How to read school attendance statistics
Attendance datasets use several related measures that answer different questions. Understanding the definitions is essential before comparing schools, pupil groups or different years.
In short
Start by checking what population is being measured, what period the figures cover and which attendance measure is being shown.
Overall absence, persistent absence and severe absence describe different things and should never be used interchangeably.
Possible sessions
Schools normally record attendance twice each day. A possible session is a session during which a pupil was expected to attend. The overall absence rate is the total number of sessions missed as a proportion of total possible sessions.
Overall absence rate
The overall absence rate answers: what percentage of possible school sessions were missed?
An overall absence rate of 6.47% means that about 6.5 out of every 100 possible sessions were recorded as absence across the population represented. It does not mean that 6.5% of pupils were absent for the whole period.
Attendance rate
Attendance and absence are opposite sides of the same total. If overall absence is 6.47%, the equivalent attendance rate is about 93.53%. The DfE's accredited absence publication generally reports absence rates.
Persistent absence
Persistent absence answers a different question: what percentage of pupil enrolments missed at least 10% of their possible sessions?
A persistent-absence rate of 18.10% means around 18% of the pupils represented crossed the 10% threshold. It does not mean 18% of all sessions were missed — that figure is 6.47%.
Severe absence
Severe absence identifies pupils missing 50% or more of possible sessions. Every severely absent pupil also meets the persistent-absence definition.
Authorised and unauthorised absence
Overall absence can be split into authorised and unauthorised absence. These categories describe how the absence was recorded. Both count as missed possible sessions.
Pupil or pupil enrolment?
DfE absence releases generally refer to pupil enrolments. Statistics are compiled from school enrolment records, and a pupil can in some circumstances appear in more than one enrolment during a period. Read the notes accompanying a table before assuming a count represents unique individual children.
Term data or full-year data?
Attendance changes during the academic year. Always check whether a figure covers the autumn term, the spring term, the summer term, the year to date, or the full academic year.
A full-year persistent-absence rate should not be compared with an autumn-term figure as though the two measure the same period.
Accredited statistics and more timely attendance data
The DfE publishes several attendance products. Pupil absence in schools in England uses school-census data and is published as accredited official statistics; the figures in this Explorer come from that release. The DfE also publishes more timely attendance information using daily data submitted by schools. Those figures are useful early indicators but can change as registers are updated. Check which series you are using before comparing values.
Percentage or percentage points?
When comparing rates, use percentage points. If persistent absence rises from 18% to 20% it has risen by 2 percentage points, not by 2%. The distinction matters whenever you discuss change over time or gaps between groups.
Suppressed and unavailable values
Published attendance tables use symbols where a value is not shown: x where data is not available or has been suppressed, and z where a figure is not applicable. These are not zeros, and treating them as zeros will distort any total or average. The Explorer shows them as they were published.
Compare like with like
- Is the school phase the same?
- Is the time period the same?
- Is the measure the same?
- Are you comparing the same pupil population?
- Are the statistics timely estimates or later accredited statistics?
- Are the differences large enough to be meaningful?
These checks prevent most common misinterpretations.
Explore the data yourself
The Explorer brings the official attendance data together so you can compare trends, pupil groups and areas 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.