School Census – Quick Guide

• Schools funding for the 2025/26 financial year is based on the autumn It is therefore vital that your pupil information is complete and accurate.
• The Pupil Premium funding for the 2025/26 financial year is based on the autumn census. It is therefore vital that your pupil information is complete and accurate – Free School Meal eligibility, Post Looked After Arrangements (previously Adopted from Care) and Service Children indicator.
• Early Years Funding – the DfE advise that the Early Years block of the 2025/26 school funding allocation to the Local Authority will be based on the spring census for existing entitlements (funded and extended hours for disadvantaged 2yr olds and 3 and 4 yr olds).  The funding allocations for the new expanded hours entitlement for working parents aged 2yrs and under will be based on termly data from the 2024 summer term, 2024 autumn term and the 2025 spring census. It is therefore vital that your Early Years pupils and hours is complete and accurate.
• Early Years Pupil Premium funding for the 2025/26 financial year is based on the spring census for 3 and 4 yr olds.  As 2024 to 2025 is the first year that 2 yr olds to 9 months will be eligible for EYPP these funding allocations will be based on termly headcounts in summer and autumn 2024, and the January 2025 census. It is therefore vital that your pupil information is complete and accurate.
• The take up of Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) informs the Universal Infant Free School Meals Grant so it is important that the School Dinner Taken section of the census is correct (schools with infant pupils only).
• High Needs funding.  The Department for Education is using the top-up funding indicator in the new high needs national funding allocation. As such, it is very important that all schools complete census returns correctly and follow the guidance provided.

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The following changes apply to the spring census;

• SEN type – now includes an option for Down Syndrome.

• Attendance codes have been updated to reflect the new codes which came into force from 19 August 2024 for the autumn term and will be recorded in the spring 2025 census. Please see Appendix B attendance codes for full list (includes all new codes). The new codes for the autumn term will be collected in the spring school census.

• Six new ethnicity codes have been added so the ethnicity groups now align with the 2021 Census (ONS). These are ABRI (Asian – British), AWEL (Asian – Welsh), BBRI (Black – British), BWEL (Black – Welsh), and ORAB (Arab). All are main codes except ORAB which is an extended code and covered by the main code of OOTH (Any other ethnic group). The description of WIRT has been updated to ‘Irish Traveller’.  However the DfE are not using these where they have been reported in this census. They therefore suggest that schools that haven’t already made use of these codes should delay the use of them until the 2025/26 academic year.

The items listed below relate to the collection of childcare provision in the spring census.  Sims users: Scomis provide some detailed information on the changes in their spring school census bulletin, including the need for consolidated workstation patches.

• Type of childcare – signposting off-site question – the ‘yes formal arrangements with another provider’ response has been updated from ‘including transport’ to ‘including escort’, now states “yes, we have formal arrangements with another provider for them to provide childcare to our pupils, including escort to or from the site”.

• Childcare places availability – this new supplementary question will record if a childcare place is available for every parent who wants one

• Childcare opening time – where off-site service response is ‘yes – formal arrangements’ this new supplementary question records whether the childcare provision is open from 8am or earlier (if before school) – applies to before school childcare

• Childcare provider hours – where off-site service response is ‘yes – list of providers’ this new supplementary question records whether the childcare provision offers childcare covering 8am to 6pm – applies to before school childcare, after school childcare and holiday childcare

• Childcare closing time – where off-site service response is ‘yes – formal arrangements’ this new supplementary question records whether the childcare provision is open to at least 6pm (if after school) – applies to after school childcare

• Holiday childcare provider – where off-site service response is ‘yes – formal arrangements’ this new supplementary question records whether the holiday childcare provider is open from 8am or earlier and to at least 6pm – applies to holiday childcare

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• Attendance data items – the aggregated ‘sessions missed due to authorised absence’, ‘sessions missed due to unauthorised absence’, ‘sessions attending an approved educational activity’ and ‘sessions missed due to an exceptional circumstance’ fields will be discontinued from spring 2025 census.

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There are no known issues at this time.

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School details – basic details, such as name, phase, governance, address and telephone number

Pupil details

• UPN, name, address, date of birth, sex
• enrolment status, national curriculum year group, part time indicator
• service child indicator
• young carer indicator
• first language, ethnicity
• free school meal eligibility start and end dates, including pupils in NCY R – 2 for whom a claim has been made and confirmed as eligible
• early years funded hours, extended childcare hours, expanded hours, hours at setting, eligibility code, disability access fund indicator (schools with nursery pupils)
• early years pupil premium receipt and basis for funding
• early years two year old basis for funding
• ULN, youth support services agreement indicator (secondary schools, special schools)
• learner support code (secondary schools with 6th form)
• class type (primary schools only, where class type is nursery or other)
• school dinner taken (for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils)
• SEN status (i.e. education, health and care plans (E), or SEN support (K)
• member of SEN unit or resource provision
• top-up funding indicator (pupils with special educational needs)
• post looked after arrangements

Attendance (autumn 24/25 term): 01/08/2024 to 31/12/2024

Suspensions & Exclusions (summer 23/24 term & autumn 24/25 term): 01/04/2024 to 31/12/2024

Free School Meal (FSM): 04/10/2024 to 16/01/2025

Alternative Provision placements: 03/10/2024 to 15/01/2025 (inclusive)

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To minimise the impact of the rollout of universal credit and the introduction of an income threshold for eligibility purposes, transitional arrangements are in place to ensure that no pupil loses a meal as a result of these changes.

The transitional protections ensure that any pupil in receipt of free school meals on 31 March 2018 or after, should continue to receive free school meals until the end of the universal credit roll out period, 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.
Consequently, schools should not enter FSM end dates in the school census unless;

• a parent has said that they do not wish the child to be recorded as eligible for free school meals and receive a free school meal
• a pupil transfers from another UK country – their non-English free school meals must have an end date
• a parent notifies the school that their support under the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 or the pension credit has ended
• a parent notifies the school that they no longer qualify for free school meals under the criteria for families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

Note:

• If an end date is required against a pupil’s free school meal record, then a suitable note will need to be added to your census in COLLECT. For example, parent has been informed that the FSM is protected but they wish to cancel their claim.
• The DfE transitional status only applies at a child claim level and not at family level. This means that a claim must be made for each child as there is no longer an automatic entitlement resulting from siblings already being eligible.

