The most recent census data relates to January 2008. The information requested from this census is shown in the table.
The census shows 34,390 pupils aged five to 19 attending primary, secondary and special schools who are classed as being in care as at January 2008. Data published by the Department as SFR 23/2008: Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2008, shows 47,600 children aged between five and 19 as being looked after as at 31 March 2008. The school census does not cover all looked after children; information is not collected for pupils in alternative provision, including pupil referral units, FE colleges, voluntary provision and those not in education or training. These differences in coverage will explain the different counts to an extent, but it is possible that the school census undercounts the number of looked after children in primary, secondary and special schools.
Pupils whose first language is classified as: English Other than English Unclassified Number of pupils Percentage Number of pupils Percentage Number of pupils Percentage Pupils in care5 31,690 92.2 2,560 7.4 140 0.4 All pupils6 5,795,430 87.2 824,490 12.4 23,020 0.3 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes CTCs and academies. 3 Includes both maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. 4 Pupils of compulsory school age and over were classified by first language. 5 The number of pupils in care collected via the school census is known to be under-reported. 6 Headcount of pupils, including dual registrations, aged between five and 19 as at 31 August 2007. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census