This data set shows the average attendance rate for students in NSW government schools by Statistical Area 4 (SA4). Data notes 2021 data is not comparable to previous years due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to calculation rules to align with ACARA’s national standards (version 3) and changes to the way attendance data is transferred into the department’s centralised data warehouse. Please refer to 2021 Semester 1 student attendance factsheet for more information. 2020 data is not provided because students were encouraged to learn from home for several weeks in Semester 1. Please refer to the factsheet on The effects of COVID-19 on attendance during Semester 1 2020 for more information. In 2018 NSW government schools implemented the national standards for student attendance data reporting. This resulted in a fall in attendance rates for most schools due to the inclusion of part day absences and accounting for student mobility in the calculation. Data from 2018 onwards is not comparable with earlier years. Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs) are only included from 2021. Prior to this SSP attendance data was not collected centrally. The attendance rate is defined as the number of actual full-time equivalent student days attended by full-time students in Years 1–10 as a percentage of the total number of possible student-days attended in Semester 1. Figures are aligned with the National Report on Schooling and the My School website. SA4 refers to the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 Statistical Area 4 (SA4) – 2021. ‘Other Territories’ has been assigned to Norfolk Island Central School, which operated under the responsibility of NSW Department of Education between 2018-2021. Data source Semester 1 Return of Absences Collection Data quality statement The Attendance Data Quality Statement addresses the quality of the Attendance dataset using the dimensions outlined in the NSW Department of Education's data quality management framework: institutional environment, relevance, timeliness, accuracy, coherence, interpretability and accessibility. It provides an overview of the dataset's quality and highlights any known data quality issues.

This dataset includes the number of enrolments in NSW government schools from 1848 to 2023. Data Notes: Since 1993, some students have enrolled part-time. All enrolments are reported in full-time equivalent (FTE) units and include full-time and part-time students. Student enrolments are rounded to the nearest whole number. From 1881 to 1907, primary enrolments relate to students undertaking ordinary public school courses. However, post-primary pupils in superior public schools are included in the primary figures. Primary correspondence school (later distance education centres) pupils are also included from 1938, and the school of the air pupils from 1976. From 1938, post-primary enrolments relate to student undertaking post-primary courses in high, intermediate high, district, junior high, central, superior public schools and correspondence school (later distance education centres). Pupils undertaking post- primary courses in small primary schools are also included. Evening continuation school pupils are not included. For the period from 1881 to 1907 it has not been possible to isolate the number of post-primary pupils in superior public schools and consequently they are included under primary enrolments. This is the reason for the large jump in post-primary enrolments in 1908. From 1962 to 1983, all pupils in special schools or classes (except those in some community care schools who were not counted until 1981) are included as appropriate in the primary or post-primary figures and in the total. Since 1984, students in Schools for Special Purposes have been counted separately. Prior to 1962 it was difficult to ascertain if these pupils are included. Children in hospital schools and schools for the physically and intellectually disabled are sometimes included in the primary figures during the late 1950s, but physically and intellectually disabled children in special classes in ordinary schools are included from the late 1940s. The enrolment figures between 1848 to 1918 are for the December quarter, with those for 1848 to 1851 and 1866 being estimates. From 1919 the annual census figures are used resulting in a sharp drop in primary and rise in post-primary enrolments in 1919. Pupils from the ACT are included until 1973, at which date they numbered 30,457. Data source: Schools and Students: Statistical Bulletin. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

Data Notes Class size audits are conducted by CESE (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation) in March each year. Audits were not conducted in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Data for 2020 should be treated with caution. The collection took place in March when schools were impacted by COVID-19, so fewer data checks were carried out. Students attending schools for specific purposes (SSPs), students in support classes in regular schools and distance education students are excluded from average class size calculations. The average class size for each grade is calculated by taking the number of students in all classes that a student from that grade is in (including composite/multi age classes) divided by the total number of classes that includes a student from that grade. This can result in a lower Kindergarten to Year 6 average class size than any individual year level. From 2017, school size is based on primary enrolment rather than school classification. Schools change size, so data in Table 2 is not necessarily comparable to previous iterations in earlier fact sheets. Data Source Education Statistics and Measurement, Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation. Data quality statement The Class Size Audit Data Quality Statement addresses the quality of the Class Size Audit dataset using the dimensions outlined in the NSW Department of Education's data quality management framework: institutional environment, relevance, timeliness, accuracy, coherence, interpretability and accessibility. It provides an overview of the dataset's quality and highlights any known data quality issues.