Further information is available from:

https://www.devon.gov.uk/educationandfamilies/school-information/school-meals

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities

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Schools with early years provision need to determine which census should record their provision by applying the DfE’s guidance as indicated below;

Schools with funded onsite early years provision make their return via either the school census or the early years census, BUT NOT BOTH.

• registered pupils of the school (2, 3 and 4 year olds depending on the statutory age range of the school) are recorded via the school census
• children (aged 2, 3 and 4) attending a separate Ofsted registered PVI (private, voluntary or independent) provider on a school site, are recorded via the early years census
• children attending provision provided by a school governing body under Section 27 of the Education Act 2002 – (s27 (governor run) provision), should be either:
  • recorded via the school census if they are registered pupils of the school (can include 2-year olds if the school’s statutory age range covers 2-year olds); or
  • recorded via the early years census if they are not registered pupils of the school.

Where a child’s free entitlement is split between more than one setting, they may appear on the two different censuses. In such a case, the number of funded hours for each child across all provision is limited to 15 hours (free entitlement) and 15 additional hours (extended entitlement or expanded entitlement).

Early Years Pupils in NCY E2 and E1
Children turning 2 years old fall into the ‘E2’ year group and, if on the schools’ admission register and in receipt of education, they must be included in your census return.

The Department for Education do not expect any younger children falling into the ‘E1’ year group to be in receipt of education and should not be on the school’s admissions register. If schools need to record children in ‘E1’ within their MIS, these should be recorded with an enrolment status of ‘Guest’ and not brought through into the census.

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Make sure, so far as possible, that your pupil database is up to date.  Some pupil information is subject to change so please check the following:

• All new pupils are on your system, including pupils who deferred entry until this term.

• Any leavers have been properly recorded.

• Free School Meal eligibility, please see legislation changes on previous section.
  • Note: Pupil Premium funding is generated by pupils aged 4 and above in Years R-11 who are/have been eligible for Free School Meals during the last six years (except pupils aged 5 or over with Subsidiary Registration or whose FSM Country was Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland).

• Special Education Needs pupils are properly recorded, pupils on SEN Support or who have an EHCP may also need a Resourced Provision or Special Unit indicator.  In the spring census they also require a SEN Need Type and Rank, e.g. SLD, ASD.

• Service children are recorded in sims.
  • Note: Pupil Premium will be generated for Service Children in years R-11 who are single or dual main registered. 

• Attendance for all schools (except Nursery) – please ensure that attendance data for the previous term is free of missing marks and N codes. N codes (No reason given) should only be used temporarily as it counts as an unauthorised absence and impacts on your performance data.

• Ensure suspensions and exclusions data is accurate, these are collected for the last two terms.

• Schools with pupils in Year 8 and above should check the Youth Services Support Agreement information is up to date.

• Governor run pre-schools – please ensure that pupils in Governor run pre-schools are not included in the census. Funding for these pupils is via Early Years Funding and not School Census. For further clarification please see section ’Which census should early years children be reported in’. If you have entered these children on SIMS please ensure their enrolment status is Guest so they are excluded from the census (via Tools | Pupils | Change Enrolment Status).

• Early years children – where children should be included in your census, please check that their funded hours, extended/expanded funded hours and hours at setting have been updated to reflect census week.  Some children may also be in receipt of the Disability Access Fund. Eligibility for 2 year old funding and early years pupil premium is now also collected every term.

• Schools with Part-Time pupils in Reception or Nursery must be recorded as such. Statutory age pupils on part-time timetables or flexi-schooling arrangements must be recorded as full-time and the school is deemed to be ‘authorising’ the agreed times when a pupil is absent (absence code X or the new C2 would be used).

Please make sure that your census data is checked and updated as soon as possible and any members of staff involved in this process (including those dealing with attendance and exclusions) are given enough notice. We advise you to complete a dry run as soon as possible to check your data.

SIMS upgrade version

Schools must have upgraded to version 7.220 or above and must have imported the most up to date fileset which includes the official DfE validation and summary report files. 

Fileset 2903 at the time of publication. If you are a hosted school the fileset is applied by Scomis for you. Non-hosted schools need to upgrade themselves and import the fileset, further details can be found on the Scomis Spring 2025 Census fileset webpage.

Please do not upload a file until you are sure the latest census fileset has been imported.  As you are aware it is not unusual to have School Census filesets containing fixes issued close to the census date. It is therefore important that schools check the Scomis webpage for the latest information on any further filesets.

If you have not yet upgraded to version 7.220 please do so as a matter of urgency. If you are encountering difficulties in upgrading please contact Scomis on 01392 385300 and send an email notification to census@devon.gov.uk.

If this is the first time you are running a school census please email census@devon.gov.uk so someone from the Education Information Team can contact you to provide guidance and support.

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In sims.net select Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census

Please ensure that the Term is set to Spring 2025 and select an appropriate file path for the Census Folder. Please remember that the census holds sensitive data so care must be taken when selecting the relevant folder and schools must be mindful of their responsibilities with respect to information security.

When running the census for the first time select the New button to create a census file and then Open (in future instances you can then Search and Open the existing file being working on it).

Select Calculate All Details to collect the data from SIMS into a census file.

Note: You should only Calculate All Details the first time you are preparing the file. After this, each time you update your census you should select Create & Validate.  (If you click Calculate All Details later, it will overwrite any previously collected or edited data in the census panels with the data stored in sims itself).

Once you have clicked on Calculate All Details a screen appears which says the following;

This will calculate the details below.  You need to do this at least once for each return.  Data previously collected or edited will be overwritten.  Proceed with calculating details?

Click Yes if this is a new return that you are creating.

Click No if it’s an existing return that you are working on, you should click on Create and Validate to update your census with any amendments that you have made.

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You can navigate through the census either by using the scroll bar to the right of the screen or by selecting the relevant section from the Quick Links as indicated below;

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If you need to make any amendments please select the School Detail button and amend.

