Number of schools in the UK 2010-2024

In the 2023/24 academic there were 32,149 schools in the United Kingdom, 601 schools fewer than there were in the 2010/11 academic year. Throughout most of this period, there has been a steady decline in the number of schools, with a slight uptick noticeable after 2019/20, when there were just 32,028 schools. 

Concrete crisis at UK schools in 2023

Due to its affordability, many schools built in the UK from the 1950s to the 1990s used reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Although not inherently unsafe, RAAC is a less durable version of standard concrete, and has a typically shorter lifespan. The issue of RAAC in schools suddenly became more urgent in 2018, when a school roof collapsed, confirming fears that RAAC structures weakened over time. Just before schools returned for the 2023/24 academic year, 147 schools in England were confirmed as having issues with RAAC, with 19 of these forced to delay the start of the school year, and a further four opting for fully remote learning.

Number of UK pupils falls in 2023/24

After reaching a peak of 10.7 million in the 2022/23 academic year, the number of school pupils in the UK fell to 10.63 million in the following academic year. In the same year, the number of full-time teachers in the UK reached a high of 643,491, up from just 621,718 in the 2017/18 academic year. Although the pupil to teacher ratio at UK schools has overall been quite stable in recent years, there was a surge in the pupil to teacher ratio at nursery schools between 2012/13 and 2018/19, rising from 17.5 teachers per pupil, to 22.9