Pupils present in maintained schools: 7 September to 23 October 2020

Information on pupils present in schools during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Quality

This information revises all pupil attendance statistics published by the Welsh Government since 7 September 2020. Please see the accompanying quality report for further information.

This data is management information extracted from school management information systems once a week. It covers pupils who were present at maintained nursery, primary, middle, secondary and special schools and includes pupils of all ages. It also includes some pupils from Pupil Referral Units.

The information in this release relates to pupils who were physically present on the school premises for at least one school session each day. Pupils who are learning from home due to COVID-19, including online learning, or are otherwise not on the school premises, are counted as ‘not present’ in this context. This collection allows us to measure the number of pupils that do and do not have direct contact with staff and other pupils at school during this pandemic.

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 week should be treated as provisional. Earlier figures are final and are not subject to change.

Main points

• An average of 85.1% of pupils were present in school over the week of 19 to 23 October 2020. This information is provisional and will be revised on 4 November.
• The percentage of pupils present was highest in the week commencing 5 October 2020, at 88%.
• The percentage of pupils present up to 16 October 2020 is between 2 and 6 percentage points higher than previously published. This is mainly due to this latest data being more complete and up to date.

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Background and context

The Education Minister announced ‘back to school’ plans on 9 July 2020. This included a two week period from 1 September where schools could have the flexibility to focus on priority year groups. The first day that all pupils were expected back in school was Monday 14 September.

Operational guidance for schools from the autumn term was published on 13 July and includes guidance on the recording of attendance.

National Statistics status

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