A summary of pupil attendance so far this year using data from our Attendance Tracker schools. Absence and persistent absence seem to have improved very slightly since last year, but remain above pre-pandemic levels.
As we celebrate our tenth birthday, we look back at some of the issues we were talking about when Datalab launched, and reflect on some of the other big issues in education today.
Rates of exclusion and suspension have been rising since the pandemic. There are signs from the Autumn term that rates might be plateauing.
Year 7 pupils had low rates of absence in the first half-term after secondary transfer last year but they then quickly accelerated
We bring you this Autumn's absence figures from Attendance Tracker, comparing rates of absence and persistent absence with the previous Autumn and with pre-pandemic
We bring you the latest insights from Attendance Tracker, with early absence and persistent absence figures from the first half of Autumn 2024/25
New statutory guidance for managing attendance, including changes to absence codes used in school registers, was introduced at the start of the year. We have an early look at what the data looks like for the new codes.
We find that absence in AP schools doesn't appear to be associated with how far away pupils live. We also find that subsidiary-registered pupils tend to be absent less often at AP schools than their other schools.
Disadvantaged pupils see their absence rates increase by more than their non-disadvantaged peers on transition from Year 6 to Year 7. We use Attendance Tracker data to investigate why.
