Data set from Pupil absence in schools in England

Absence by characteristic

Not the latest data

Published 26 March 2020

Last updated 26 March 2020

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Data set details

• Theme: Pupils and schools
• Publication: Pupil absence in schools in England
• Release: Academic year 2016/17
• Number of rows: 201,626
• Geographic levels: Local authority, Local authority district, National
• Indicators:
  • Authorised absence rate
  • Authorised absence rate exact
  • Number of authorised absence sessions
  • Number of authorised absence sessions for persistent absentees
  • Number of authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of authorised other sessions
  • Number of authorised reasons sessions
  • Number of excluded sessions
  • Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
  • Number of illness sessions
  • Number of late sessions
  • Number of medical appointments sessions
  • Number of no reason yet sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions
  • Number of overall absence sessions for persistent absentees
  • Number of overall reasons sessions
  • Number of persistent absentees
  • Number of pupil enrolments
  • Number of religious observance sessions
  • Number of sessions possible
  • Number of sessions possible for persistent absentees
  • Number of study leave sessions
  • Number of traveller sessions
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions
  • Number of unauthorised absence sessions for persistent absentees
  • Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
  • Number of unauthorised other sessions
  • Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
  • Overall absence rate
  • Overall absence rate exact
  • Percentage of persistent absentees
  • Unauthorised absence rate
  • Unauthorised absence rate exact
• Filters:
  • Characteristic
  • School type
• Time period: 2012/13 to 2016/17

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_identifier	year_breakdown	time_period	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	region_code	region_name	old_la_code	new_la_code	la_name	lad_code	lad_name	school_type	characteristic_group	characteristic	enrolments	sess_possible	sess_overall	sess_authorised	sess_unauthorised	sess_overall_percent	sess_authorised_percent	sess_unauthorised_percent	enrolments_pa_10_exact	enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	sess_possible_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	sess_auth_illness	sess_auth_appointments	sess_auth_religious	sess_auth_study	sess_auth_traveller	sess_auth_holiday	sess_auth_ext_holiday	sess_auth_excluded	sess_auth_other	sess_auth_totalreasons	sess_unauth_holiday	sess_unauth_late	sess_unauth_other	sess_unauth_noyet	sess_unauth_totalreasons	sess_overall_totalreasons
Academic year	six half terms	201617	National	E92000001	England								Total	Total	Total	6899770	2440216810	113475287	82795485	30679802	4.7	3.4	1.3	744275	10.8	235809304	42637902	26187811	16450091	18.1	11.1	7	62280633	6972008	1650025	620815	254972	1805876	.	1903131	6681445	82168905	8984730	1637724	18215770	1626350	30464574	112633479
Academic year	six half terms	201617	National	E92000001	England								Total	Gender	Gender male	3530570	1247454277	58531430	42763862	15767568	4.7	3.4	1.3	386570	10.9	122229924	22414663	13843081	8571582	18.3	11.3	7	31591107	3510186	850755	333893	132593	931321	.	1432572	3652790	42435217	4534716	857327	9425216	835655	15652914	58088131
Academic year	six half terms	201617	National	E92000001	England								Total	Gender	Gender female	3369195	1192762533	54943857	40031623	14912234	4.6	3.4	1.3	357705	10.6	113579380	20223239	12344730	7878509	17.8	10.9	6.9	30689526	3461822	799270	286922	122379	874555	.	470559	3028655	39733688	4450014	780397	8790554	790695	14811660	54545348
Academic year	six half terms	201617	National	E92000001	England								Total	Ethnic group major	Ethnicity Major White Total	5144365	1830414315	87095112	63872507	23222605	4.8	3.5	1.3	572880	11.1	183902624	33847907	20953293	12894614	18.4	11.4	7	49069272	5413547	112429	463306	246782	1401466	.	1455066	5176028	63337896	6687786	1203063	14002019	1148803	23041671	86379567
Academic year	six half terms	201617	National	E92000001	England								Total	Ethnic group minor	Ethnicity Minor White British	4673505	1667704159	78319397	57999226	20320171	4.7	3.5	1.2	505910	10.8	163773720	30144490	18942182	11202308	18.4	11.6	6.8	44711256	4953620	52390	432441	92106	1254444	.	1353446	4668703	57518406	5950416	1097410	12143235	970845	20161906	77680312

