11.42% Absent On The Last Friday: DfE's Full-Year Attendance Data

Thirty on the register, thirty in the room — enjoy it. The Department for Education published the whole of 2025/26 in August: absence 6.93%, persistent absence 19.05% and rising; an autumn peak of 8.89%, a January "dip" that is really a recovery, and the worst week of the year in July — 11.42% absent on the last Friday. An attendance lead and a class teacher autopsy the year that just ended, find the split that matters (free school meals: double the absence of everyone else), and land on the one thing to write down before October half-term.

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Sources:

DfE — Pupil attendance in schools, Week 29 2026 (End of 25/26 AY), published 6 Aug 2026 — https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools

DfE — Pupil attendance in schools, Week 4 2026, published 5 Feb 2026 — https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools/2026-week-4

Both voices on this show are synthesised (NotebookLM, Google); the research, reading and editorial judgement are done by a serving practitioner.

Strand: Teachers