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Schools must indicate whether they provide childcare on site, signpost people to other childcare or do both of these for the following four types of childcare;

• Before School
• After School
• Under 5
• Holiday

Please note:

• Schools may offer both on-site provision and signpost to off-site childcare
• Schools who do not provide on-site childcare and do not signpost off-site provision must enter a No for onsite and No for signposting against each type of childcare

Detailed definitions of childcare provision and further clarification from the DfE can be found on the DfE website – guidance for the school census.

The following information is collected;

Childcare type – indicates if childcare is before school, after school, holiday or for under fives
On Site – “yes” if childcare is provided on the school premises, “no” if childcare is not being provided on the school premises, e.g. your school points parents to off-site childcare such as a private or voluntary organisation.
Signposted – one of the following must be selected;

• yes, formal arrangements – use if your school has formal arrangements with another provider to provide childcare for your pupils, including escort to or from their site,
• yes, list of providers that pick up from school – use if your school has a list of local providers that will pick up from the school to help parents
• no – school has no arrangements for off-site provision
• not known – school does not know of any off-site provision.

Opening times – the time that the service becomes available (not applicable to after school care), please note that the time must be in 24 hour format and entered as hh:mm, e.g. 07:00
Closing times – the time that the service closes (not applicable to before school care), please note that the time must be in 24 hour format and entered as hh:mm, e.g. 17:30
Number of Childcare Places – maximum number of childcare places that the service can provide, this is the total available capacity and not the number of children who attend each day.
Provider – indicates who provides the childcare: school, school in partnership (with another provider) or other (non-school) provider
Other Schools – indicates whether the service is available to children from other schools
Weeks Open – the number of weeks for which childcare is provided (applicable to holiday and under-fives childcare only).

Sims users;
To enter or amend the information click on section 3 Childcare in the quick links options (or go to Focus | School | School Details) and then click on Edit.
The School Details Panel then appears where you click on section 6 Childcare to open the Childcare Panel. Any current childcare details will then appear in the panel.
If you need to change any existing details highlight the relevant entry and click Open.
Once you have entered the information click on Ok.
Please note:

• If Before School Childcare is selected the closing time and weeks open is not required
• If After School Childcare is selected the opening time and weeks open is not required
• If Holiday Childcare or Under Fives Childcare is selected the opening and closing times and weeks open are required
• Under Fives Childcare should only be recorded if the childcare offer is for at least 9 hours a day, do not include provision that is only available during school hours or where children can only attend a morning or afternoon session
• Under Fives Childcare is only for pre-school children, children in Reception Class would not be included in this section as they would be in one of the other categories as they will be attending school, e.g. Before or After School Childcare, as they will be attending school

Once you have finished editing your childcare records click Save in the School Details window and then click OK to return to the School Census window.
The Childcare Panel in the School Census will then be populated with the childcare provision.

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Schools should provide the total compulsory time pupils spend in school, in a typical 5 day week. The number of hours must be recorded to 2 decimal places to the nearest 15 minutes. Where a school is open for 32 and a half hours, for example, this is recorded as 32.50, with 32 and three-quarter hours being 32.75).

This includes the total time each day from the official start of the compulsory school day (from the start of morning registration) to when the compulsory school day ends, (official home time).

This figure will be inclusive of breaks, as these form part of the total compulsory school day, however it will not include optional activities either before or after school. The data entered should be representative for pupils aged 5 to 16 in the school.

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Funded hours, extended hours, expanded hours and hours at setting are all collected within this section of the census. The hours collected are based on the week of the census;

• all three and four-year-old pupils and a specific subset of disadvantaged two-year olds are eligible for the universal free entitlement to early education for a maximum of 15 funded hours a week.
• three-year olds and four-year olds (in year groups E1, E2, N1 and N2), where working parents have a valid eligibility code, are also eligible for the extended childcare hours for an additional 15 funded hours a week.
• 9 month olds to two-year olds (in year groups E1, E2, N1 and N2), where working parents have a valid eligibility code, are also eligible for the expanded childcare hours for 15 funded hours a week.

 Note: Four-year olds in reception are not eligible for the free entitlement nor the extended childcare hours as they are in full time education.

The table below shows the dates of birth and year groups of children for whom hours are required and should help you when working through this section.

* 4 year olds must be in NCY groups E1, E2, N1 and N2.

Note: Children who have deferred entry to next year must not be included on your census.

Funded hours are the hours fundable under the free entitlement to early education. Funded hours exclude any hours funded by other means, e.g. paid for by parents and extended funded hours (extended childcare hours). Funded hours are the hours the pupil is in education provision and following the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Note:  for additional guidance regarding the use of funded hours please contact Fran Butler, Devon County Council Early Years – 01392 385395.

Extended funded hours – these are the hours fundable under ‘extended childcare’ and are only available to eligible 3 & 4 year olds in education provision (i.e. following the learning and development requirements of the early years foundation stage) whose working parents hold a valid eligibility code. This code needs to be captured for the school census. Extended funded hours must not include hours paid for by parents and any funded hours under the free entitlement (recorded in the funded hours field).

Expanded funded hours – these are the hours fundable under the expanded entitlement and are only available to eligible for 9 month olds to 2 year olds in education provision (i.e. following the learning and development requirements of the early years foundation stage) whose working parents hold a valid eligibility code. This code needs to be captured for the school census. Expanded funded hours must not include hours paid for by parents and any funded hours under the free entitlement (recorded in the funded hours field) or the extended entitlement (recorded in the extended funded hours field).

2yr olds expanded hours v funded hours – in some circumstances, 2-year-olds may be eligible for both the 15-hour funded entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and the expanded entitlement but can only take up one of these entitlements. In those circumstances, children should be recorded against the disadvantaged entitlement (funded hours).

Hours at setting – this is the total hours a pupil is expected to attend during the week.  It records the total number of hours they spend in education provision at the school (that is, following the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage). It includes the funded hours (free entitlement), extended funded hours (extended entitlement) expanded funded hours, (expanded entitlement) and any other hours funded/paid from other sources e.g. parents. It now applies to pupils aged from 9 months to 4 years old.