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Variables in this data set

Table showing all 35 variables

Variable name	Variable description
characteristic	Characteristic - Filter by pupil characteristic
enrolments	Number of pupil enrolments
enrolments_pa_10_exact	Number of persistent absentees
enrolments_pa_10_exact_percent	Percentage of persistent absentees
school_type	School type - Filter by school type
sess_auth_appointments	Number of medical appointments sessions
sess_auth_excluded	Number of excluded sessions
sess_auth_ext_holiday	Number of extended authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_holiday	Number of authorised holiday sessions
sess_auth_illness	Number of illness sessions
sess_auth_other	Number of authorised other sessions
sess_auth_religious	Number of religious observance sessions
sess_auth_study	Number of study leave sessions
sess_auth_totalreasons	Number of authorised reasons sessions
sess_auth_traveller	Number of traveller sessions
sess_authorised	Number of authorised absence sessions
sess_authorised_pa_10_exact	Number of authorised absence sessions for persistent absentees
sess_authorised_percent	Authorised absence rate
sess_authorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Authorised absence rate exact
sess_overall	Number of overall absence sessions
sess_overall_pa_10_exact	Number of overall absence sessions for persistent absentees
sess_overall_percent	Overall absence rate
sess_overall_percent_pa_10_exact	Overall absence rate exact
sess_overall_totalreasons	Number of overall reasons sessions
sess_possible	Number of sessions possible
sess_possible_pa_10_exact	Number of sessions possible for persistent absentees
sess_unauth_holiday	Number of unauthorised holiday sessions
sess_unauth_late	Number of late sessions
sess_unauth_noyet	Number of no reason yet sessions
sess_unauth_other	Number of unauthorised other sessions
sess_unauth_totalreasons	Number of unauthorised reasons sessions
sess_unauthorised	Number of unauthorised absence sessions
sess_unauthorised_pa_10_exact	Number of unauthorised absence sessions for persistent absentees
sess_unauthorised_percent	Unauthorised absence rate
sess_unauthorised_percent_pa_10_exact	Unauthorised absence rate exact

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Footnotes

1. Absence rates are the number of absence sessions expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.
2. Pupil enrolments missing 10 percent or more of their own possible sessions (due to authorised or unauthorised absence) are classified as persistent absentees.
3. Social Emotional and Mental Health was added as a new type of need in 2015, the previous type of need Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties has been removed although it is not expected it should be a direct replacement.
4. x - 1 or 2 enrolments, or a percentage based on 1 or 2 enrolments.
5. State-funded secondary schools include city technology colleges and all secondary academies, including all-through academies and free schools.
6. Number of enrolments includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between 5 and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the academic year or are registered in more than one school).
7. From 2015 SEN support replaced school action and School Action plus but some pupils remain with these provision types. Those who were formerly School Action did not provide type of need in previous years. Those who remain on school action provision are not included here but have been included within the SEN support category in other tables.
8. Special schools include maintained special schools, non-maintained special schools and special academies. Excludes general hospital schools, independent special schools and independent schools approved for SEN pupils.
9. Minority ethnic group includes pupils who have been classified according to their ethnic group, excluding White British.
10. There may be discrepancies between totals and the sum of constituent parts as national and regional totals and totals across school types have been rounded to the nearest 5.
11. See "Guide to absence statistics" for more information on how absence and pupil characteristic data have been linked.
12. The persistent absentee rate is the number of persistent absentees expressed as a percentage of the total number of enrolments.
13. The definition of persistent absence changed from the 2015/16 academic year - The information presented for years prior to 2015/16 has been produced using the same methodology in order to allow users to make comparisons on a consistent basis over time.
14. Figures for pupils with unclassified or missing characteristics information should be interpreted with caution.
15. In September 2014 the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provisions were introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014. This reform caused changes to SEN categories - Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans were introduced and SEN support replaces school action and school action plus but some pupils remain with these provision types in first year of transition (2014/15).
16. State-funded primary schools include all primary academies, including free schools.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Absence by characteristic statistics and data:

Attendance and exclusions statistics team

Email: schools.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Attendance and exclusions statistics team

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