School enrolment bulletin 2017/18 published today

Date published: 27 February 2018

Key Points:

• There are 173,744 pupils in primary schools (Year 1–7), the highest level since 1999/00.
• There are 140,545 pupils in post-primary schools, a slight increase on last year.
• There has been an increase or more than 1,000 pupils in years 8-12 compared to last year, although the number of pupils in sixth forms has dropped by about 1,000 pupils to almost 28,500.
• There are 23,500 pupils in funded pre-school education, a small drop on last year. This represents 91% of all three year olds in the population.
• More than 100,000 pupils are entitled to free school meals representing three in ten of all pupils.
• More than 79,000 pupils in schools have some form of special educational needs. Approximately 5,700 pupils are enrolled in 39 dedicated special schools.
• There are approximately 14,400 pupils in schools recorded as non-white. This is an increase of 4,400 compared to five years prior.
• In 2017/18 there are approximately 90 first languages spoken by pupils, with Polish and Lithuanian being the most common behind English.
• In 2017/18 there are approximately 15,400 newcomer pupils that require extra support, accounting for 4.5% of the school population.
• More than 23,000 pupils participate in integrated education, an increase of more than 500 since last year.

The full statistical bulletin can be accessed on the DE website.