Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) pupils, (b) Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils and (c) 16-18 year-old pupils (i) were enrolled in state schools in September 2023 and (ii) are projected to be enrolled in state schools in September 2030.

The department publishes statistics on the number of pupils at schools in England based on January school census data. Figures for January 2024 are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

As of January 2024, 8,498,587 pupils of all ages were enrolled at state-funded schools in England, of which 3,248,903 were in Key Stage 3 or 4 and 451,638 were in Key Stage 5, which corresponds to post-16 education.

A table showing the figures by school type can be viewed via this link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/de8d81d9-1e57-408a-9fad-08dcca50353d.

The most recent pupil projections, which provide the projected number of full-time equivalent pupils in schools in England, by type of school and age to secondary school, are published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/national-pupil-projections.

Due to the uncertainty in longer term fertility assumptions, pupil projections in this release are published up to 2028, rather than up to 2032 as was the case in previous years.