Entering hours for early years

The Early Years panel should bring through the appropriate pupils however please check to ensure all relevant children are included.  To enter data, click on the Edit button and then save your changes. Alternatively, you can amend the data via Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Early Years (if you use this method you will need to Recalculate the data in the Early Years panel of the census to refresh the data).

Please Note:

• Eligibility Code indicator – captures the code that confirms the eligibility of working parents to access the additional 15 hours of extended childcare or expanded childcare. Eligible parents will receive an 11-digit code which they need to pass to schools to validate accordingly. Where a parent has two children each child will have their own code. Note: eligibility codes for foster parents will differ slightly as they are issued by LA (other codes issued by HMRC).
• Disability Access Fund should be flagged for 3 and 4-year-old pupils in receipt of this funding, for further information please see later section.
• If you have nursery pupils attending more than 30 hours you can record the actual number of hours attended in the Hours at Setting but the maximum Funded Hours and Extended Funded Hours and Expanded Funded Hours are 15 each.
• Values for Funded Hours, Hours at Setting and Extended Funded Hours and Expanded Funded hours should be entered using two decimal places. For example, 1 hour 15 minutes must be entered as 1.25.
• If, while completing the return, a new pupil is added, or a date of birth is amended, click on the Recalculate button in the Early Years panel to ensure that up to date data is displayed.
• For dual registered pupils under 5, only include the funded hours spent with you. Please remember, dual registration is not applicable if the other provider is a pre-school.

Children attending more than one setting

Where parents split their child’s free entitlement between providers, the 15 hours free entitlement and the additional 15 hours extended entitlement and additional 15 hours expanded entitlement need to be recorded accurately against each school. Providers will need to ask parents which setting the free entitlement / extended hours are taken. Parents choose where they wish to take the free entitlement and the extended entitlement and expanded entitlement.

The Early Years detail report provides information on hours at setting, funded hours, 30-hour code, extended funded hours, expanded funded hours and disability access fund to enable you to check the data in the census.

Further information regarding early years entitlement can be found on this webpage.

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Early years 2 Year Old Basis for Funding
This item records the basis under which a two-year-old has been funded; i.e. Economic Criteria, High Level SEN or Disability, or Looked After or Adopted from Care. Please note it is not required for 2 year olds taking up the new expanded entitlement hours, it only applies to the disadvantaged entitlement (funded hours).

Schools will receive a report via the Early Years Provider Portal on Thursday 16th January called ‘School Census 2 year old funding” which will indicate the ‘basis for funding’ criteria for eligible pupils.

All pupils born between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022 (inclusive) regardless of year taught in, will appear in the 2 year old basis for funding panel. The basis for funding will need to be entered manually for each of the separate funding category columns.

The ‘2 Year old Basis for Funding’ detailed report provides information on the eligibility categories applied to pupils to enable you to check the data in the census.

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Early Years Pupil Premium is now collected on a termly basis.  Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is available for disadvantaged children aged 9 months to 4 year olds.

Children will be eligible for EYPP if they are taking any of the following;

• universal 15 hours entitlement (funded hours) for 3 and 4 year olds
• disadvantaged entitlement (funded hours) for 2 year olds
• expanded entitlement (expanded hours) for 9 month olds to 2 year olds

and either

• meet the “benefits related criteria” equivalent to those for Free School Meals (please note: meals delivered as part of the universal infant free school meal entitlement are not FSM: receipt of FSM does not automatically qualify a child for EYPP), or
• they have left care (in England or Wales) through adoption, special guardianship or a child arrangement order (formally known as residence order), or
• are in the care of the local authority (England or Wales)

Please note: EYPP is not payable on the extended entitlement for 3 and 4 year old children with working parents (extended funded hours).

Children become eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium from the term following their relevant birthday. They will retain this entitlement until they move into Reception, when they become eligible for the ‘mainstream’ pupil premium.

The table below shows the cohorts of children for whom early years pupil premium data is required;

How to claim the Early Years Pupil Premium:
Early Years providers are responsible for identifying eligible children and will need to encourage parents to complete a Declaration Form so eligibility can be checked for the Early Years Pupil Premium. Further details and registration forms can be found on the Early Years Entitlement Funding webpages.
Children that are currently in the care of the local authority will be checked and funded.

How do I know which pupils are eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)?
A report of pupils eligible for EYPP from the spring term will be available within the Early Years Provider Portal via Reports | Payment History and is called “EYPP – Spring Term 2024/25 – Eligibility Children with Amounts”. You should use this initial pupil listing when preparing your census and carrying out a dry run. This panel can then be updated with any additional pupils as indicated below.

Schools need to submit new children and carers details via the Early Years Provider Portal by close of Tuesday 14th January. The information will be checked centrally and a report called ‘School Census EYPP’ will be available on Thursday 16th January which will provide the information required for the census.

Further information is available from the Early Years Pupil Premium webpages.
Further guidance on EYPP from the DfE is available from the government webpages.

How do I enter this information for the School Census?

• The pupil must be recorded as receiving funded hours of early education in the Early Years panel of the census.
• Any pupils who have left care (in England and Wales) must also be recorded in the Post Looked After Arrangements panel of the census. The EYPP Receipt panel now has an ‘In Care’ column which displays the ‘in care’ data recorded in the census.
• The appropriate EYPP reason needs to be completed within the EYPP panel of the census with the following available options;
  1. eligible through economic reasons (eligible via the benefits related criteria for FSM).
  2. eligible through other reasons (due to being in care or having left care through adoption, a special guardianship order or a child arrangement order).
  3. eligible through both reasons (i.e. through both economic and other reasons).
  4. eligible through unknown reason (school knows pupil is receiving EYPP as school is receiving funding from LA but does not know reason why eligible).

The ‘EYPP receipt’ reason is captured in the second part of the Early Years Panel of the School Census process. Navigate to the second section of the panel which deals with Early Years Pupil Premium Receipt. Each pupil is automatically set to ‘Not Eligible’ so schools need to amend this information manually.

Note: The detailed EYPP Receipt Report, available by clicking on the Detail Report button in the School Census window, lists all your pupils along with their Basis for EYPP Eligibility.

