The information requested is shown in the table.
The information provided is from the School Census however this is not the usual source of data for information on children in care. Usually we would use the looked after children database but this does not hold all the details requested here.
The School Census shows that there were 34,390 pupils aged 5 to 19 attending primary, secondary and special schools and classed as being in care as at January 2008. Data published by the Department in “SFR 23/2008: Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2008” show 47,600 children aged between 5 and 19 as being looked after as at 31 March 2008. However, 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.
Number of pupils3,4 England 430 North East 20 Darlington 5— Durham 10 Gateshead 0 Hartlepool 0 Middlesbrough 10 Newcastle upon Tyne 5— North Tyneside 5— Northumberland 5— Redcar and Cleveland 0 South Tyneside 5— Stockton-on-Tees 5— Sunderland 5— North West 120 Blackburn with Darwen 5— Blackpool 5— Bolton 10 Bury 5— Cheshire 10 Cumbria 10 Halton 5— Knowsley 0 Lancashire 20 Liverpool 10 Manchester 20 Oldham 5— Rochdale 5— Salford 5— Sefton 5— St. Helens 5— Stockport 10 Tameside 5— Trafford 10 Warrington 5— Wigan 5— Wirral 10 Yorkshire and the Humber 50 Barnsley 5— Bradford 10 Calderdale 5— Doncaster 5— East Riding of Yorkshire 5— Kingston upon Hull, City of 5— Kirklees 5— Leeds 10 North East Lincolnshire 0 North Lincolnshire 5— North Yorkshire 5— Rotherham 5— Sheffield 10 Wakefield 5— York 5— East Midlands 30 Derby 5— Derbyshire 10 Leicester 10 Leicestershire 5— Lincolnshire 5— Northamptonshire 10 Nottingham 5— Nottinghamshire 0 Rutland 0 West Midlands 50 Birmingham 20 Coventry 0 Dudley 10 Herefordshire 0 Sandwell 0 Shropshire 10 Solihull 5— Staffordshire 5— Stoke-on-Trent 5— Telford and Wrekin 5— Walsall 5— Warwickshire 5— Wolverhampton 5— Worcestershire 5— East of England 30 Bedfordshire 5— Cambridgeshire 0 Essex 10 Hertfordshire 5— Luton 5— Norfolk 5— Peterborough 5— Southend-on-Sea 5— Suffolk 5— Thurrock 5— London 70 Inner London 30 Camden 5— City of London 0 Hackney 10 Hammersmith and Fulham 10 Haringey 0 Islington 5— Kensington and Chelsea 5— Lambeth 10 Lewisham 5— Newham 5— Southwark 5— Tower Hamlets 10 Wandsworth 5— Westminster 5— Outer London 30 Barking and Dagenham 0 Barnet 5— Bexley 5— Brent 5— Bromley 0 Croydon 5— Ealing 5— Enfield 5— Greenwich 10 Harrow 5— Havering 5— Hillingdon 5— Hounslow 5— Kingston upon Thames 0 Merton 0 Redbridge 5— Richmond upon Thames 5— Sutton 5— Waltham Forest 5— South East 40 Bracknell Forest 0 Brighton and Hove 5— Buckinghamshire 5— East Sussex 5— Hampshire 5— Isle of Wight 5— Kent 10 Medway 5— Milton Keynes 0 Oxfordshire 5— Portsmouth 5— Reading 5— Slough 5— Southampton 0 Surrey 10 West Berkshire 0 West Sussex 0 Windsor and Maidenhead 5— Wokingham 0 South West 20 Bath and North East Somerset 5— Bournemouth 0 Bristol, City of 5— Cornwall 0 Devon 5— Dorset 5— Gloucestershire 5— Isles of Scilly 0 North Somerset 0 Plymouth 5— Poole 5— Somerset 5— South Gloucestershire 0 Swindon 5— Torbay 5— Wiltshire 5— 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes city technology colleges and academies. 3 Pupils aged 5-19. 4 Includes dually registered pupils. 5 Less than 5. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census.
The information requested is shown in the table.
Number of pupil enrolments with an absence rate of 50 per cent. or above4, 5 Eligible for free school meals6 Not eligible for free school meals6 Eligibility for free school meals unknown6 Total Primary schools1 1,700 2,870 8,080 12,640 State funded secondary schools1, 2 10,370 19,380 10,780 40,530 Special schools3 960 1,690 590 3,240 Total 13,030 23,940 19,440 56,410 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes CTCs and academies. 3 Includes both maintained and non-maintained special schools. 4 Absence rate is the total number of half day sessions missed due to authorised and unauthorised absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions. 5 Number of pupil enrolments in schools from start of the school year up until 23 May 2008. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school). 6 Eligible for free school meals at the time of the January 2008 Census. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census
The information is a variation of table 3.2 in SFR03/2009, which was revised on 21 April 2009.
Absence data are collected a term in arrears. Therefore, for each census, schools provide data for pupils who have left the school, in which case free school meal eligibility may not be available. The table includes all enrolments, regardless of duration of enrolment. Some enrolments may be short term.