Total Number of Pupils in England Falls by 0.7% in 2025

The Department for Education has released its School Pupils and Their Characteristics 2024/25 data, showing that the number of pupils in England’s schools has dropped by 59,600 since last year. This marks a 0.7% decrease in the total pupil population – the second consecutive annual drop – mainly due to falling birth rates.

The data is collected from the January school census, which gathers pupil numbers, demographic information, and eligibility for school meals across state-funded and independent schools in England.

West Midlands Pupil Characteristics Key Facts and Figures for 2025:

• There are now 944,141 pupils in the West Midlands – a decrease of 6,418 from last year.
• 25.5% of pupils in the region are eligible for free school meals (FSM), just under the national average.
• 1.6 million infant pupils nationally received a free school meal on census day, with 1.3 million qualifying under the Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme.
• The average class size for infant pupils in the West Midlands is 26.3, slightly above the national average.

National Pupil Characteristics Key Facts and Figures for 2025:

• There are 9,032,426 pupils in total across England, a fall of 59,600 from last year.
• The number of schools has increased slightly to 24,479, up from 24,453 in 2024.
• 25.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals – an increase from 24.6% last year, equating to almost 2.2 million pupils.
• Class sizes for infants have dropped nationally to 26.2, the lowest since 2009 and still well below the legal limit of 30.

You can read the full school pupils and characteristics report here.