School Attendance Explained

Whether you are a teacher, school leader, parent, governor or simply interested in education data, start with a question below — or explore the national data yourself.

Start here

School attendance data can look simple, but terms such as persistent absence, severe absence, authorised absence and possible sessions have precise meanings.

These ten guides explain the measures used in school attendance statistics and help you interpret what the latest data for England actually shows. Every figure on them is calculated from the published DfE data files.

Understand the basics

What is persistent absence in schools?What the 10% threshold means, how it is calculated, and why the number of days involved changes through the year.Persistent absence →What is severe absence in schools?Missing at least half of school. How it differs from persistent absence, and what the latest data shows.Severe absence →How is school attendance calculated?Possible sessions, attendance percentages and absence percentages, with worked examples.How attendance is calculated →What is a good school attendance rate?Why there is no single official percentage, and how national rates and the 10% threshold should be read.What counts as good attendance →

Understand absence

Authorised and unauthorised school absence explainedHow schools record different kinds of absence — and why both kinds count towards overall absence.Authorised vs unauthorised →School attendance since the pandemic: what has changed?Absence remains well above pre-pandemic levels. How overall, persistent and severe absence have changed.Attendance since the pandemic →

Explore differences between pupils and schools

Primary vs secondary school attendance: what does the data show?Persistent absence is far higher in secondary schools. How large the gap is, and how it builds through the year groups.Primary vs secondary →School attendance and disadvantage: what does the data show?The attendance gap between pupils eligible and not eligible for free school meals — and what it does not prove.Attendance and disadvantage →School attendance and SEND: what does the data show?Absence among pupils with EHC plans, SEN support and no identified SEN — the sharpest gap in the national data.Attendance and SEND →

Understand the statistics

How to read school attendance statisticsPossible sessions, enrolments, measures, periods and datasets — the checks that prevent most misreadings.How to read the statistics →

Explore the attendance data

The tutor2u School Attendance Explorer brings the official DfE attendance data together so you can compare trends, pupil groups, local authorities and individual schools without working through multiple spreadsheets.

Open the School Attendance Explorer →

About this guidance

This page explains publicly available school attendance statistics and guidance for England. tutor2u uses Department for Education data and primary government guidance wherever possible. Every figure shown is calculated directly from the published DfE data files rather than transcribed by hand.

Attendance statistics describe patterns across pupils and schools. They should be interpreted with appropriate context and should not be used to make assumptions about the circumstances of an individual pupil.

Primary sources: Department for Education — Pupil absence in schools in England; Working together to improve school attendance.

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026 · How this Explorer is built and checked →