Monitor your school attendance - your similar schools comparison reports

Updated Similar schools comparison reports are now available for the 2025 to 2026 academic year on View your education data (VYED). These updates include named higher performing similar schools for overall attendance and persistent absence and your school's indicative attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE).

If you cannot find the answer you're looking for in this guidance, you can raise an enquiry through the DfE Customer Help Portal.

Common enquiries

1. I have not received my report
2. What is your similar schools comparison report 
3. How to access your report 

4. What is your attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE)?

    

1. I have not received my report

Some schools have not received a similar schools comparison report for this term.

If you see 'no downloads available', your school has not received any reports yet. If you have received reports before but cannot see the latest one, check the dates on your available downloads - the most recent release may not have included a report for your school. 

Similar schools comparison reports are only available to mainstream schools (primary, secondary, or all-through) with sufficient attendance data to create statistical matches with other schools. Special schools and alternative provision do not receive reports because their circumstances are too varied for meaningful statistical comparison.  

Your school may not have received a report because:

• your school recently opened and does not have enough attendance data from the previous academic year
• your school recently changed status (for example, converted to an academy) and the system has not yet matched your current and previous data
• your school shares attendance data for fewer than 20 pupils in primary (years 1 to 6) or fewer than 50 pupils in secondary (years 7 to 11)
• your school uses custom attendance or absence codes that we cannot process
• your school has not shared attendance data correctly with the Department for Education
• there are other issues with the data you have provided

Where these issues are resolved, you should receive reports during future releases.

Reports are published each half term and full term according to a fixed schedule. Check that your school is sharing data correctly with the Department for Education

Check your Wonde portal:

• approve any pending DfE data sharing permissions
• disable access control features 

Check your Management Information System (MIS):

• enable CBDS permissions

   

Check your data quality:

• check your data quality: - make sure all pupil characteristic fields are complete (not blank)
• make sure you are sharing Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNs) for all pupils
• make sure you have attendance codes for all pupils from the previous academic year
• You can find guidance on data sharing requirements on GOV.UK

2. What is your similar schools comparison report?

Your similar schools comparison report is a valuable resource designed to support your leadership, curriculum planning and attendance improvement work.

By using your report, you will be able to:

• view clear summaries of your attendance data, including for specific pupil groups (pupils with special educational needs, pupils eligible for free school meals) 
• compare your performance with approximately 20 similar schools matched by demographics (proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, proportion of pupils with special educational needs, Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index scores, school phase and size)
• see which similar schools are performing strongly in key areas (overall attendance, persistent absence, SEN attendance, FSM attendance) and how to contact them
• access your attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE), which is the minimum expected improvement in overall attendance tailored to your school's context
• identify areas of strength and areas to improve in your attendance practice
• track your progress week by week and year on year

Reports cover the 2025 to 2026 academic year. New reports are published each half term and full term.

3. How to access your reports

You can access your report by:

• Logging in to View your education data (VYED) using your DfE Sign-in credentials
• Selecting 'Monitor your school attendance'
• Selecting 'Similar schools comparison reports'
• Selecting 'Your similar schools comparison reports'

If you do not have access, find out how to access your school attendance data

You will have the option to download your similar schools comparison report. This report is specific to your school.

If you are linked to multiple organisations, you will need to repeat these steps for each organisation.

Local authorities and multi-academy trusts

You will receive a .zip file containing individual reports for all schools in your area or trust, plus a summary report.

4. What is your attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE)?

Your ABIE is the minimum expected improvement in overall attendance for your school this academic year.

Some schools do not receive a school-specific ABIE. This may be because your school recently opened, changed status (for example, converted to an academy), or we do not have enough attendance data from the previous year to calculate your ABIE.

If you do not have a school-specific ABIE, you can use the national average ABIE as a guide.

Your ABIE is not an accountability measure and will not be used for intervention, but you may receive an offer of additional support.

You can find out how to use the similar schools comparison report in the monitor your school attendance user guide.

Need support?

If you continue to experience issues, contact your organisation’s approver or visit the DfE Sign-in help pages.

If you have a specific query about that is not covered by this information or the guidance, please contact us using the Customer Help Portal.