Census date 16-01-2020

Preparing for the Census Primary, Special, Nursery Schools.

Preparing for the Census Secondary Schools.

Preparing Independent census.

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 PRU.

Producing the Census for All Through Schools.

Producing Independent census.

Census Validation Errors Resolutions.

Author: Jim Haywood (Information Officer | Customer Success Team)

Updated 17/01/2020 at 15:30 Problem with reporting of permanent exclusions data (Patch 25589 available)

Currently the SIMS 7 and SIMS Primary census applications are reporting permanent exclusions data where the Exclusion Review Date is in the range 22/04/2019 to 31/12/2019 (inclusive), when it should be reporting permanent exclusions data where the Exclusion Start Date is in that range.  In many cases where Exclusion Review Date is in the said range, the Exclusion Start Date will also be in that range and vice versa.  However, it is also possible for this not to be the case, which will then lead to either that permanent exclusion being reported when it should not be or that permanent exclusion not being reported when it should be.

• When the above problem leads to the report of a permanent exclusion when it should NOT be reported, it will be detected by DfE validation rule 2290.

• When the above problem leads to a permanent exclusions not being reported when it should, it may be detected by DfE validation rule 2485 where the school has followed the DfE guidance regarding entering the E code to represent the permanent exclusion in Attendance.  However, where a school has one of more fixed term exclusions in the data range, validation rule 2485 could be triggered by an absence of at least one attendance E code for a fixed term exclusions.  Conversely, the presence of an E-code will stop the validation from triggering even if it is only there for a fixed term exclusion.

With the above in mind, we recommend that schools do not upload their return to COLLECT until they have applied Patch 25589 (SIMS 7) or until the hot fix has been applied (SIMS Primary) where validation error 2290 is triggered or where there is any chance that one of more permanent exclusions have not been reported in the census.

Patch 25589 is available from SOLUS 3 to deal with this issue.  In SIMS 8 the problem will be dealt with by a hot fix on Monday (20/01/2020).

Updated 17/01/2020 at 11:05 Fileset 1404 is available, but schools are very unlikely to need it

Fileset 1404 is available from SOLUS 3 and as a download from Fileset_1404

You only need to even consider importing Fileset 1404 if you are receiving Query 1849 for a pupil who is NOT aged 3 or 4.  Even if you are in that position, you might consider staying with Fileset 1403 as Query 1849 will not appear when you upload to COLLECT.  However, even if you don’t need it, there is no problem with importing Fileset 1404.

Added 15/01/2020 at 15:00 – Pupil/Teacher ratio for validation 1230 (Primary)

DFE validation query 1230 checks the data entered via each row of the classes panel table of the school census application.  The validation only applies to rows where Key Stage is 1 and/or YTI is R AND Activity is NOT

• Watching TV or listening to the Radio
• PE or Games
• Music, Singing or Drama

The validation is triggered when the Pupil/Teacher ratio for a row is greater than 30, i.e. Number of Pupils divided by the Number of Teachers is more than 30.

For the purposes of this validation:

• Number of Pupils is given by Pupils (On Roll) plus Pupils (Guest) minus total number of reasons given for Class Size Exceptions.
• Number of Teachers is given by Teachers plus PPA Teachers.

We believe that this validation query is operating as expected.

Added 14/01/2020 at 15:15 – Fileset 1404

Fileset 1404 will be made available from SOLUS 3 and as a download from My Account ASAP.

This fileset provides the following changes compared to Fileset 1403.

Attendance Collection 2019 (Maintained Schools in Wales

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

DENI Returns 2019 (Maintained Schools in Northern Ireland)

No change.

NDC 2019 (Maintained Schools in Wales)

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

PLASC 2020 (Maintained Schools in Wales)

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files.  Makes significant changes to validation and the summary report.

Post-16 Returns 2019 (Maintained Schools in Wales)

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

School Census Autumn 2019 (State Schools in England)

Includes version 1.3 of the DfE validation and summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

School Census Spring 2020 (State Schools in England)

Includes version 1.3 of the DfE validation and summary report files for school census 2019/20.  Corrects validation query 1849, but makes no changes relevant to the summary report for this return

School Workforce Census 2019 (State Schools in England)

No change.