This is collected in the early years panel and records whether a child from 9 months to 4 years old is in receipt of DAF from the local authority.

To be eligible, the child must be in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA) and one of the early years entitlements;

• universal 15 hours entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds, or
• disadvantaged entitlement for 2 year olds or
• expanded entitlement for 9 month olds to 2 year olds

NOTE: Pupils aged 4 as at 31 August in reception and above, who are funded via the schools’ block of the dedicated schools grant are not eligible for DAF funding.

To enter data, click on the Edit button in the Early Years Panel and then save your changes. Alternatively, you can amend the data via Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Early Years (if you use this method you will need to Recalculate this section of the census).

If schools are unsure as to whether a pupil is in receipt of Disability Access Funding they can email the Early Years Entitlement Funding Helpdesk: eyef@devon.gov.uk

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The part-time indicator is based upon whether the pupil is attending education provision for 10 sessions a week, i.e. morning and afternoon sessions 5 days a week. A pupil attending 9 (or fewer) sessions is part-time. A pupil attending education for 10 sessions a week will be full time.

Note: The part time indicator is specific to the pupil, not the school. If a pupil is receiving ‘education provision’ for 10 sessions a week at more than one provider then both establishments will record the pupil as full time.  The part time status indicates whether a pupil is part-time in education, it does not indicate whether a pupil is part-time at one or more establishments.

A child should only be recorded as full-time where they attend education for 10 sessions per week irrespective of the number of funded and / or extended childcare hours.

Compulsory school-age pupils on a part-time timetable are recorded as full-time with the appropriate absence code used for the sessions they do not attend (code X or new code C2).

To amend a pupil’s part-time status, open the pupils record in SIMS and go to the part-time details panel in Section 2. Registration;

• Part-time pupils – should have an entry in the part-time details panel with no end date
• Full-time pupils – will either have an entry in the part-time details panel with an end date before census or will not have an entry in the panel (blank).

 Note: The Attendance mode field is not used in the census to inform a pupil’s part-time status.

The on-roll basic details report provides information on part-time status to enable you to check your census data.

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Early years hours for your nursery pupils are entered in the early years provider portal and the school census. For this Spring 2025 census, these two collections are held in the same week.

The school census return is based upon school census week: Mon 13th Jan to Fri 17th Jan 2025.

The Early years headcount week is: Sun 12th Jan to Sat 18th Jan 2025.

When completing the census return, schools may find it beneficial to refer to their portal return as a starting point. The portal provides a ‘Headcount’ report which can be used as a guide when completing the hours section of the census. This can be accessed via the Provider Portal > Headcount>Provider Home>View All Tasks>Change status to Historical>Select Task > Download. Please remember if any children’s hours have changed since entry into the portal, these need to be amended in the census. You also need to ensure that any children who started after you completed the early years portal have the appropriate hours recorded in the census.

It is essential that the early years hours recorded within the census are accurate, complete and based upon the school census week. The Early Years detailed report from the school census provides information on hours at setting, funded hours, eligibility code, extended funded hours, expanded funded hours and disability access fund to enable you to check.

Guidance notes on the provider portal can be found on the Early Years webpages.

NOTE:  the Early Years Provider Portal captures funded hours and extended/expanded funded hours as two separate figures (previously captured one figure for all funded hours). The School Census also captures funded hours and extended funded hours as two separate figures. For census purposes, the DfE guidance for the School Census states that these items need to be recorded accurately against each provider. Please ensure you follow this guidance when completing your census.

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This needs to be completed for all pupils in primary schools.  As information may not have been brought forward from the last term you need to check this panel and ensure that data is entered for all your pupils.

Class equates to registration group.  Pupils in a local authority designated nursery class should be recorded with a class type of “Nursery” whilst all other pupils should be recorded as “Other” (even if it contains nursery age pupils).

To update this information click Edit.  A full list of pupils appears, but this can be filtered by using the drop-down menus at the top of the screen.  For example, you can select your Nursery Year Group first, then right click on the heading of Nursery and select ‘check all’.  Then select a status of ‘No Class Type’ to reduce the list to only those pupils missing this information, right click on the heading of Other and ‘check all’.

Once you have entered your ticks against all your pupils please remember to save your data.

Please note: If you have an LA designated nursery unit you may need to amend records for pupils who have transferred from nursery to reception, or who were previously part-time and are now full-time. Please remember to add an end date in their part-time details panel if they are now full-time.

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Please note: DCC Finance Team ask schools to record all pupils eligible for top up, including pupils where you are receiving top up direct from Other Local Authorities.

This needs to be completed for those pupils on roll for whom the school receives, on census day, high needs top-up funding from the LA. The top up funding is paid outside a school’s budget share for a pupil requiring additional support which costs more than a specified threshold.

Please note: The Department for Education is using the top-up funding indicator to calculate high needs funding allocations. They also use this data for research purposes and to provide bench-marking information to local areas. As such, it is very important that all schools complete census returns correctly and follow the guidance provided.

The specified cost threshold for additional SEN support varies according to the type of school;

Pupils in receipt of top-up funding are listed in the monthly Individual Assigned Resources (IAR) sent via Anycomms Plus from Finance. The file name will be 878****_2024-25_Month_NN_IARs (where **** is your school number and NN is the month). Please use the latest available listing to complete the census and add any other pupils in receipt that are not yet showing on the latest IAR.  If you have any pupils who receive Top Up Funding from another Local Authority please include these in your Top Up Funding panel as well.  The Top Up Funding panel should be completed with all pupils in receipt of Top Up Funding on Census day.

Information may not have been bought forward from last term.  If there are no pupils recorded as Top Up Funding a warning message will be displayed when you create and validate which says;

There is no top-up funding information.  Do you wish to continue to create the return?

You therefore need to check this panel to ensure that all pupils in receipt of top-up funding are recorded accordingly or click yes to continue.

If all relevant pupils are appearing in the top-up funding panel no further action is required.

If you need to add new pupils click the Edit button in the Top Up Funding panel. Alternatively go to Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Top-up Funding (but remember to Recalculate this panel in the census to refresh the data if you use this option).

