Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school days were lost due to weather conditions in each year since 2010.

The department does not specifically collect data on school days lost due to weather conditions.

From the start of the 2024/25 academic year, it became mandatory for schools to share attendance data with the department. Attendance data can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.

Other attendance statistics and past releases are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence. This shows pupil absence statistics from May 2010 onwards and pupil attendance statistics from September 2022.

It is for individual settings and responsible bodies to determine their approach to closure based on their own risk assessment. Closures should be considered a last resort, and the imperative is for settings to remain open where it is safe to do so. Where a school was planning to be open for a session but then has to close unexpectedly, for example due to adverse weather, the attendance register is not taken as usual because there is no session. For statistical purposes this is counted as a ‘not possible’ attendance.

Where settings are temporarily closed, individual settings and responsible bodies should consider providing remote education for the duration of the closure in line with departmental guidance. Providing remote education does not change the imperative to remain open, or to reopen as soon as possible. Pupils who are absent from school and receiving remote education still need to be recorded as absent using the most appropriate absence code. Schools should keep a record of and monitor pupil’s engagement with remote education, but this is not formally tracked in the attendance register. Guidance for schools on providing remote education is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools. Additional guidance for parents on remote education is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-information-to-parents-template.