SWAC 2019 (Maintained Schools in Wales)

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

Welsh National Tests 2019 (Maintained Schools in Wales)

Includes version 1920.2.5 of the WG validation and version 1920.2.4 of the WG summary report files, but these make no changes relevant to the validation and summary report for this return.

Added 14/01/2020 at 10:45 Validation error 2167 (Each SEN type must be unique)

This validation rule is put in place by Fileset 1403 and checks that where two SEN Needs are reported for a pupil that they do not have the same Need Type.  The problem cannot occur where a school uses SEN Need Type Codes that are the same as the SEN Need Type Category.  However, where school have created their own SEN Need Type codes, mapping them to the ‘official’ SEN Need Type Category the problem can occur.  For example, if I create an SEN Need Type code of ‘Cannot see the blackboard’ and map it to the ‘office’ SEN Need Type Category of Vision Impairment, I will get the error if a set the first two ranking SEN Need Types to ‘Vision Impairment’ and ‘Cannot see the blackboard’.  The problem is solved by removing one of the SEN Needs that map to the same SEN Need Type Category.

Updated 14/01/2020 at 09:00 Fileset 1403 (Released)

The DfE provided its update to the validation and summary report files late in the afternoon of Thursday the 09/01/2020.  Fileset 1403 delivers these files and is available from SOLUS 3 and as a download from Here

Changes to the SIMS detail reports

• Report criteria for the ‘Leavers – Basic Data’ report changed from ‘Leavers with exclusions (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Leavers with exclusions (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019).
• Report criteria for the ‘Exclusions’ report changed from ‘Fixed term exclusions (excluding Lunchtime exclusions) starting (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Fixed term exclusions (excluding Lunchtime exclusions) starting (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019)’.
• Report criteria for the ‘Exclusions’ report changed from ‘Permanent exclusions (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Permanent exclusions (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019)’.
• All references to exclusion reviews removed from the ‘Exclusions’ report.

Changes to the DFE validation

• Deletions:

2342: Review date or review result information is missing from exclusion review
2343: Exclusion review date invalid
2344: Exclusion reinstatement date invalid
2345: The exclusion review result indicates the pupil accepted reinstatement however, the reinstatement date is missing or invalid
2346: The exclusion review result indicates the pupil was not reinstated, therefore reinstatement date must not be provided
2347: The exclusion review result indicates the exclusion was upheld. However, a permanent exclusion does not exist for this pupil
2348Q: Please check: We would expect there to be exclusion review information provided for a permanent exclusion
2349: The exclusion review result indicates an independent review panel did not take place therefore, SEN expert data must not be provided
2351: The exclusion review result indicates an independent review panel took place therefore, SEN expert data must be provided

• Updates:

1849Q: Please check: Pupil aged 3 or 4 recorded with post looked after arrangements would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
853Q: Please check: A pupil aged 3 or 4 eligible for FSM would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
1861: Early years pupil premium only required for pupils aged 3 and 4
2290: Exclusion start date invalid
2470: Attendance information is not required for this pupil as they are either aged less than 4, over 15 or are a boarder
2502: Please check: zero attendance sessions possible recorded for pupil on roll …
3105: The 30-hour code must be 11 digits long and contain numerical characters only
5235: 2-year-old basis for funding is missing or an invalid value for a two year old with funded hours

• Additions:

1495: Please check: no pupils no longer on roll have been recorded
1849Q: Please check: Pupil aged 3 or 4 recorded with post looked after arrangements would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
1862: Early years pupil premium not required for pupils aged 4 in reception or above
2167: Each SEN type must be unique
2295: Due to the appeal process the pupil should not be removed off roll on the same day they are excluded
2470: Attendance information is not required for this pupil as they are either aged less than 4, over 15 or are a boarder
2485Q: Pupil attendance indicates they are excluded but no exclusion is recorded

Although the DfE has not mentioned this in their list of changes, we have found that unwarranted instances of validation error 2550 do not occur when the latest DfE validation file is used.

