Census date 16-01-2020
Preparing for the Census Primary, Special, Nursery Schools.
Preparing for the Census Secondary Schools.
Producing the Census for Nursery Schools.
Producing the Census for Primary Schools.
Producing the Census for Secondary Schools.
Producing the Census for Special Schools.
Producing the Census for All Through Schools.
Census Validation Errors Resolutions.
Updated 06/12/2019 at 16:50 Changes compared to School Census Spring 2019
Please note my earlier mistake in describing the rules for inclusion of free school meals taken on census day when also entitled to universal infant free school meals. I have now corrected my mistake below. A big thanks to colleagues who pointed this out to me.
All date ranges are inclusive. I will be adding further detail in the near future.
Updated 04/12/2019 at 11:30 Changes compared to School Census Spring 2019
All date ranges are inclusive. I will be adding further detail in the near future.
Census reference date
16/01/2020
The third Thursday of January 2020 rather than the third Thursday of January 2019.
DfE validation rules modified as necessary to take account of the change of census reference date. This is particularly relevant to the validation of ‘snapshot’ data, e.g. year taught in.
Cohort for pupil level data in primary schools
All pupils on roll (enrolment status of ‘Single’, ‘Main – Dual’ or ‘Subsidiary – Dual’) on 16/01/2020 plus any pupil who left we before the 16/01/2020 who has attendance or exclusions data reported
Although an extra term of exclusion data (the autumn term) is taken account of for inclusion of leavers, that should make little, or no, difference to the number of leavers included overall, as those with exclusions to report for the autumn term are also likely to have attendance to report for the autumn term.
The DfE’s very late changes to the exclusions aspects of their specification are relevant here, which means that the above is only completely achieved in the software after the application of a database patch and series 1400 fileset (to be provided ASAP).
Cohort for pupil level data in secondary Schools
All pupils on roll (enrolment status of ‘Single’, ‘Main – Dual’ or ‘Subsidiary – Dual’) on 16/01/2020 plus any pupil who left we before the 16/01/2020 who has attendance, exclusions or post-16 learner support data reported
Although an extra term of exclusion data (the autumn term) is taken account of for inclusion of leavers, that should make little, or no, difference to the number of leavers included overall, as those with exclusions to report for the autumn term are also likely to have attendance to report for the autumn term.
The DfE’s very late changes to the exclusions aspects of their specification are relevant here, which means that the above is only completely achieved in the software after the application of a database patch and series 1402 fileset (to be provided ASAP).
Attendance
First working day of the schools academic 2019/20 to the 31/12/2019
Moved on by one year.
DfE validation rules modified as necessary to take account of the new academic year.
One DfE validation rule added
Query: Pupil attendance indicates they are excluded but no exclusion is recorded. See exclusions below.
Early years
Up to 15 free funded hours for children taught in year group E1, E2, N1 or N2 who were born between 01/09/2014 and 31/08/2015.
Up to 15 free funded hours for children who were born between 01/09/2015 and 31/12/2017.
Up to 15 free extended funded hours for children taught in year group E1, E2, N1 or N2 who born between 01/09/2014 and 31/08/2015 who have a 30 hour code.
Up to 15 free extended funded hours for children who were born between 01/09/2015 and 31/12/2016 who have a 30 hour code.
Disability access fund (DAF) indicator for children taught in year group E1, E2, N1 or N2 who born between 01/09/2014 and 31/08/2015.
Disability access fund (DAF) indicator for children who were born between 01/09/2015 and 31/12/2016.
Early years pupil premium for children taught in a nursery school who were born between 01/09/2014 and 31/08/2015.
Early years pupil premium for children taught in year group E1, E2, N1 or N2 of a school other than a nursery school who were born between 01/09/2014 and 31/08/2015.
Early years pupil premium for children who were born between 01/09/2015 and 31/12/2016.
