The methodology used in this release follows that used in the termly Pupil absence in schools in England National Statistics. Further detail can be found at that release's methodology page.
Background
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) (opens in a new tab) for each pupil on their registers during the morning and afternoon sessions.
The figures are published as official statistics in development to give an indicative figure for the absence rate during the academic year. The pupil attendance dashboard (opens in a new tab) (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. 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).
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.
Methodology
Scope
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 attending another school as a dual registration, unplanned school closure or an inset day, they are not included in the analysis.
To account for high levels of study leave and other authorised absences for pupils aged 15 in the second half of the summer term, all possible sessions and absences relating to this period for 15-year-olds (as at the start of the academic year) are removed prior to any analysis being undertaken and are not included in any published statistics.
Absence rates
Absence rates are calculated by dividing the number of sessions coded as an absence by the total number of possible sessions, where possible sessions include on-site attendance, approved off-site educational activity (for example, work experience) and absence.
Persistent absence rates
Persistent absence rates are calculated once the full autumn term of data has been collected in an academic year.
A pupil is classified as a persistent absentee if they miss 10% or more of their own possible sessions. Therefore, if an enrolment’s overall absence rate is 10% or higher they will be classified as persistently absent.
To calculate school, local authority and national level persistent absence rates, all persistently absent enrolments within the relevant areas are included.
Persistent absence rate = (Number of enrolments classed as persistent absentees / Number of enrolments) X 100
The calculation of the proportion of pupils classed as absent for at least one day in the first week of term who become persistently absent and, similarly, the proportion of persistently absent pupils who were classed as absent for at least one day in the first week is in the Week 29 2023 and 2024 release. It identifies all pupil enrolments that had at least 2 sessions (morning or afternoon) of absence on any day in the first week of the academic year that the publication covers, which is the first week in which all pupils were expected to be in attendance for the full week. The analysis quantifies the overlap between this cohort and the cohort classified as persistently absent (missing at least 10% of all sessions) across the full academic year.
Persistent absentees with at least a day of absence in the first week of term = (Number of enrolments of pupils classed as absent for at least one day in the first week of term and classed as persistent absentees across the full academic year / Enrolments of pupils classed as persistent absentees across the full academic year) X 100
Enrolments with at least a day of absence in the first week of term that went on to be persistent absentees = (Number of enrolments of pupils classed as absent for at least one day in the first week of term and classed as persistent absentees across the full academic year / Number of enrolments of pupils classed as absent for at least one day in the first week of term) X 100
Severe absence is not calculated in this release. The latest severe absence rates can be found at the termly Pupil absence in schools in England National Statistics release.
Schools, academy trusts and local authorities can get persistent and severe absence statistics using the Monitor your school attendance tool (see ‘Comparing data with the Monitor your school attendance data tool’ section). This is available on the View your education data (VYED) (opens in a new tab) service.
Academic year coverage
Data prior to the second week of the academic year has not been included in the dashboard due to the impact of different start dates, inset days and phased returns. National level estimates covering the first week of the academic year are available in the underlying data catalogues.
Days excluded from the time series
There were several teacher strikes throughout the 2022/23 academic year. No figures for the day of teacher strikes have been provided in the dashboard and underlying data file containing daily attendance rates. Data for these days continue to be included in the weekly and year to date data provided in this release. For data on how many schools were open during the teacher strikes, see the School closures during the 2023 teacher strike (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) transparency data.
No data is included for 19 September 2022, as schools were closed on the date of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral.
Calculating days in school
In the spring term 2024/25 publication (Week 15 2025) we included an approximation of the difference in days lost due to absence compared to the same term in the previous academic year.
Days lost = (Pupil enrolments from GIAS * Number of days in the term * Absence rate for the term)
Difference (days gained) = (Days lost in the current academic year – Days lost in the previous academic year)
Pupil enrolments from Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (GIAS) are taken from the current academic year. We assume the same number of pupils in each academic year to prevent differing pupil numbers impacting the days gained.
This figure will only be updated on a termly basis.
Data quality
Response rates
As of the week commencing 09 September 2024, 96% of state-funded primary, secondary and special schools submitted data. The response rate is included in the underlying data and provided within the dashboard at a national, regional and local authority level by school type. 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 school census.
Weighting data
As well as breakdowns by school type, figures are also provided relating to all schools. In recognition that response rates are not equal across school types and, therefore, not representative of the total school population, the overall figures are weighted based on the Spring school census. This has been done via:
( (Primary rate from attendance data x Number of primary pupils in school census)
+ (Secondary rate from attendance data x Number of secondary pupils in school census)
+ (Special rate from attendance data x Number of special pupils in school census) )
Divided by the total number of pupils in the school census.
Weighted total figures are not included at local authority level due to the low number of schools involved.
Suppression
Data has been suppressed in the dashboard and underlying data where data for a single school is presented in a breakdown, for example, a single primary school in a specific local authority. Suppressed values have been replaced with a ‘c’.
Reporting lag
Schools update their registers continually and attendance codes change, resulting in absence rates for a particular day to decrease over time. Analysis of data from the Summer 2022 term suggests that this could be a decrease in the absence rate of around 1 percentage point before settling down. To minimise this effect, the data is published with a two-week lag, for example, the data published on 29 September relates to up to the week commencing 12 September. Historical figures will be recalculated in each publication, however previous releases will remain available throughout the academic year on the Explore Education Statistics platform.
Data quality improvements
Publications from week 47 2023 onwards reflect data quality improvements in the underlying data, and as a result figures may differ slightly to those published prior to this point for the 2023/24 academic year. The overall impact at national and regional level is minimal, however there may be larger changes to historical figures for local authorities with a small number of schools.
Comparing data with the Monitor your school attendance data tool
Schools, academy trusts and local authorities can access the Monitor your school attendance tool. This is available on the View your education data (VYED) (opens in a new tab) service.
Monitor your school attendance contains data from schools sharing daily attendance data with DfE (opens in a new tab). Statistics published in the tool are updated daily based on pupil attendance data from school management information systems (MIS).
Data in the tool may be different from DfE published statistics. This may cause particularly large differences in the number of persistently absent pupils. Review Monitor your school attendance data definitions (opens in a new tab) to understand how results are calculated in the tool.
Attendance codes
The working together to improve school attendance (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) statutory guidance sets out a revised set of attendance and absence codes to be used from the start of the 2024/25 academic year. Codes H, J and Y have become inactive. However, some schools are returning data containing these codes. Therefore, these codes will be included in the pupil attendance in schools publication until further notice. For example, uses of code H, an inactive authorised absence code, remain in the calculation for the authorised absence rate. The data team are continually monitoring the use of inactive codes and working with schools and MIS suppliers to find a solution to phase these codes out.