Changes to the DFE summary report

• Table 9: Pupil count column updated to just count pupils by year group rather than just those with EYPPR = Y & N so the later columns may now not match if invalid value included in EYPPR.
• Table 13: Now supports two terms worth of exclusions (summer term as well as autumn term)
• Table 14 onwards: Exclusion reviews removed and all subsequent tables renumbered.

Added 13/01/2020 at 14:20 Known issue with version 1.2 of the DFE validation file (to be provided by Fileset 1403)

The DFE has informed us of the following issue for DFE school validation (the problem does not exist for DFE COLLECT validation).

Query 1849 (Please check: A pupil aged 3 or 4 recorded with post looked after arrangements would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of ‘RO’ or ‘RB’)

The query should not be triggered where Early Years Pupil Premium Receipt is not included, e.g. pupil aged 5 and above.

Added 10/01/2020 at 16:45 ‘Unable to generate the return file’ message for converter academies

This message will be generated where a converter academy has entered an Earliest DOA in the Establishment panel of Focus | School | School Details that is for a date when pupils could not attend the school, e.g. a school holiday.

Added 09/01/2020 at 14:50 School Census Spring 2020 Validation Workbook

This MS Excel workbook is available from Here and lists all DFE validation rules that apply for School Census Spring 2020, as to be implemented by Fileset 1403.  You can view all DfE School Census validation rules for 2019/20 by removing the filter on Spring.

At the moment this workbook does not include information on SIMS solutions for validation failures, but we intend to add this in time for School Census Summer 2020.

• Version 0.2: Takes account of the DFE ‘2019-20 School Census Validations V1.5.xlsx’ file.

Updated 07/01/2020 at 15:05 Dealing with the DfE change of specification for exclusions and exclusion reviews

Description of the changes to the DfE specification

1. The baselined DfE specification indicated that fixed term and permanent exclusions data is required for one term previous (autumn term 2019) only.  The revised DfE specification indicates that fixed term and permanent exclusions data is required for both one term previous AND two terms previous (summer term 2019 AND autumn term 2019).
2. The baselined DfE specification indicated that exclusions reviews data is required for one term previous (autumn term 2019) only.  The revised DfE specification indicates that exclusions reviews data is NOT required.

Impact of the changes to the DfE specification

1. The ‘Exclusions collect from’ field in the Census Details panel of Routines | Statutory Returns | Schools Census must display 22/04/2019 rather than 01/09/2019.
2. The reasons for a leaver being included in the return must be extended to include those who have no other reason for being included in the return other than exclusion data for the summer term 2019.
3. The collection of exclusions data must be extended to include the summer term 2019.
4. The collection of exclusion reviews data must be removed.
5. SIMS detail reports must be adjusted to indicate that exclusions for the summer term 2019 are being included.
6. DfE validation must be adjusted to take account of exclusions being collected for the summer term 2019.
7. DfE validation must be adjusted to take account of exclusion reviews data NOT being collected.
8. DfE summary report must be adjusted to take account of exclusions being collected for the summer term 2019.
9. DfE summary report must be adjusted to take account of exclusion reviews data NOT being collected.

Method to be used for implementing the changes

1. Database patch 25529 to deal with items 1 to 4 above.
2. Fileset 1403 to deal with items 5 to 9 above.
3. We believe that it is important to deliver the database patch and the fileset at about the same time to avoid incompatibility and the confusion and help desk cases this would generate.

Timetable for implementing the changes

Given the lack of an ETA from the DfE regarding the provision of revised validation and summary report files, we have gone ahead with making patch 25529 available from SOLUS 3 rather than waiting for the DfE to provide the revised files.  Support units can now decide if it is best to release the patch to their schools immediately, even though it will generate return files that are not in line with the DfE validation and summary report, or to wait until the revised DfE validation and summary report files can be provided via Fileset 1403.

