Production of this statistics publication
Once the department has received all data from local authorities through the early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile collection, it is matched into the national pupil database (NPD). The NPD is a longitudinal database linking EYFS profile outcomes with other DfE data collections. It means school census and early years census data can be used to produce breakdowns of EYFS profile outcomes by child characteristics. The NPD also excludes shielded children, children with parents in the armed forces who are being educated abroad, and duplicate records.
Calculated data items
Average number of early learning goals (ELGs) at expected level per child
This is the mean number of early learning goals children were at the expected level for. The maximum number would be 17, if every child was at the expected level for every early learning goal. This measure replaces the average point score measure from the 2018/19 and earlier publications.
Number and percentage of children at expected level in all ELGs
This is a count and percentage of children who were at the expected level for all 17 ELGs.
Number and percentage of children at expected level in all Communication and language and Literacy ELGs
This is a count and percentage of children who were at the expected level for the ELGs in the communication and language area of learning and the ELGs in the literacy area of learning.
Number and percentage of children having a good level of development
This is a count and percentage of children who were at the expected level for all 12 ELGs within the 5 areas of learning relating to: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; physical development; literacy; and mathematics.
Number and percentage at emerging level in early learning goal or area of learning
This is a count and percentage of children who were at the emerging level for a specific ELG or area of learning.
Number and percentage at expected level in early learning goal or area of learning
This is a count and percentage of children who were at the expected level for a specific ELG or area of learning.
Number, percentage and annual (percentage point) change of children at expected level in 0 to 12 ELGs, of those which contribute to having a good level of development
This is a count, percentage and annual percentage point change of children who were at the expected level in a given number of learning goals, ranging from 0 to 12, for those ELGs which contribute to having a good level of development. Specifically, those within the 5 areas of learning relating to: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; physical development; literacy; and mathematics.
Number, percentage and annual (percentage point) change of children at expected level in 0 to 17 ELGs
This is a count, percentage and annual (percentage point) change of children who were at the expected level in a given number of early learning goals, ranging from 0 to 17.
Child characteristics
Sex
The sex of the child is recorded as male or female in the school census or early years census (although the early years census also includes an ‘Unknown’ category). This is the sex of the person as recognised in law.
Ethnicity
The school census records the ethnicity as stated by the parent, guardian or pupil and the early years census records the ethnicity as stated by the parent or guardian.
The setting must not ascribe any ethnicity to the child. The information must come from the parent/guardian/pupil. Where the ethnicity had not yet been collected, ‘NOBT’ (information not yet obtained) was recorded. If a parent/guardian/pupil refused to provide ethnicity, ‘REFU’ (refused) was recorded. These categories combined are shown as ‘unknown’ within the underlying data tables.
Where a child’s ethnicity was not recorded (i.e. was ‘REFU’ or ‘NOBT’) in the school census, the ethnicity recorded in the early years census for that child was used. If a child’s ethnicity was not recorded in either the school census or the early years census, then that child’s ethnicity is shown as ‘unknown’.
First language
The school must not ascribe a specific language to the pupil. This information must come from the parent, guardian or pupil.
A pupil’s first language is other than English where the pupil has been exposed to a language other than English during early development and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community.
The codes ENB (not known but believed to be English) and OTB (not known but believed to be other than English) should be used where:
- pupil’s first language is not known with absolute certainty
- parents have not responded to enquiries
- school can judge with a high degree of confidence whether the pupil’s language is English or not
Where a parent, guardian or pupil declined to provide a first language (i.e. ‘REFU’ or refused was recorded), and where it was not possible to make a judgement as to whether ENB or OTB should be the used, the child’s first language is shown as ‘unknown’ within the underlying data tables.
First language is not collected in the early years census, so children who did not appear in the school census have their first language shown as ‘unknown’ within the underlying data tables.
Within the underlying data tables, the categories are presented as ‘English’ and ‘Other than English’. The ‘English’ category includes the ENB code (not known but believed to be English) and the ‘Other than English’ category includes the OTB code (not known but believed to be other than English).
Free school meals eligibility
Free school meal (FSM) eligibility is collected in the school census.
Pupils are free school meals eligible if they both:
- meet the eligibility criteria
- make a claim
Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of several qualifying benefits (opens in a new tab).
Since September 2014 (opens in a new tab), state funded schools in England have been required by law to provide free lunches to pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2, who are not otherwise entitled to benefits-related free school meals.
