Attendance of pupils in maintained schools: 5 to 23 September 2022

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

There is no data for 19 September 2022 due to the bank holiday for the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In addition to the regular revisions to the previous two weeks of data, the data has also been revised due to an error in the date of birth range used in the processing of the data. Of the 0.6 percentage point downwards revision for the percentage of half-day school sessions recorded as present for pupils aged 5 to 15 during the week of 12 to 16 September 2022, 0.4 percentage points is due to the correction to the date of birth range with the remaining 0.2 percentage points being the change from more up to date information from schools.

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.

Main points

• An average of 90.6% of half-day school sessions were recorded as present for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the week of 20 to 23 September 2022, down from 92.4% the week before. The figure for 12 to 16 September 2022 has been revised down from 93.0%. Data for the latest two weeks is provisional.
• An average of 6.5% of half-day school sessions were recorded as authorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the week of 20 to 23 September 2022, up from 5.1% the week before.
• An average of 3.0% of half-day school sessions were recorded as unauthorised absence for pupils aged 5 to 15 over the week of 20 to 23 September 2022, up from 2.5% the week before.

Future analysis

We will add comparisons to attendance before the pandemic, tables on absence by pupil characteristics including gender, age and free school meal eligibility and tables on persistent absence over the coming weeks as more data becomes available and is finalised.

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.

The 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'. 

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.