DfE: National Pupil projections: Future trends in pupil numbers, December 2011 Update

Description	This Statistical Release provides national projections for the number of pupils in schools by type of school and age group. Findings presented here 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 (DfE)'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 DfE, 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 per cent 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 per cent. The number of pupils aged 5 to 6 will increase by 10 per cent. For pupils aged 7 to 10, a 9 per cent 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 per cent 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 Statisticsi' principal assumptions about levels of fertility, mortality and migration and their impact on the school-aged population.
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Additional information	EXCEL (Tables 1 to 3 as published in the Statistical Release)
Additional information	EXCEL (Charts 1 to 4 as published in the statistical release)
Publication’s Underlying Data
Additional information	Zip Archive
Reference ID	OSR02/2012
Coverage Country	England
Date Released	24 January 2012
Main Category	Children, Education and Skills
Sub Category	Schools Click on subcategory link to see if there is later information
Type	Statistical Release
Contact	Fay Tuddenham pupilpopulation.projections@education.gsi.gov.uk tel: 0207 340 7941
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DfE: National Pupil projections: Future trends in pupil numbers, December 2011 Update