Updated 06/01/2020 at 11:25 Dealing with the DfE change of specification for exclusions and exclusion reviews

Description of the changes to the DfE specification

1. The baselined DfE specification indicated that fixed term and permanent exclusions data is required for one term previous (autumn term 2019) only.  The revised DfE specification indicates that fixed term and permanent exclusions data is required for both one term previous AND two terms previous (summer term 2019 AND autumn term 2019).
2. The baselined DfE specification indicated that exclusions reviews data is required for one term previous (autumn term 2019) only.  The revised DfE specification indicates that exclusions reviews data is NOT required.

Impact of the changes to the DfE specification

1. The ‘Exclusions collect from’ field in the Census Details panel of Routines | Statutory Returns | Schools Census must display 22/04/2019 rather than 01/09/2019.
2. The reasons for a leaver being included in the return must be extended to include those who have no other reason for being included in the return other than exclusion data for the summer term 2019.
3. The collection of exclusions data must be extended to include the summer term 2019.
4. The collection of exclusion reviews data must be removed.
5. SIMS detail reports must be adjusted to indicate that exclusions for the summer term 2019 are being included.
6. DfE validation must be adjusted to take account of exclusions being collected for the summer term 2019.
7. DfE validation must be adjusted to take account of exclusion reviews data NOT being collected.
8. DfE summary report must be adjusted to take account of exclusions being collected for the summer term 2019.
9. DfE summary report must be adjusted to take account of exclusion reviews data NOT being collected.

Method to be used for implementing the changes

1. Database patch 25529 to deal with items 1 to 4 above.
2. Fileset 1403 to deal with items 5 to 9 above.
3. We believe that it is important to deliver the database patch and the fileset at about the same time to avoid incompatibility and the confusion and help desk cases this would generate.

Timetable for implementing the changes

1. We completed the creation and initial testing of the database patch before Christmas, but we will not make this available from SOLUS 3 until we can also provide Fileset 1403.
2. Although the DfE provided suppliers with revised validation and summary report file on the 16/12/2019, the revised validation file failed our testing of Fileset 1403.  The DfE will not be able to provide a corrected validation file until after the Christmas break, so the earliest we can provide the full package via SOLUS 3 is January 2020.  Please be assures that we will provide this package of changes as soon as possible, but we cannot indicate a more precise expected data until the DfE provides acceptable files to suppliers.  We have not yet received the revised validation file from the DfE and will be contacting the DfE to request an ETA for their validation file.

Updated 20/12/2019 at 11:25 Fileset 1403

This fileset will provide the following changes for School Census Spring 2020.

Changes to the SIMS detail reports

• Report criteria for the ‘Leavers – Basic Data’ report changed from ‘Leavers with exclusions (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Leavers with exclusions (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019).
• Report criteria for the ‘Exclusions’ report changed from ‘Fixed term exclusions (excluding Lunchtime exclusions) starting (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Fixed term exclusions (excluding Lunchtime exclusions) starting (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019)’.
• Report criteria for the ‘Exclusions’ report changed from ‘Permanent exclusions (01/09/2019 – 31/12/2019)’ to ‘Permanent exclusions (22/04/2019 – 31/12/2019)’.
• All references to exclusion reviews removed from the ‘Exclusions’ report.

Changes to the DfE validation

• Deletions:

2342: Review date or review result information is missing from exclusion review
2343: Exclusion review date invalid
2344: Exclusion reinstatement date invalid
2345: The exclusion review result indicates the pupil accepted reinstatement however, the reinstatement date is missing or invalid
2346: The exclusion review result indicates the pupil was not reinstated, therefore reinstatement date must not be provided
2347: The exclusion review result indicates the exclusion was upheld. However, a permanent exclusion does not exist for this pupil2348Q: Please check: We would expect there to be exclusion review information provided for a permanent exclusion
2349: The exclusion review result indicates an independent review panel did not take place therefore, SEN expert data must not be provided
2351: The exclusion review result indicates an independent review panel took place therefore, SEN expert data must be provided

• Updates:

1849: Please check: Pupil aged 3 or 4 recorded with post looked after arrangements would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
1853Q: Please check: A pupil aged 3 or 4 eligible for FSM would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
1861: Early years pupil premium only required for pupils aged 3 and 4
1862: Early years pupil premium not required for pupils aged 4 in reception or above

Although the DfE has not mentioned this, we believe that rule 2470 (Attendance information is not required for this pupil as they are either aged less than 4, over 15 or are a boarder) has also been updated.