Data Notes: Data is collected mid-year (census date: first Friday in August) from NSW government schools as per National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC). From 2020, students in mainstream support classes are reported by their underlying grade of enrolment. Previously, students in support classes in mainstream schools were not included. Students in schools for specific purposes (SSPs) are not included. Students in distance education and Intensive English Centres are included with their appropriate grade levels. OC classes are not included in secondary students. IEC students are included. In most scholastic years there are a small number of students in atypical age groups. For students under 18 years, these have been included in the nearest band. This is indicated with an asterisk. As a result, the sum of each row may not equal the totals reported. See relevant tables in Statistical Bulletin for more details. Data Source: Schools and Students: Statistical Bulletin. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

Data notes Data is collected mid-year (census date: first Friday in August) from NSW government schools as per National Schools Statistics Collection (NSCC). All primary school students are considered to be full-time. From 2020, students in mainstream support classes are reported by their underlying grade of enrolment. Previously, students in support classes in mainstream schools were not included. Students in schools for specific purposes (SSPs) are not included. Students in distance education and Opportunity Classes (OC) are included with their appropriate grade levels. In most scholastic years there are a small number of students in atypical age groups. These have been included in the nearest band. This is indicated with an asterisk. As a result, the sum of each row may not equal the totals reported. See the relevant tables in the Statistical Bulletin for more details. Data source Schools and Students: Statistical Bulletin. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

Attendance rate for semester 1 in SA Government schools by school and year level, collected as part of the annual enrolment data collection in Term 3. Data provided each year from 2018. Important notes: • Attendance rate = (number of days attending school / number of days enrolled) x 100. • Attendance rates are only calculated for full time students who were enrolled or left during Semester 1. • Both whole day and part day absences are counted. • Attendance data is not collected from schools 1717 Watarru Anangu School (non operational), 849 Open Access College, 810 Thebarton Senior College , 583 Marden Senior College, 1012 Northern Adelaide Senior College and 195 Youth Education Centre. • Attendance rates in 2020 are lower than anticipated due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

This dataset shows the student headcount for each individual NSW government school since 2004. Data Notes: National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) enrolments collected as at the first Friday in August every year. All NSSC enrolments are headcount figures for NSW government schools only. Where a school had 5 or fewer students, the figure has been suppressed. A null figure indicates no enrolments were collected for NSSC in the given calendar year. Data Source: Statistics Unit. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

Data Notes: Data is collected mid-year (census date: first Friday in August) from NSW government schools as per National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC). Data excludes support students. Students in Years 11 or 12 can enrol to study as a part-time or full-time student. For the annual census, a part-time student is enrolled in less than 10 units, regardless of where those units are studied. All Kindergarten to Year 10 students are considered to be full-time. Student enrolments are generally reported in full-time equivalent units (FTE). The FTE for students studying less than 10 units, the minimum workload, is determined by the formula: 0.1 x the number of units studied and represented as a proportion of the full-time enrolment of 1.0 FTE. In most scholastic years there are a small number of students in atypical age groups. For students under 18 years, these have been included in the nearest band. This is indicated with an asterisk. As a result, the sum of each row may not equal the totals reported. Mature-age students’ data (18 years old and above) is not anonymised. Data Source: Schools and Students: Statistical Bulletin. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

This mid-year annual statistical publication presents a brief update of tables and charts about NSW schools and students before the release of the major school and students publications. Data is from the census of both government and non-government students, undertaken in August each year. Data source: Statistical publications. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

Data Notes: LBOTE and total (headcount) enrolment figures are collected in March of each year. Most other collections use enrolment data that are collected as part of the Mid Year Census in August. The number of LBOTE students enrolled in SSPs are not broken down for each SA4 grouping. These students are, however, included in the Totals for each SA4 Group. Primary students in mainstream support classes are included in Year 3 to 6. Secondary students in mainstream support classes are included in Year 7 to 10. Historical publications of the Statistical Bulletin compared enrolments in DoE regions. Since 2014 these geographies have been discontinued and replaced with a geographical structure based on the new ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). Groups of ASGS Statistical Area 4 (SA4) boundaries in New South Wales have been combined into 11 groups for reporting and publication of department data. For more detailed analysis of students of language background other than English, please refer to Schools: Language diversity in NSW. As of 2022, Norfolk Island (previously included in NSW total) is no longer under the jurisdiction of NSW, and therefore not included in the figures. Data Source: Schools and Students: Statistical Bulletin. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.