Pupils, attendance and needs explained
What the pupil figures on ABC Edu mean: free school meals, disadvantaged pupils, special educational needs, English as an additional language, and overall and persistent absence.
Checked 18 October 2026 against the official sources listed at the end.
Each school page shows who the school serves and how often pupils were absent. These figures describe the school’s pupils; they are not measures of quality.
Pupil numbers and free school meals
- Pupils and free school meals (FSM) % come from Get Information about Schools, from the January 2026 school census for most schools. FSM % is the percentage of pupils currently eligible for free school meals.
- Eligible for free school meals at any time in the last 6 years is a wider measure used in the performance tables (2024/25).
Disadvantaged pupils
In the results data, disadvantaged pupils are “those who were eligible for free school meals in last 6 years or are looked after by the LA for a day or more or who have been adopted from care”.
Special educational needs
- SEN with an EHC plan: pupils with an education, health and care plan.
- SEN support: pupils with special educational needs but no EHC plan.
English as an additional language
The percentage of pupils whose first language is not English. This is not a measure of how well they speak English.
Absence
- Overall absence: “Percentage of overall absence (authorised and unauthorised) for the full 2024/25 academic year” — the share of possible mornings or afternoons missed, for any reason.
- Persistent absence: “Percentage of enrolments who are persistent absentees - missing 10% or more of possible sessions across the full 2024/25 academic year”.
Different dates
Pupil numbers (January 2026), exam results (2024/25 and 2025/26 provisional), absence (2024/25) and inspections (various dates) cover different periods. Each figure on ABC Edu is shown with its year.