• Additions:

1849Q: Please check: Pupil aged 3 or 4 recorded with post looked after arrangements would be expected to be in receipt of early years pupil premium with a basis for funding of …
2167: Each SEN type must be unique
2295: Due to the appeal process the pupil should not be removed off roll on the same day they are excluded
2485Q: Pupil attendance indicates they are excluded but no exclusion is recorded

Changes to the DfE summary report

• Table 9: Pupil count column updated to just count pupils by year group rather than just those with EYPPR = Y & N so the later columns may now not match if invalid value included in EYPPR.
• Table 13: Now supports two terms worth of exclusions (summer term as well as autumn term)
• Table 14 onwards: Exclusion reviews removed and all subsequent tables renumbered.

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

2019/2020

, we believe that there are two very good reasons why schools should continue to enter exclusion reviews data.

1. Schools have a legal duty to carry out and record the review procedure for all permanent exclusions.
2. 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

Items related to the CTF import contact issue are excluded from the newsfeed, as specific information for that area is available from our CTF 17/18 Contact Issue newsfeed.

IMPORTANT: 2019 Spring Release awareness regarding CTF imports

28/06/2019

Date 02/07/2019 13:00

Following our previous note regarding CTF imports for SIMS Spring 2019, we can confirm that a patch to address this will be available by Friday 5th July.

The patch will be included in the SIMS Summer 2019 release and will not affect those that have already applied the patch to the SIMS Spring 2019 release. The SIMS Summer 2019 release will be delayed until next week (w/c 8th June) as a result.

28/06/2019

Update 04/04/2019

IMPORTANT: SIMS 2019 Spring Release – CTF Incident (Update on 08 April 2019)

29/03/2019 at 13:00 – LA boundary changes

As you probably know, our SIMS 7 Spring Release 2019 put in place the revised list of LAs, which includes 838 (Dorset) and 839 (Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole). From the 01/04/2019 the DfE expects these new LA numbers to be used for CTF imports and exports. In a few cases a new establishment number has also been allocated.

14/02/2019 at 12:25 – CTF versions supported

01/08/2018 to 31/07/2019 (inclusive)
File version 17

Import only

File version 18

Import and export

Updated 20/09/2018 at 10:45 – Service child concerns (England only) – Patches Available

The Summer release added a grid for Service Children Concerns to the Addition Information panel of Pupil Details to allow schools to record concerns that the current school or previous school had regarding a child with a parent serving in the Armed Forces. The Concerns are held completely separately to the Service Children in Education flag, as it is quite possible for a pupil to have been a service child in the past but for them to no longer be a service child. If a record exists indicating a concern for an earlier date, it might be sensible for a school to add a record for a later date to indicate ‘no concerns’ on that date. It might also be sensible to enter a ‘no concern record’ when a pupil is currently a service child. However, it is not advisable to add ‘no concerns’ records for pupils who are not currently and have not previously been a service child, as this might be taken to indicate that they were previous a service child with a concern.

CTF 18 was updated to include the export and import of the Service Children Concerns but unfortunately there is an issue with our CTF 18 Export routine that results in ‘no concern’ records being added to the file when the Service Children Concerns table is blank. On import these become ‘no concern’ records for pupils who may never have been service children.  Two patches are available to support units on SOLUS 3 to deal with this issue.

1. Patch 24298 corrects the coding mistake in CTF 18 Export so that ‘no concern’ is only included in the CTF file when ‘no concern’ has been entered by the exporting school.  This patch does not change CTF 18 Import, as there is no way for the software to distinguish between ‘no concerns’ included because of our mistake and the inclusion of legitimate ‘no concerns’.
2. Patch 24313 removes any ‘no concerns’ records that are found in SIMS where a record does not also exist indicating an actual ‘concern’.

