Department for Education · Explore Education Statistics: absence, SEN, attainment, apprenticeships, NEET, class sizes
Pupils in primary school classes
3,974,132pupils
Pupils in primary school classes was 3,974,132 pupils in 2025/26 academic year, down 2.7% (110,073) from 4,084,205 in 2024/25 academic year.
▼ 2.7% · −110,073 against 2024/25 academic year (previous period)
- Department for Education count
- 2025/26 academic year
- published 4 August 2026
- 019e7401-70d1-73ca-9855-bd7258e5a1ca
- row “Type of class=Primary; Size of class=Total”
- column “Number of pupils”
- cell value 3974132
2025/26 academic year is the lowest figure in the published series: 3,974,132. Rule: lowest of the 11 periods published here (2015/16 academic year to 2025/26 academic year).
The latest year is the largest fall in the published series: down 110,073 from 2024/25 academic year to 2025/26 academic year. Rule: largest year-on-year decrease across the 10 year-on-year changes the series supports.
The series has fallen for 3 consecutive years. Rule: 3 falls in a row from 2022/23 academic year to 2025/26 academic year, with no move the other way.
2015/16 academic year to 2025/26 academic year
The chart as a table
| Period | Pupils in primary school classes |
|---|---|
| 2015/16 academic year | 4,193,180 pupils |
| 2016/17 academic year | 4,265,334 pupils |
| 2017/18 academic year | 4,290,659 pupils |
| 2018/19 academic year | 4,297,570 pupils |
| 2019/20 academic year | 4,272,738 pupils |
| 2020/21 academic year | 4,177,058 pupils |
| 2021/22 academic year | 4,169,888 pupils |
| 2022/23 academic year | 4,172,511 pupils |
| 2023/24 academic year | 4,133,588 pupils |
| 2024/25 academic year | 4,084,205 pupils |
| 2025/26 academic year | 3,974,132 pupils |
Breakdowns
What this measures
The number of pupils taught in classes in state-funded primary schools in England, counted in the January school census as taught during one selected period.
What this doesn’t measure
Pupils in independent schools or alternative provision, or class sizes at other times of the school day: the census records one selected period.
Important caveat
Figures come from the January school census and cover state-funded schools in England unless the metric says otherwise. A pupil enrolled at more than one school in a year can be counted at each. Absence measures use possible sessions, so a school's timetable affects them; the persistent absence threshold was changed to 10% of sessions from 2015/16 and earlier years are on the old basis.
Revision history
No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.
Source
- Publisher
- Department for Education
- Publication
- Explore Education Statistics: absence, SEN, attainment, apprenticeships, NEET, class sizes
- Release
- 2026-08-04, published 4 August 2026
- Source file
- dfe_education.json
- File SHA-256
- afb76754d36baa52c5410f7007a509112e9e745c22d7211a3db5a3371f26c398
- Retrieved
- 4 September 2026
- Sheet
- class_size
- Table
- 019e7401-70d1-73ca-9855-bd7258e5a1ca
- Row
- Type of class=Primary; Size of class=Total
- Column
- Number of pupils
- Cell value
- 3974132
- Geography
- E92000001
- Unit
- pupils
- API
- /api/metrics/primary_class_pupils · /series · /vintages
Related metrics
Government periods
Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.
| Labour 2024– | 4,172,5112022/23 academic year | 3,974,1322025/26 academic year | ↓ 4.8% |
| Conservative 2019–2024 | 4,297,5702018/19 academic year | 4,172,5112022/23 academic year | ↓ 2.9% |
| Conservative 2017–2019 | 4,193,1802015/16 academic year | 4,297,5702018/19 academic year | ↑ 2.5% |
- Release
- 2026-08-04 · publication page
- Last updated
- 4 August 2026
- Next release expected
- Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)