A Top-up Funding screen appears where you can search for pupils and add them to the Top-up Funding Panel. Once you have added your pupils click Update and OK.
When you run your census the number of pupils receiving top-up funding will appear in the summary report under Table 5. Specific Types of Pupils on Roll.  There is also a detail report showing this data at pupil level.

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This collects information regarding children, who – on census day – have left local authority care in England and Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order, residence order or child arrangement order and are still subject to such orders on census day. Children who have left care under one of the measures listed above will be eligible for the post looked after element of the pupil premium, now based on pupils on roll in the Autumn Census.

From autumn 2022, the DfE have extended these options to include code ‘O’ – children adopted from state care outside of England and Wales. ‘State care’ is care provided by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.  The decision to declare a child’s adopted from ‘state care’ from abroad status is at the discretion of the child’s parents.

Please note: it is up to those who have parental responsibility (adoptive parents, special guardians and carers of former looked after children on residence / child arrangements orders) to decide if they wish to self-declare their children’s status to schools. Schools should ensure parents and carers are aware of this and that this information is collected to help ensure that the designated teacher for previously looked after children can support those children and the school can attract pupil premium funding to support this cohort. Parents need to provide supporting evidence, for example, a photocopy of the adoption order, and confirm that their child was previously in care in England or Wales. Parents may conceal sensitive information, such as the name of the birth parents, if they wish.

Where parents choose to declare their child’s status as being adopted from state care from abroad, the school must be satisfied that the child has been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. Parents will be expected to provide documentary evidence of their child’s adopted from abroad status. Where there is any doubt about whether evidence provided by a parent is acceptable, the school can request advice from the Virtual School Head.

Parents may conceal sensitive information (for example the name of the birth parents) should they wish.

Please remember that this is a particularly sensitive data item and schools must comply with their responsibilities with respect to the GDPR when processing this data.

If the adoptive parents, special guardians and carers are willing for the information to be recorded on the census you will also need to know which of the following applies:

• adoption from England and Wales
• special guardianship order (SGO) from England and Wales
• residence order (RO) from England and Wales (replaced by child arrangement orders in April 2014)
• child arrangement order (CAO) from England and Wales
• adopted from state care outside of England and Wales

Please note: this data item does not transfer with the pupil if they change school. The new school can only record a pupil with this category if the parent/responsible person has self-declared this information.

Information may not have been brought forward from last term.  If there are no pupils recorded as ‘post looked after arrangements’ a warning message is displayed when you create and validate which says;

There is no Post Looked After Arrangements information.  Do you wish to continue to create the return?

You therefore need to check this panel to ensure that all ‘Post Looked After Arrangements’ pupils have been recorded accordingly. Click on ‘Recalculate’ to ensure all pupils who already have a PLAA status are displayed.

If all relevant pupils are appearing in the Post Looked After Arrangements panel no further action is required. If however, you need to add new pupils click the Edit button in the panel.

A Post Looked After Arrangements screen appears where you can search for the pupil(s) and add them to the Post Looked After Arrangements Panel.

Once you have added the selected pupil(s), select their status prior to adoption and click Update.

Please note:

• Whilst SIMS has an ‘Evidence Obtained’ tick box, this is not collected for the school census, it is for schools’ internal use only to record proof of DfE compliance.
• When you run your census the number of pupils ‘Post Looked after Arrangements’ will appear in the summary report under Table 5. Specific Types of Pupils On Roll. There is also a detail report showing this data at pupil level.

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This data item is to be returned for any pupil who is either on roll on census day or became off roll since the start of the academic year.  For 2024/25 it will identify pupils;

• in receipt of tutoring, defined as those who are in receipt of school funded tutoring, for pupils in NCY 1 to 14 (or aged 5 to 19 where not following the national curriculum, NCY X)

Tutoring – please note 2023/24 was the final year of the national tutoring programme (NTP).  The DfE’s conditions of grant for 2023/24 states that ‘schools will be encouraged to continue to prioritise tuition for those students who need it the most through existing budgets.  This section of the census now collects information on school funded tutoring for pupils in NCY groups 1 to 14. Note: the 16 to 19 tuition fund has been dropped from the census.

Resit or retaking full or part academic year funding – pupils in secondary, all-through, PRU or alternative provision with sixth forms.  Where students’ learning has been disrupted by exceptional circumstances outside the control of the student or institution, such as a period of long-term sickness or good educational reasons then the retake delivery hours for individual students may be included in the funded study programme hours. These students must only make up a small percentage of the total 16 to 19 student cohort.

Schools must record all eligible pupils repeating all or part of their year in the census return.

Learner Funding and Monitoring information is collected in the census via the following fields;

• Funding and monitoring (FAM) type – there is only one type for 2024/25 and so schools’ MI systems should default to code “NLM – National Learner Monitoring: To identify any additional monitoring characteristics for the pupil”
• Funding and monitoring (FAM) code – this field records the specific element of funding which applies to the pupil, options are ‘In receipt of tutoring’ or ‘learner repeating up to one full year of 16 to 19 funded provision’.

How to record in sims

This information can be recorded via the Tools menu and maintained at any time during the year.  If Funding and Monitoring details have been recorded previously via Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Funding and Monitoring, the information is displayed in the Funding and Monitoring panel within the census.  Click the ‘Recalculate’ button (in the FAM panel) to ensure the latest details are displayed.  If you wish to update any of the information click the Edit button.

Once you’ve amended all the data click the Save button and then click the OK button to return to the Census Return Details page.

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This needs to be completed for all pupils on roll on census day in reception, year 1 and year 2, plus pupils aged 4 to 6 who are not following the national curriculum (NCY group X). This data is used to allocate Universal Infant Free School Meal funding to schools (further information is available via the DfE UIFSM funding page). 

The ‘School Dinner Taken’ needs to be flagged where a pupil has taken a ‘school lunch’ on census day. This may include packed lunches provided by the school to children on school trips.

If pupils are on a school trip and bring a packed lunch from home they should not be recorded as having a school dinner.

To enter this information manually against pupils in the ‘School Dinner Taken’ panel you can either tick pupils on an individual basis, or you can ‘tick all’ pupils and then un-tick those who did not take a school lunch.

