Students’ enjoyment of their education suffers a substantial decline during the first year of secondary school, according to two separate studies.

There is a steep drop in school enjoyment scores between children in the final year of primary school (Year 6) and those in Year 7, findings show.

And students eligible for free school meals also report lower levels of enjoyment, trust and belonging than their peers, with the gaps widening throughout secondary school.

Overall, more than one in four pupils begins to disengage from school during Year 7, according to the Research Commission on Engagement and Lead Indicators.

Less than half ‘happy to go to school’

The commission - led by ImpactEd Group - tracked data from more than 100,000 children across England to explore how pupil engagement changed across the 2024-25 academic year.

It found Year 7 students reported lower levels of enjoyment, trust, agency and safety between the autumn and spring of the first year of secondary school.

Students were asked questions to capture their emotional, cognitive and behavioural engagement, and responded using a 0-10 reporting scale.

On average, students in England responded to the statement “I feel happy to go to school in the morning” with a score of around 4.6 out of 10.

The average school enjoyment score falls from around 6 among pupils in Year 6 to 3.8 for students in Year 7 and to 3.2 for those in Year 8, the study found.

The report said the findings point towards Year 7 being “a key point when pupils’ enjoyment of school suffers a substantial decline”.

Girls feel increasingly less safe

Girls reported feeling marginally safer than boys at school during primary school, but between Year 7 and Year 9, girls increasingly feel less safe at school than their male peers, the research suggested.

Data shows that feeling safe in schools falls from 7.21 in Year 7 to 5.89 in Year 9 for female students, and from 7.40 to 6.55 for male students.

The study, led by Professor John Jerrim from UCL Institute of Education, raises questions about how to approach the transition to secondary school. It suggested there is a “strong link” between headline engagement scores and attendance among secondary students.

Secondary students in the top 25 per cent of headline engagement scores are 10 percentage points less likely to be persistently absent than those in the bottom 25 per cent of headline engagement scores.

Dame Sue John, commission chair, 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.”

Sharp drop in those finding school ‘fun’

Separate findings from Axiom Maths charity show a sharp decline in enjoyment and an increase in the proportion of pupils who describe school as stressful as they transition to secondary school.

It found that the proportion of pupils who describe school as fun drops from 73 per cent at the end of primary school to 58 per cent by the second term of Year 7.

The proportion of pupils who said school was stressful increased from 42 per cent to 50 per cent between the end of Year 6 and term 2 of Year 7.

Disadvantage gap in enthusiasm

And while all students report declining enthusiasm, there are significant differences among high-attainers in the second term of Year 7. 

Only 13 per cent of high-attaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds described their learning as exciting, compared with 40 per cent of high-attaining students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. 

Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said that a drop in engagement during the transition to secondary school can be “hugely detrimental to a pupil’s wellbeing and attainment”.

She added: “It is therefore vital that schools are able to access specialist support services that can break down any barriers preventing pupils from feeling happy and secure at school.

“This must include support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and for those suffering from poor mental health - services which are too often out of reach of schools.”