National pupil projections: December 2011
National projections for the number of pupils in schools by type of school and age group.
Documents
Details
Reference Id: OSR02/2012
Publication type: Statistical Release
Publication data: Pre-release access data
Region: England
Release date: 24 January 2012
Coverage status: Final
Publication status: Published
Findings presented in this statistical release update those published in July 2011 (OSR 12/2011) using the latest mid 2010-based national population projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which were released in October 2011. This release is the first time that the impact of the mid 2010-based projections on future pupil numbers has been presented.
This is an official statistics publication. The statistics are presented as the latest available findings and have been released to help planning, to study trends and to inform a variety of programmes and initiatives.
This release presents the Department for Education’s main national-level pupil projections. A statistical release on school capacity was published on 9 January 2012 (OSR01/2012) and included local authorities’ own forecasts of future pupil numbers, based on local level information, such as inter-authority migration of pupils.
The national pupil projections presented in the current release are produced within the Department for Education, at national level only. They are based on the latest national population projections from ONS and cover a longer time period (up to 2020) than the school capacity release (OSR01/2012). Differences in the methodologies used by individual local authorities for pupil number forecasts mean that the aggregated totals in the school capacity release will differ from the national level projections presented here, although the trends are broadly similar.
- Overall pupil numbers (aged up to and including 15) in state-funded schools began to increase in 2011 and are projected to continue rising.
- Numbers in maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools started increasing in 2010 and are expected to continue rising. By 2020, numbers are projected to be 20% higher than in 2011, reaching levels last seen in the early 1970s.
- By 2015, pupil numbers in maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools are projected to increase by 10% . The number of pupils aged 5 to 6 will increase by 10% . For pupils aged 7 to 10, a 9% increase is projected over the same period.
- State-funded secondary school rolls of pupils aged under 16 have been in decline since 2004 and are expected to decline further until around 2016, when the increases in primary pupil numbers will start to flow through.
- By 2015, state-funded secondary pupil numbers aged under 16 are expected to be 5% lower than in 2011.
- State-funded secondary pupil numbers aged 16 and over have risen every year since the mid 1990s. By 2013 (the latest year for which data is available) they are projected to be around 8,000 higher than in 2011.
- These projections are based on the Office for National Statistics’ principal assumptions about levels of fertility, mortality and migration and their impact on the school-aged population.
Fay Tuddenham
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