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Analysing your attendance and absence data

Find out how to analyse your attendance data to spot patterns in absences for groups of pupils, identify reasons this may be happening and plan your next steps.

Last reviewed on 15 May 2025
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 43671
Contents
  1. Step 1: access the data you need
  2. Step 2: identify dips and spikes using historic data and national data
  3. Step 3: ask questions and investigate patterns and trends
  4. Plan your next steps

Step 1: access the data you need

Use the view your education data (VYED) service 

You can share your daily attendance data directly with the DfE, through your management information system (MIS).

If you do this, you can access your attendance data using the VYED service. It will give you real-time pupil-level data and – if you're a mainstream school – allow you to compare your attendance with other schools. 

Read more about using the VYED service in the DfE's guidance on accessing your data. 

Sharing your data directly is 1 way of meeting the requirement to provide specific data to the DfE on request, as set out in paragraph 51 of the working together to improve school attendance guidance.

For more on this requirement and how to meet it, see the DfE's guidance on how schools can share attendance data.

When you’re gathering attendance data from your MIS, create separate reports for different cohorts of pupils. This will