Attendance of pupils in maintained schools: 4 September to 10 November 2023

This headline presents information on the attendance of pupils in schools during the current academic year.

All data in this headline is based on the definition of attendance that was in use and published before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The data here is not comparable with the data published during the pandemic for 2020/21 and 2021/22, except for Table 9 which has been calculated on the same basis. For more details see the quality section below and accompanying spreadsheet.

The data in Table 9 is provided to enable comparisons between current and historical attendance levels. Whilst the data is comparable over time, we would encourage users to treat comparisons between 2023/24 to date and earlier whole academic years with caution at present until further data is available for the current year and current trends become more robust and stable.

This week we have added a new table which compares attendance for the academic year to date with attendance over the same period in the 2022/23 academic year (Table 1).

Future publication schedule

This series is moving to a fortnightly publication. The next publication will be on 30 November 2023.

Persistent absence

The release on 30 November 2023 will include data on persistent absence using the new threshold of 10% of sessions as outlined in the recent guidance on improving school attendance.

Main points

• The average attendance for this academic year to date is 91.3%, up slightly from 91.2% over the same period in the 2022/23 academic year.
• The latest week is 6 to 10 November, the last week was 23 to 27 October.
• An average of 91.3% of half-day school sessions were recorded as present for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, up from 90.8% the week before. Data for the latest week is provisional.
• An average of 5.5% of half-day school sessions were recorded as authorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, down from 6.1% the week before.
• An average of 3.3% of half-day school sessions were recorded as unauthorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, up from 3.1% the week before.
• There has been little difference in the attendance rate for males (91.4%) and females (91.3%) for the academic year to date.
• The attendance rate by year group for the academic year to date has been highest for pupils in Year 3 (93.6%) and lowest for pupils in Year 11 (87.1%).
• The attendance rate for the academic year to date has been higher for pupils not eligible for free school meals (93.0%) than pupils who are eligible for free school meals (86.4%).
• The most common reason for absence for the academic year to date has been illness, with 45.8% of sessions missed being for this reason.

Quality

This data is management information extracted from school management information systems once a week. This data has not undergone the same level of quality assurance as official statistics and the data may be subject to future revisions. The figures for the latest two weeks should be treated as provisional. Earlier figures are final and are not subject to change.

All data in this headline is based on the definition of attendance that was in use and published before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The data here is not comparable with the data published during the pandemic for 2020/21 and 2021/22, except for Table 9 which has been calculated on the same basis. The main differences in definitions are:

• Data is presented as the percentage of half day sessions missed instead of the percentage of pupils absent.
• Data is for pupils of statutory school age only (aged 5-15) instead of data for all ages.
• Data is for pupils in primary, middle, secondary and special schools only and does not include data for nursery schools or pupil referral units.
• Code Y (partial and forced closure) is now counted as "not required to attend" rather than "absent".

Comparability

All 4 nations are publishing regular data on attendance in school. We do not advise making comparisons between the nations due to differences in data collection methods, presentation and definitions.

National Statistics status

These statistics are not National Statistics and have been produced quickly in response to developing national and local events.