One in four pupils disengage from school in year 7

More than one in four pupils begin to disengage from school during Year 7, according to the largest-ever study of pupil engagement in England. And for most pupils, levels of engagement are never fully restored.

The findings come from the Commission on Engagement and Lead Indicators, led by ImpactEd Group in partnership with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Confederation of School Trusts (CST), The Reach Foundation and Challenge Partners.

Building on insights from over 100,000 pupils across England through The Engagement Platform (TEP), the Commission tracked how pupil engagement changed across the 2024–25 academic year. The data offers a uniquely detailed national snapshot of when and how pupils start to disconnect from school — and the impact this has on attendance, attainment, wellbeing and longer-term outcomes.

Data shows that levels of enjoyment, trust, agency and safety drop dramatically among Year 7 pupils between autumn and spring and never fully recovers through the key stages.

While pupils in primary school report consistently high headline engagement — averaging over 8 out of 10 in key areas — this declines sharply during the first year of secondary.

Pupils’ average school enjoyment score drops from around 6.0 in Year 6 to 3.8 in Year 7, then falls further to 3.2 in Year 8.

Headline engagement — which includes willingness to recommend the school to others and how happy they are with it  — follows the same downward trend and never fully recovers in secondary years.
 
Pupils eligible for Free School Meals report lower levels of trust, enjoyment and belonging — with the gap widening through secondary.

Girls are more likely to feel unsafe or worried, particularly in Years 7–9, despite showing higher academic drive than boys.

Secondary pupils in the top 25% of engagement scores in November 2024 are 10 percentage points less likely to be persistently absent than those in the bottom 25%.

Less engaged pupils are also more likely to arrive late to school which contributes significantly to the loss of learning across the course of the year.

Primary school pupils are more likely to believe that hard work at school will lead to success compared to other phases of education, with primary school pupils scoring 8.4 for the statement “my marks are my responsibility” compared to 6.8 for secondary pupils.
 
When asked about feelings of safety, pupils reported lower engagement in the early years of secondary school than in primary and also experience a further decline between the Autumn and Spring term in secondary school. Data shows that feeling safe in schools falls from 7.21 in Year 7 to 5.89 in Year 9 for female pupils, and from 7.40 to 6.55, respectively, for male pupils.
 
The study, under the research direction of Professor John Jerrim from UCL IOE, raises questions about how to approach the secondary school transition and the start of Key Stage 3 in English schools. In comparison to international data, while engagement does decline through school in almost every country with data available, the magnitude of this fall is more pronounced in England than elsewhere, suggesting that disengagement is not just a symptom of age, but something atypical happening in our context.

Dame Sue John, Chair of the Research Commission on Engagement and Lead Indicators, said: “It is crucial that we identify the points at which pupils are starting to disengage with school, so that we can intervene to stop a disconnection leading to non-attendance and poorer outcomes.   

“This research provides rich and nuanced insights into pupil engagement at a school and classroom level, which will enable leaders to act fast and understand more complex dynamics in their schools, such as what is happening at age 11 for different pupil groups.”