2 year old basis for funding for children who were born between 01/01/2017 and 31/12/2017
The date of birth ranges have been moved on by one year.
Free funded hours ‘capped’ at 15 hours rather than 25 hours where a 30 hour code is not present.
Exclusions data
Fixed term and permanent exclusions for 22/04/2019 to 31/12/2019
One and two terms previous rather than just one term previous.
Lunchtime exclusions no longer collected.
One SIMS pop-up validation added to warn of permanent exclusion(s) that will not be reported as final governer review result has not been entered.
DfE validation rules modified as necessary to take account of the change to the collection period.
Two DfE validation rules added (numbers not yet known)
Error: Due to the appeal process the pupil should not be removed off roll on the same day they are excluded.
Query: Pupil attendance indicates they are excluded but no exclusion is recorded. See attendance above.
The DfE’s very late changes to the exclusions aspects of their specification are relevant here, which means that the above is only completely achieved in the software after the application of a database patch and series 1400 fileset (to be provided ASAP).
Infant classes
Number of teachers on PPA (Planning and Preparation Time) or LMT (Learning Manager Time)
Number of pupils admitted under the relevant exception category.
Two validation rules added
Validation error 1245: Number of teachers on PPA can only be returned from schools with a phase of ‘PS’ or ‘AT’, and may only be present where either Keystage equals 1 or the year group equals ‘R’
Validation error 1250: Infant class size exceptions can only be returned from schools with a phase of ‘PS’ or ‘AT’, and may only be present where either Keystage equals 1 or the year group equals ‘R’
Post-16 learner support (secondary schools only)
Post-16 pupils who have been awarded Vulnerable Group and/or Discretionary Bursary funding from 01/08/2019 to 16/01/2020
Notional start of academic year 2019/20 to School Census Spring 2020 reference date.
Collection date range moved on one year compared to School Census Spring 2019.
Updated 25/11/2019 at 18:00 Do schools still need to enter exclusion reviews data?
Even though the DfE have confirmed that they will not be collecting exclusion reviews data in the remaining two school censuses of
, we believe that there are two very good reasons why schools should continue to enter exclusion reviews data.
- Schools have a legal duty to carry out and record the review procedure for all permanent exclusions.
- If schools fail to record the final outcome of the review procedure for a permanent exclusion, the software will not be able to discharge schools legal duty to report on exclusions in the school census.
Although it will not be possible for the DfE to detect either of these two legal failures in their census validation, they could certainly be detected during OfSted inspections.
Added 25/11/2019 at 17:30 Confirmation from the DfE regarding changes to the collection of exclusions and exclusions reviews data
Please note the following excerpt from the DfEs second update for Autumn School Census 2019.
Collection of exclusions and exclusion reviews data
From Spring 2020 we will collect two terms’ worth of exclusion data at each census (as per current Autumn census) pending a quality review with the potential to move to just one term in arrears data after 2020/21.
Information on exclusions review data will not now be collected from Spring 2020. Because we expect schools to provide data about an exclusion only after it has been upheld by the governing body or Independent Review Panel (IRP) rather than as soon as the head teacher has excluded the pupil, analysis suggests that some permanent exclusions will not have been upheld in time for the one-term in arrears census. This will be reviewed for collection in the 2020/21 academic year.
Updated 15/11/2019 16:55 Relevant dates
All date ranges are inclusive.
Census reference date
16/01/2020
DfE notional summer term 2019
From 22/04/2019 to 31/07/2019
DfE notional autumn term 2019
From 01/08/2019 to 31/12/2019
DfE notional spring term 2020
From 01/01/2020 to 12/04/2020
Attendance
Collected from 01/08/2019 to 31/12/2019
Exclusions
Collected from 01/09/2019 22/04/2019 to 31/12/2019
Eligibility for FSM
Collected from 04/10/2019 to 16/01/2020
Learner support (bursary funding for 16-19 year olds)
Collected from 01/08/2019 to 16/01/2020