Date: 11th May 2026
School Census Bulletin 1 – Summer 2026
DfE School Census Date: Thurs 21st May 2026
New Return Deadline Date: Fri 22nd May 2026
As you may be aware, the statutory School Census for the Summer Term takes place on Thu 21st May. We strongly recommend that schools begin to prepare for the School Census by ensuring that, so far as possible, pupil databases are up-to-date and the relevant systems / accesses are in place.
1. Note: new deadline 22nd May
As the half term week is next week please ensure you upload your return on COLLECT by close of Fri 22nd May. This will enable us to check your return during the half term break and be in a position to contact you the following week with any queries raised.
2. Bromcom users: Summer 2026 Census known issues
Bromcom have confirmed that the Summer Census is available to run, and the previous known issues have been resolved.
Please check Scomis / Bromcom school census webpages for latest information.
3. Changes to data items for the Summer Census
2yr old disadvantage funding – all references to disadvantage entitlement for 2-year-old funding is now called early learning entitlement for 2-year-olds.
4. BROMCOM users
4.1. Refreshing the Student Cache
Please ensure that you refresh the student cache before running your summer census return – this will ensure that any recently updated data will be pulled through to your census return. This step is included in Scomis’ FAQ BROMCOM – Quick Summary Guide – Pre-checks and Generating School Census.
4.2. Recording PLAA status for census
We’ve recently identified that some schools may not have been recording PLAA status since the move from Sims to Bromcom. Please remember that the PLAA item is captured in the pupil’s record rather than a panel in the school census routine (as in sims). As PLAA informs pupil premium its vital that you check your census summary and detailed reports;
- Summary report – Table 5 lists number of pupils who fall in different categories, e.g. PLAA, FSM, Service Child.
- PLAA indicator – whilst there is no specific census report in Bromcom that lists these pupils, schools can add filters to their Student List;
Click on the Students tab to list all pupils, click on the filter icon at the top right of the screen to add/remove attributes such as Adopted from Care (and Service Children if you wish). Then click on the columns icon to add the columns to the student list (icon to the left of the camera icon). Once selected, Adopted from Care and Service Children these will appear as new columns in the student list where you can filter on specific pupil cohorts.
5. Early Years Portal – deadline to inform reports needed for census
For this summer census the early years portal and school census collections are based on different weeks. The early years headcount week is Sun 3rd to 10th May (before census).
The EY portal informs the EYPP and EY 2yr old funding reports that you need to complete your census return. New children and parent/carer details need to be submitted by close of Fri 17th May to allow time for the information to be processed centrally.
As the collections are based upon different weeks comparisons of hours held in the two collections cannot be made. However, we will check that pupils in the EY portal also exist in the school census return.
6. Department for Education (DfE) Sign-in Portal – COLLECT
We are aware, that some schools, have in the past encountered difficulties with their COLLECT access. We therefore ask that you check your COLLECT access by logging in to the DfE Sign in Portal as soon as possible https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/.
7. Further Guidance
Our School Census Quick Guide, Supporting Guide (indicating census data items in Bromcom) and checklist are available at School Census – Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk).
Scomis Summer Census bulletin has the latest information on Bromcom guides and any known issues.
Bromcom Summer 2026 School Census home page
Bromcom school census guide is available via Summer 2026 School Census Guide – Bromcom – Documentation Centre
Bromcom error resolutions for the Summer 2026 return is available via Summer 2026 Error Resolutions Guide – Bromcom – Documentation Centre
If you have any queries, or if this is your first census, please email census@devon.gov.uk and someone from the Education Information Team will contact you to provide support and guidance.
Kind regards,
Education Information Team (EdIT)