School Census – October 2024 Return
As you will be aware, the next School Census is on Thursday 3rd October 2024.
All schools are required to produce an electronic Census return. The submission of a School Census return, including a set of named pupil records, is a statutory requirement under section 537A of the Education Act 1996.
How do I submit my School Census return?
Your School Census return must be submitted via the COLLECT website. Please note access to COLLECT is through DfE Sign-in.
All authorities have been given a staggered opening time from which they can upload their Census files to the COLLECT Website. Bradford’s opening time is Thursday 3rd October 2024 at 07:30. Please be aware that schools can upload their return at any point
after this time but may experience slow uploading speeds as other authorities are given access throughout the day. Therefore, please make every effort to upload your files as early as possible.
When do I need to run the School Census?
School Census day is Thursday 3rd October 2024. Your school Census file should be submitted on Thursday 3rd October 2024. Sending your School Census file to the COLLECT website makes it available to the Information Management Team for processing. Please
remember you need to press submit on COLLECT for the School Census once the file has finished loading and validating. When validation checks are completed the file is approved by the Information Management Team and then becomes available to the DfE.
Which file do I send?
380XXXX_SC3_380LL24_nnn.XML where XXXX = your school DfE number i.e. 2999 and nnn = the file number i.e.create the file once it will be 001, if you create it 3 times it will be 003.
Where can I find guidance?
Official guidance from the DfE on completing the census return can be found on the DfE website.
Guidance on how to run the duplicate reports in Collect can be found
here.
Schools need to contact their MIS support unit for Census guidance.
What changes are there for the new academic year?
The following changes have been made by the DfE to new Collected data:
|
Data Item
|
Change
|
Data item N00799
|
childcare places availability has been created to record if a childcare place is available for every parent who wants one.
|
Data item N00800
|
childcare opening time has been created to record if the childcare provision is open from 8am or earlier (if before school).
|
Data item N00801
|
childcare provider hours has been created to record if the childcare provision offers childcare covering 8am to 6pm.
|
Data item N00802
|
childcare closing time has been created to record if the childcare provision is open to at least 6pm (if after school).
|
Data item N00803
|
holiday childcare provider hours has been created to record if the holiday childcare provider is open from 8am or earlier and to at least 6pm.
|
The following changes have been made by the DfE to existing Collected data:
|
Data Item
|
Change
|
Data item N00764
|
learner funding and monitoring (FAM) code – the associated code set CS117 has been updated. Code 01 has been extended to include appropriate pupils and school types, and the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) has been replaced with tutoring. Code 21 has been
removed.
|
Data item N00166
|
pupil SEN type code – the code set CS071 has been updated to include Down Syndrome.
|
Data item N00285
|
childcare provider – a new code set, CS125, has been created and updated.
|
Data item N00787
|
expanded hours has been extended to record up to 15 hours for children from 9 months old with working parents.
|
Data item N00639, N00174 & N00203
|
early years pupil premium receipt & basis for funding – the frequency of collection has been increased to termly and extended to children from 9 months old.
|
Data item N00674
|
programme type – the associated code set item, 30, has been changed to T Level foundation year.
|
Data items N00288
|
type of childcare and N00294: signposting off-site – the subsequent question’s response code ‘YF’ has been updated from ‘including transport’ to ‘including escort’.
|
What data do I need to provide?
Details of current pupils
Hours at Setting
Funded Hours
30 Hour code indicator
2 Year Old funding basis
Free School Meal Start and End Dates
School lunch taken
Top up funding
Service Child Indicator
Post Looked After Arrangements – Formally known as Adopted Pupils
Secondary Schools – Post-16 data
The DfE expects that all basic pupil data such as Youth Service Support agreement, SEN status, eligibility for free school meals, etc is being kept up to date on a regular basis.
Where do I need to take special care?
The areas that cause most difficulties are highlighted below. Please pay attention to these particular aspects.
- Top up Funding is only available for pupils on an Education Health Care Plan where support costs exceed £10,000.
- Duplicate Pupils - ensure enrolement statuses and UPNs are correct prior to submission. Guidance on how to run the duplicate reports in Collect can be found
here.
- All suspensions and permanent exclusions with start dates between 01/01/2024 and 31/07/2024 except those where the exclusion was later overturned or the pupil was reinstated.
- Hours at Setting is the number of hours the pupil attends the setting during census week. You should not include breaks where pupils are not receiving an education.
- Funded Hours is the level of free entitlement of education attracted by the pupil in that setting.
- 30-hour code indicator is an 11-digit integer that applies to all eligible 9-month-olds to 3-year-olds and those pupils aged 4 in year groups ‘E1’, ‘E2’, ‘N1’ and ‘N2’ only, who are on roll on census day.
- Nursery pupils that attend an education provision for 15 hours or less should be flagged as part-time. If a pupil is attending 10 sessions a week in education provision, then they are full time and if they are attending less than 10 sessions a week in education
provision then they are part-time regardless of their hours.
- Pupils who were in receipt of free school meals on 31 March 2018 should continue to receive free school meals until the end of the universal credit roll out, and then until their phase of education ends. This covers until at least March 2025 and applies
even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria. This should only be removed at the request of a parent.
Do we need to send anything else?
Sending your School Census via COLLECT will be accepted as confirmation that your Head teacher has authorised the file for submission to the DfE.
For audit purposes, the Information Management Team recommend that you keep a copy of the summary generated along with the authorisation form.
The school is responsible for the accuracy of this statutory return so it is very important that your school census return is thoroughly checked by the head teacher because:
- Data from the School Census is used to determine your school’s funding.
- School Census data is used by Ofsted and auditors.
- Numbers and percentages from the School Census are used in the DfE Statistical First Releases (SFRs), and Performance Tables.
- Data from the School Census is used to inform local and national policy development.
- School Census data is used in the monitoring of policy implementation.
The National Audit Office and DfE check the accuracy of School Census data.
If you have any queries please contact us here: IMTDataTeam@bradford.gov.uk