Statement from Gavin Williamson on attendance data

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: 

“It is encouraging to see so many primary schools opening their doors to more pupils and thousands of children returning. I want as many children as possible back in the classroom, with their friends and teachers. 

“We expect these numbers to continue to grow gradually over the coming weeks, and primary schools now have the flexibility to invite back more children if they feel ready and can do so within the existing guidance.

“Schools have done an incredible job adapting to welcome back more children, which will continue as secondary schools and colleges reopen for more students this week.”

Background

·       Attendance statistics are published on a weekly basis, looking back at the previous school week. This week data is available up to 11 June.

·       Our narrative continues to focus on comparisons between Thursdays to maintain comparability with previous weeks. Comparisons are made between Thursday 11 June and Thursday 4 June.

·       Around 70% of schools respond to the education settings survey. Before being published, the figures are adjusted to provide a national picture.

• On Thursday 11 June, approximately 92% of education settings were open in some capacity, up from 91% on 4 June. 
• Approximately 67% of settings usually open to children in nursery, reception, year 1 or year 6 were open to at least one of these year groups on 11 June, up from 52% on 4 June
• Attendance was highest in year 6, with approximately 26% of all year 6 children in attendance on 11 June, up from 19% on 4 June. 
• Attendance was around 20% in year 1, up from 13% and 22% in reception, up from 15% on 4 June.

·       We estimate that on 11 June, 234,000 children were attending early years setting, up from 166,000 on 4 June. This represents about 14% of the number of children who usually attend in term time. 

·       Since yesterday, schools and colleges have been welcoming back Year 10 and 12 students for some face-to-face support to help them prepare for a return to the classroom from September. Settings are using a range of approaches to allow a quarter of students in at any one time. The figures for this week will be available on Tuesday 23 June.

·       We will continue to support schools who haven’t yet been able to open more widely to do so as soon as possible.