Please note:

Reference date – this is set to 16/01/2025 (census day), but can be amended if, due to exceptional circumstances, e.g. flooding, pupils were unable to take a school dinner on census day.  However, the reference date should be in the spring term date range.

Calculate from Attendance and Calculate from Dinner Money – these appear if you use SIMS Attendance or SIMS Dinner Money (for further details please see below). If you do, it is recommended that you use the Calculate from Dinner Money routine as this populates the panel only with meals provided by the school. The Calculate from Attendance looks at pupils with an attendance mark but they could be going home for lunch or bringing their packed lunch from home. To use the Calculate from Dinner Money you must have initially set up the Dinner Money options to cater for the new school meal taken. Separate guidance is available from ESS (previously CAPITA) entitled ‘Dinner Money Implementing Universal Free School Meals’ and can be downloaded from Scomis FAQ.

When you run your census the number of pupils who have taken a school meal will appear in the summary report under Table 25. Universal Infant School Meals. There is also a detail report called School Dinner Taken which shows this data at pupil level.

For SIMS Dinner Money, click on Calculate from Dinner Money. A message appears warning you that ‘existing data will be overwritten’, click OK. If the following message appears you need to check your Dinner Money and ensure that all meals have been recorded;

Dinner Money information is incomplete.  Please ensure that meals are recorded in Dinner Money.

Once you click OK, a tick is entered against each pupil receiving any type of meal provided by the school on census day (tagged as ‘School Provided’ in Dinner Money). You can then edit the information by clicking the pupil’s row to toggle between a tick and a blank (for no meal taken).

For SIMS Attendance, click on Calculate from Attendance. A message appears warning you that “existing data will be overwritten”, click OK. If the following message appears, you need to resolve missing marks as they are treated as absences with no dinner taken;

Missing marks exist.  Please ensure that registers have been taken.  Missing marks have been interpreted as absent and no dinner taken.  Do you want to continue?

Once you click OK, a tick is entered against each pupil who is marked as present on census day morning. As some pupils might not be taking school dinners (e.g. they bring a packed lunch from home) you then need to edit the information by clicking the pupil’s row to toggle between a tick and a blank (for no school dinner taken), as required.

Please note: the calculation of school dinner taken by the attendance option takes account of the new set of attendance codes introduced from Autumn 2024.

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Details are required of all classes running at your selected time on census day (16 Jan 2025). Your selected time for classes (as taught at a particular time on the census date) is based on the last digit of the DfE establishment number as follows;

For example, if your DfE number is 3005 your selected period is one hour before the start of afternoon school.

Please note, if:

NOTE: Schools should not record unusual situations (such as class amalgamation or school closure) which may have occurred on census day due, for example, to staff training or absence, severe weather conditions or religious observances.
Any group of pupils receiving instruction outside the normal class framework at the selected time, including pupils in a SEN unit, are treated as a separate ‘class as taught’ unless this is an atypical or temporary arrangement.

Infant Class Guidance

The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) Regulations 2012 limits the size of an infant class during an ordinary teaching session to 30 pupils per school teacher. Infant classes are those in which most children turn 5, 6 or 7 during the course of the school year, i.e. reception and key stage 1 classes.

Primary and all-through schools with infant classes are asked to ensure that the selected period is one in which their infant classes are engaged in an ordinary teaching session (academic activity). An ordinary teaching session does not include;

• school assembly, or
• other school activity usually conducted with large groups of children e.g.
  • PE/games,
  • music, singing,
  • drama,
  • watching television or
  • listening to the radio

If, at the time of the count, infant class children are involved in such an activity, the count should be deferred to the next ordinary teaching session. This change of selected time must be applied to all classes in the school, not just the infant classes.

A list of your classes will have been called up automatically when you Calculated all Details however you will need to edit some details e.g. support staff, to reflect the situation at your selected time.
If a class has appeared that does not take place at the selected time e.g. an afternoon nursery class where the selected period is for the morning, you can delete it by highlighting it and clicking on the Delete button on the right. Remember that any pupils allocated to a deleted class need to be accounted for in the ‘Reconciliation’ section.

To add a class, click on New on the right of the screen and input the information manually – see table below for data requirements.

For each class as taught at the selected time the following information is required;

This section checks that the number of registered pupils for whom the return contains individual pupil data (i.e. the On Roll Pupils/Students figure), is consistent with the number of pupils reported in classes as taught – after allowing for the fact that some registered pupils may not have been in class at the selected time.
Note: pupils who are temporarily absent, e.g. sickness, should be included in their usual class and counted in the number of on roll pupils for the class.
The reconciliation should be calculated as follows:

• On roll pupils in classes – this is the number of pupils expected to be in class at the selected time and includes those pupils temporarily absent. (This figure can only be changed by amending the individual class data in the Classes section).
• Plus Part-time pupils not at school – pupils not expected to be in attendance at the selected time on the census date, e.g. nursery pupils or part-time Reception pupils
• Plus Private study pupils
• Plus Pupils at another school
• Plus, Students on work experience and/or Students at FE colleges (for Secondary and All-through schools),
• Equals Total pupils which must agree with Pupils on Roll

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For all schools, attendance will be collected for the summer term (01/09/24 to 31/12/24) for all pupils aged 4 to 15 years as at 31/08/24. If you see a screen saying the following your attendance data is compliant.

Your attendance codes are DfE compliant.  This will be rechecked at the Create & Validate stage.

If you receive the message advising that ‘some attendance marks are missing’ you need to go to Focus | Attendance | Deal with Missing Marks to add attendance codes. Once you have done this you need to click the Recalculate button in this section to update your attendance marks in the census file.

New attendance codes from Autumn 24

As this is the first census to provide attendance data to the DfE using the new attendance codes introduced in August 2024 it’s recommended that you check your school’s use of attendance for the autumn term against the DfE regulations.

Whilst attendance codes are checked during the create and validate process, it only checks that the codes are valid codes. If one of the defunct codes are used, a message stating ‘unable to generate the return file’ appears at the bottom of the screen and a detailed message explaining why the return could not be generated appears next to the create and validate button.  The detailed message advises which code has been used in error.