The FSM eligibility variable does not relate to children who actually received free school meals but those children who were eligible to receive free school meals through one or more of several qualifying benefits (opens in a new tab).
Free school meals are only provided in state-funded schools, so FSM eligibility is collected in the school census but not in the early years census.
In publications before 2022/23, the category ‘Not known to be eligible for free school meals’ included both those not eligible for free school meals and those not known to be eligible for free school meals (i.e. children who did not appear in the school census). Since the 2022/23 release, as a methodological improvement, the categories have been split out and are now ‘Eligible for free school meals’, ‘Not eligible for free school meals’ and ‘Unknown’ (i.e. children who did not appear in the schools census). Data for 2021/22 was revised to reflect this change.
Term of birth
Children born in the autumn term may have attended early years provision for a longer period of time before they reach the end of the EYFS than pupils born at other times of the year. Therefore, EYFS profile outcomes are broken down by term of birth.
Term of birth for each child has been classified as below:
Autumn-born = September, October, November, or December
Spring-born = January, February, or March
Summer-born = April, May, June, July, or August
In publications before 2022/23, children born in April were classified as spring-born. Since the 2022/23 release, children born in April have been classified as summer-born to align with other departmental outputs. Data for 2021/22 was revised to reflect this change.
In 2023/24, the standard dates of birth for the EYFS academic year ran from 1st September 2018 to 31st August 2019. Children born outside of the standard reported academic year have been classified as the lower or upper grouping. This means a child born on 31st August 2018 or before will be classified as autumn-born and a child born on 1st September 2019 or after will be classified as summer-born.
Special educational needs (SEN)
Children with SEN are classified as follows:
SEN support
SEN support means support that is additional to, or different from, the support generally made for other children of the same age in a school. It is provided for pupils who are identified as having a learning difficulty or a disability that requires extra or different help to that normally provided as part of the school’s usual curriculum offer. A pupil on SEN support will not have an education, health and care plan.
Education, health and care (EHC) plans
A local authority may issue an Education, health and care plan for a pupil who needs more support than is available through SEN support. This will follow a statutory assessment process whereby the local authority considers the pupil’s special educational needs and any relevant health and social care needs; sets out long term outcomes; and specifies provision which will deliver additional support to meet those needs.
The type of SEN provision a child receives is collected on both the school and early years censuses. If a child was recorded by a school as not on roll at the time of the spring school census and was not in the early years census, or was not in either census at all, that child is categorised as having ‘unknown’ SEN provision.
It should be noted that children who had ‘unknown’ SEN provision for either of the reasons above cannot have been eligible for free school meals.
SEN primary need
A child with SEN’s primary need is the child’s most significant special educational need. This is collected through the school census, but not the early years census, so the sum of children broken down by primary need may not match the total number of SEN children.
Income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) decile
IDACI is a supplementary index of the English indices of deprivation 2019 (opens in a new tab). Each lower-layer super output area (LSOA), or neighbourhood, is given a score showing the percentage of pupils aged under 16 that live in income deprived households. These neighbourhoods are grouped into deciles so that the 10% of neighbourhoods with the highest scores (that is, with the most deprived children) make up decile 1, and the 10% of neighbourhoods with the lowest scores (that is, with the fewest deprived children) make up decile 10.
Geography
Breakdowns by local authority district in underlying data files 1 and 2 are based on matching the postcode of the school or provider to the February extract of the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL). A small number of schools and providers could not be matched to a local authority district. The assessment outcomes of the children attending these settings (0.7% of all children in 2023/24, up from 0.1% in 2022/23 and 2021/22) are shown in the 'Outside England and unknown' category.
Breakdowns by local authority district in underlying data file 4 are based on matching the child’s home postcode to the February extract of the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL). A small number of children could not be matched to a local authority district. The assessment outcomes of these children (0.2% of all children in 2023/24, 2022/23 and 2021/22) are shown in the 'Outside England and unknown' category.
Breakdowns by IDACI decile are based on matching the child’s home postcode to the February extract of the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL), and the English indices of deprivation 2019.
Rounding and suppression
Percentages and averages have been rounded to one decimal place. As a result of rounding, the sum of the percentage of children at the emerging level and the percentage of children at the expected level may not equal 100 in file 2.
Suppression has not been applied to the underlying data.
Symbols
The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows:
z not applicable
x data not available
u low reliability
b break in time series
Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero.