Attendance of pupils in maintained schools: 5 September 2022 to 2 June 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 are not comparable with the data published during the pandemic for 2020/21 and 2021/22. For more details see the quality section below and accompanying spreadsheet.

This release contains additional data on persistent absence by gender and FSM eligibility in tables 9 and 10.

Main points

Overall absence

• The average attendance for this academic year to date is 89.5%.
• The latest week is 22 to 26 May the last week was the 15 to 19 May.
• An average of 87.6% of half-day school sessions were recorded as present for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, down from 88.8% the week before. Data for the latest week is provisional. 
• An average of 7.3% of half-day school sessions were recorded as authorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, up from 6.9% the week before.
• An average of 5.1% of half-day school sessions were recorded as unauthorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the latest week, up from 4.4% the week before.
• There has been a small difference in the attendance rate by gender for the academic year to date, 89.6% for boys and 89.3% for girls.
• The attendance rate by year group for the academic year to date has been highest for pupils in Years 3 and 4 (91.8%) and lowest for pupils in Year 11 (84.1%).
• The attendance rate for the academic year to date has been higher for pupils not eligible for free school meals (91.4%) than pupils who are eligible for free school meals (83.9%).
• The most common reason for absence for the academic year to date has been illness, with 49.1% of sessions missed being for this reason. 

Persistent absence

• 8.4% of pupils have been absent for 61 sessions (30.5 days) or more. There have been 156 days in the school year so far. 
• 18.8 % of pupils who are eligible for free school meals have been absent for 61 sessions (30.5 days) or more.
• 8.4% of boys and 9.1% of girls have been absent for 61 sessions (30.5 days) or more.

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 are not comparable with the data published during the pandemic for 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Main differences in definitions

• 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 to 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".

Pupils who were not able to attend school due to the industrial action on Wednesday 1 February or 2 March 2023 should have been recorded in the attendance register using codes “Y” (not required to attend) or “#” (school closed to all pupils). Pupils recorded using one of these codes are not included in the calculation of attendance or absence rates and would therefore have no impact on the figures contained in this release.

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.