The Service Children Concerns are not included in information sent to the DfE in the School & Pupil Census returns.

Added 04/09/2018 at 12:40 – CME files for leavers (England only)

Some schools are concerned that they forgot to use CTF functionality to provide CME (Children Missing Education) files to their LA for pupils who left the school at the end of the academic year.  Although this may well be an issue for some of the schools in this position, it is also possible that this is not an issue.  There are two possible reasons why this may not be an issue.

1. The government legislation for CME only insists on information being provided outside of normal phase transfers and many of the pupils who left the school at the end of the year may will have been for a normal phase transfer, e.g. leaving a primary school at the end of year 6 to join a secondary school for the start of year 7.  However, some LAs will always ask for the CME leavers information as end of phase transfer can be difficult to define, e.g. LAs with tradition independent schools may have pupils transferring from prep school to pupil schools at age 14.
2. The government legislation for CME only insist on the information being provided and CTF is just one of several ways in which such information can be provided, e.g. some LAs provide a website for entering the necessary information.

Added 03/09/2018 at 17:15 – ULN and URN

On the 1st August the CTF version moved on by one year as normal. This means that CTF Export will provide CTF 18 format files, rather than CTF 17 format files, and CTF Import will accept CTF 17 and 18 format files, rather than CTF 16 and 17 format files. The main impact of introducing the CTF 18 format files is that the school’s URN (Unique Reference Number) is mandatory, in addition to the school’s Establishment Number (LA number + school number).

We understand that the CTF files provided via S2S for adding ULN (Unique Learner Number) for learners is still in CTF 16 format, that is no longer supported for CTF Import. The DfE will be dealing with this matter shortly, but for the moment we must caution against making manual changes to the file names and content of CTF files to ‘trick’ CTF Import into accepting them, as the formats for CTF 16 and CTF 18 are not compatible.

Added 02/08/2018 at 18:00 – The CTF 17 newsfeed will be maintained beyond it normal closure date of 1st  August

As you know, for all schools that have upgraded to the SIMS 7 Summer Release 2018, CTF Export will use the format for CTF 18 instead of CTF 17 from the 1st August.  My normal procedure would be to reflect this in the My Account notification area by making the newsfeed for CTF 17 unavailable.  However, this year I will leave the newsfeed for CTF 17 available so that all items related to our problem with CTF import of contact data is kept available from a single newsfeed.

I have added a link from this newsfeed to the CTF 17 newsfeed and I have also added a link from the CTF 17 newsfeed to this newsfeed.

Added 23/03/2018 at 12:10 – Change Requests 

After the Easter break my colleagues and I will be going through the change requests logged by customers to help decide what improvements would should be making in the future.  With that in mind I recommend you view existing change requests for CTF and add votes and new items to ensure that your wishes are taking into account.  I have outlined below some the methods I have found helpful for viewing and updating the change request for CTF.

Viewing CTF Change Requests

1. Go to the My Account home page and click on Customer Services | View Change Requests.
2. Select ‘CTF (Excluding NI)’ as the Product and add further filters as necessary before clicking on Search.
3. Browse the existing change request and click on any where you want to Agree or Disagree.

Adding CTF Change Requests

1. Either click the Change Request button in View Change Requests or go the My Account home page and click on Customer Services | Log a Change Request
2. Make sure that you select ‘CTF (Excluding NI)’ as the Product and fill in the remaining fields as necessary.
3. If you have any particular opinion as to whether your request should be looked at for SIMS 7 only or SIMS Primary only, you should ensure that you mention this in the description of the request.  If you don’t specify SIMS 7 or SIMS Primary we will take it that you are requesting for both.

Added 22/03/2018 at 09:00 – Overview Presentation

Please note that version 1.0 of the CTF 18 Overview presentation is available as a ZIP from My Account.  Most of the content of this presentation will be relevant to England only, as the WG has decided that the new items will not apply to school in Wales.