DfE comments on latest attendance figures

A Department for Education spokesperson said:

“We are prioritising children and young people’s education, by keeping nurseries, schools, colleges and universities open.

“Over 99% of schools have been open every week since term began and with attendance remaining high and stable, millions of pupils are continuing to benefit from being in school, both in terms of their education and their wellbeing.”

Background

• The Chief and Deputy Chief Medical Officers have highlighted the risks of not being in education on young people’s development and mental health.
• Pupils who are self-isolating should be provided with remote education from the first full school day that they have to remain at home to ensure they do not fall behind.
• On Thursday 22 October and Thursday 29 October, some schools across England were on half term. To ensure estimates are comparable, school figures are reported as of Thursday 5 November and are compared with Thursday 15 October.
• Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked extremely hard to put protective measures in place that are helping reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted and where they have become aware that someone who has attended has tested positive for coronavirus, they have responded well and taken swift action in line with public health advice.
• The data from 5 November shows most of the groups of children sent home to self-isolate are relatively small, the average (median) size of the group was around 12-13% of the total number on roll in state-funded primaries and 3-4% in state-funded secondaries.
• Around 16% of state-funded schools reported they had one or more pupils self-isolating who had been asked to do so due to potential contact with a case of coronavirus inside the school. The vast majority of these schools remain open to most pupils.
• A lower proportion (8-9%) had 30 or more pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of coronavirus inside the school.
• Schools are providing remote education for pupils who are self-isolating, in line with what pupils would be receiving in school. Earlier this month the Government published a Temporary Continuity Direction, regarding the provision of remote education in schools, under the Coronavirus Act 2020.
• The Direction means schools have a duty to provide education to children at home, as they do when children are in the classroom. This should help provide assurances to both pupils and parents that if pupils have to self-isolate at home their education will not be disrupted.
• We are supporting schools to ensure remote education is in place. We recently purchased an additional 96,000 devices which brings the total to over 340,000 laptops and tablets being made available to schools this term to support disadvantaged children.
• The Chief and Deputy Chief Medical Officers have repeatedly confirmed children do not drive infections in the community in the same way as with other infections like flu. Their assessment remains the risks to children’s education and wellbeing from not attending school outweighs any other risks.
• Both the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister have been clear we will avoid school closures, and we would look to take all possible measures before moving into restrictions for education settings.
• Public Health England collects data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. PHE publishes weekly data on COVID-19 incidents by institution, including educational settings.

• On 4 November, 99.6% of state-funded schools were open, with approximately 89% of pupils on roll in state-funded schools in attendance.
• Attendance in state-funded primary schools was 92%, the same as on 15 October and attendance in state-funded secondary schools is 87%, up from 86% on 15 October.