Pupil population, England

This statistical release from the DCSF updates on the number of pupils by age, gender, free school meal eligibility, ethnicity, first language, SEN (special educational needs) and gifted and talented pupils together with a range of class size information.

Key points:
- The full time equivalent (FTE) number of pupils in primary, secondary and special schools stood at around 7.3 million, the same as in 2007, with both the primary and secondary sectors showing a decrease.
- Figures indicate a decrease in the proportion of pupils in state funded schools known to be eligible for free school meals.
- In 2007 the percentage of pupils in LA maintained nursery and primary schools known to be eligible for free meals was 15.9% and this has fallen to 15.5% in 2008.
- In January 2008, 13.1% of pupils in secondary schools were known to be eligible for free school meals. This represents a decrease from 13.4% in 2007.
- In secondary schools, 12.8% of were known to be eligible for free school meals in 2008, representing a decrease from 13.1% in 2007.
- In primary schools the percentage of pupils who were classified as minority ethnic origin has increased from 21.9% in 2007 to 23.3% in 2008. A similar trend is apparent in secondary schools with 18.0% of pupils classified by minority ethnic groups in 2007 and around 19.5% in 2008. These changes may be due in part to an improvement in the completeness of the data held by schools.
- The percentage of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English was 14.4% in primary schools and 10.8% in secondary schools. These figures represent an increase almost 2 per cent points in primary schools.
- There are 331,680 pupils in the Gifted and Talented cohort in primary schools, this is an increase on the 2007 figure of 282,410 and represents 8.1% of the school population. In secondary schools the figure for 2008 was 448,570, an increase on the 2007 figure of 416,540 and represents 13.6% of the school population.
- Some 223,430 (or 2.8% of) pupils across all schools in England had statements of SEN. The proportion of pupils with statements of SEN is similar to the proportion in 2007.
- In 2008 the percentage of pupils with SEN without statements across all schools was 17.2%, which represents an increase from 16.4% in 2007.
- The incidence of pupils with SEN without statements is greater in primary schools (18.1%) than in state funded secondary schools (17.8%). Distribution across the types of SEN is similar to last year. In primary, secondary and special schools the most prevalent need amongst pupils with SEN was ‘Moderate Learning Difficulty’ (around 26%) followed by ‘Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties’ (around 23%) and ‘Speech, Language and Communication Needs’ (around 15%).