistants and other staff are likely to be less robust as more work part-time.
- There are likely to be inconsistencies in how schools treat part time staff in their reported data, for example some may update their on roll numbers daily to account for part-time staff ‘expected’ to be on-site and others may not.
Absence rates from January 11 are likely to be impacted by differences in ability to work on-site or remotely.
- Staff in schools with higher levels of attendance may be less able to work remotely.
- 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 both higher rates of on-site attendance and higher rates of staff unable to work on-site or remotely in primary and secondary schools.
Absence rates for state-funded secondary schools and colleges and state-funded special schools for week commencing 8 March 2021 onwards may be impacted by a phased return of pupils and lateral flow testing.
- From 8 March 2021, all primary and secondary pupils were expected to attend their educational settings. For secondary pupils, most schools underwent a phased return of pupils where consenting pupils could return to face-to-face education following a negative lateral flow test, and non-consenting pupils returning in line with their year group. Consequently, schools were able to report the number absent due to a phased return in the survey returns for this week. This is reported in this publication.
- Pupils at secondary schools and colleges have had access to rapid lateral flow testing from 11 January. From 8 March 2021, schools were asked to arrange for all consenting pupils to be tested three times on-site before moving to a home-testing model. Rates of confirmed cases and self-isolation among pupils may be impacted by levels of testing.
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 50% or lower 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 number of schools, particularly when comparing over time, can be more variable.
- Data based on one school has been suppressed and data based on 10 or fewer 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. 2018/19 overall absence rates 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 2018/19 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.
Correction to workforce absence data for teaching assistants and other staff on 28 January
Workforce absence data from the education settings survey at national and local level were included in this publication for the first time on 19 January.
An error was identified that affected national level absence rates for ‘teaching assistants and other staff’ published in underlying data table 1D and included in the narrative of the 19 January publication. This data, including the 19 January narrative, was corrected on 28 January.
Absence rates at local authority level in table 1C, equivalent national-level absence rates for ‘teachers and school leaders’ and the number of ‘teaching assistants and other staff’ absent for each reason in table 1D were unaffected. This meant absence rates were overreported for ‘teaching assistants and other staff’ at national level. The corrected data shows that teaching assistants and other staff have broadly similar absence rates to teachers and school leaders. For example, on Wednesday 16 December, approximately:
- 4.4% of teachers and school leaders and 4.0% of teaching assistants and other staff were absent for COVID-related reasons.
- 3.9% of teachers and school leaders and 4.0% of teaching assistants and other staff were absent for other reasons.
This error affected grossed data produced for publication. Data used by government as management information (as set out in the ‘data sharing’ section) was unaffected. We are contacting known users of this data directly to alert them to this correction.
This error was caused by a mistake in our systems when applying the grossing methodology after data was submitted by schools, to create national level estimates. An incorrect grossed denominator was used for the number of teaching assistants and other staff. This denominator was too small, which resulted in inflated percentages being published. We take the issue of data quality very seriously and we would like to apologise for this error. We are reviewing how this was missed through our checking processes to improve them in future.
The table below summarises the measures that were affected.
| Measure description | Column name |
| Number of TAs and other staff on roll | number_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_on_roll |
| Proportion of TAs and other staff absent with a confirmed case of COVID-19 | proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_ absent_with_a_suspected_case_of_covid_19 |
Proportion of TAs and other staff absent with a suspected case of COVID-19
| proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_ absent_with_a_confirmed_case_of_covid_19 |
Proportion of TAs and other staff absent due to self-isolation because of potential contact with a case of coronavirus inside the school
| proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_ isolating_due_to_contact_in_school |
Proportion of TAs and other staff absent due to self-isolation because of potential contact with a case of coronavirus outside the school
| proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_ isolating_due_to_contact_outside_school |
| Proportion of TAs and other staff absent for other reasons | proportion_of_teaching_assistants_and_other_staff_ absent_for_non_covid_19_reasons |
International comparisons
Information published by other nations is not directly comparable to these statistics but is signposted here for information. Data from other UK administrations either relates to school sessions or individual pupils, collected using regular extracts directly from school information management systems, unlike our data which is collected from schools via a daily survey.
UK-wide comparisons
To monitor the impact of the closure of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic, local authorities across the UK were asked to report on pupil and staff attendance and absence rates on a daily basis.
The Education Policy Institute drew together research from all UK nations. Comparisons across the UK can be found in this article from November 2020.
Scotland
Further information on schools in Scotland can be found via publications from the Scottish government here, or for data up to the end of the Autumn term 2020 here.
Wales
Further information on attendance of children and staff from local authority settings in Wales are available from the Welsh government here, and for pupils in maintained schools here.
Northern Ireland
Attendance of staff and pupils from educational settings in Northern Ireland are collected weekly from grant-aided schools. More information can be found here.
International comparisons
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) documents how teaching and learning in other countries is impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. More information for each country can be found via their website.