The create and validate process does not check whether the attendance codes have been used in accordance with DfE regulations.

The Attendance Report within the census routine in sims provides a list of pupils and their attendance using the new codes.

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The autumn census captures a combination of student data and learning aims data, both of which inform school funding.  Some schools risk not getting the funding they should because of inaccurate data.

Student level data 
The census captures the following data items for both on and off roll students;  

• Planned learning hours (delivery of qualifications)  
• Planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours for all eligible non-qualification activity  
• T Level planned learning hours (delivery of qualifications specifically for T Level programmes) 
• T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours for all eligible non-qualification activity specifically for T Level programmes
• Maths and English GCSE prior attainment and funding exemptions (informs the Maths and English condition of funding) 
• Post 16 students in full time employment (for on roll students only)

Note:

All planned hours data are collected and returned by the school that holds the student’s ‘main’ registration. Where a student is dual registered, the school with the ‘main’ registration makes the return.  Returning no planned hours for a 16 to 19 funded student will negatively impact funding.

Maths or English study is a condition of funding. The DfE will remove funding for students who do not meet the condition.

Information on planned hours, T Level programmes, Maths and English prior attainment and employment status is available via the DfE census webpages and DfE post 16 provision webpages.

Learning aims data

Information on learning aims taken in the previous and current academic year is collected in the census and used by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to calculate funding allocations.

Learning aims taken in the current year are collected for any students who:

• were on roll at the school at any point between 01 August 2024 and 03 October 2024
• were in actual national curriculum year group 12 or above in that period, regardless of their age
• the school wishes to claim 16 to 19 funding from the ESFA for

Learning aims that were taken in the previous academic year are collected for any students who:

• have been on roll in the school at any point between 01 August 2023 and 31 July 2024
• were in actual national curriculum year group 12 or above in that period, regardless of their age
• the school wishes to claim 16 to 19 funding from the ESFA for

This may include students who have left school prior to the autumn census day.

For information on which students are eligible for 16 to 19 funding, please see the ESFA’s funding regulation guidance.

Schools must only include post 16 data, including learning aims, for those students who have (or had at the time of the learning aims) current or main registration at the school.  For dual registered students, funding is allocated to the main school.  All post 16 data including learning aims for dual registered students must be returned by the school that holds the student’s main registration (the main school returns the learning aims being taken at both the main and subsidiary schools). Subsidiary schools do not submit learning aims in respect of students with subsidiary registration.

The following data items relating to learning aims are collected, the majority of which are used for funding purposes:

• programme aim
• programme type
• qualification number
• subject classification code
• learning aim start date
• learning aim planned end date
• learning aim actual end date
• learning aim status
• learning aim withdrawal reason
• core aim
• sub-contracting partner UKPRN
• traineeships
• work placements

 
Detailed DfE Guidance  
Schools should read the full DfE guidance on the Post 16 module of the census, the information collected impacts on funding so it’s vital that schools are fully aware of all data requirements.  Full guidance can be found in the Post 16 section of the DfE’s ‘completing the census’ webpages https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/data-items  
This section also includes information on the processes for recording learning aims prior to the start of the academic year, at the start of the academic year and throughout the year. 
 
DfE Interactive Tool and COLLECT Reports 
The DfE advise that schools should use both the interactive tool and post 16 reports before submitting a final autumn census return to ensure their data is accurate. 

The DfE’s interactive post 16 census tool, aimed at helping schools return accurate data, is available via interactive post-16 school census tool 2023 to 2024 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).  The tool will help schools understand how their data is used to calculate post-16 funding and how common data errors affect their funding.  The tool describes each element of the funding formula (student numbers, retention rate for example) and which parts of census data the DfE use for each element. Each element is illustrated with example data.  

The following ESFA reports are available from COLLECT to help school’s quality assure their census and illustrate the data that will be used for funding calculations, full details are available via DfE’s checking your census webpage (16 to 19 funding reports); 

• • 16 to 19 funded student summary report 
  • 16 to 19 student detail report
  • 16 to 19 Maths and English GCSE status by student  
  • ESFA 16 to 19 T Level student report

 ESS and sims  

• ESS’ ‘Preparing Post 16 Data for the School Census’ Guide for secondary schools contains is available on Scomis’ School Census bulletin webpage.
• ESS ‘Producing the School Census Autumn 2024 Return’ has a section on checking Post 16 Learning Aims data and can be found on the Scomis’ School Census bulletin webpage.
• The Learning Aims Panel in the school census routine in sims contains a ‘Compare with Previous Autumn’ report button and a ‘Compare with Course Manager’ report button
• The following Post 16 detailed reports are available within the school census routine in sims;
  • • On Roll Learning Aims
    • Leavers Learning Aims
    • Learning Aims by Status
    • Post 16 Programmes of Study
    • Post 16 Programmes of Study and Learning Aims
    • Work Placements
    • Prior Attainment

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This section records the number of pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals (in respect of family income) who actually had a free school meal at lunchtime on census day. This is not the same as School Dinner Taken which records those infant pupils (Reception, Yr1 and Yr2) who took an Universal Infant Free School Meal.

Note:

• The Free School Meal take up should include both day and boarding pupils to reflect what happened on census day.
• If the lunchtime situation that day was in some way unusual then use the figures for the next normal day, e.g. severe weather conditions.
• Meals provided at the beginning or end of the school day should not be counted for the purpose of this return.
• Pupils should only be recorded as FSM eligible if they meet the FSM eligibility criteria (i.e. in respect to family income) and make a claim.
• Pupils who are only in receipt of a free school lunch due to a universal entitlement (infant pupil universal free school meal entitlement) should not be recorded as FSM and not be included in this section.
• So a pupil receiving UIFSM should only be included above if he/she took a school lunch on the day and is entitled to Free School Meals i.e. they meet the FSM eligibility criteria (family income) and a valid claim has been made.

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This information is only collected in the Spring Term for voluntary aided and foundation primary and secondary schools responsible for their own appeals (academies must also provide this information). It relates to appeals made by applicants who did not receive a requested place for the start of the current academic year. Information about appeals lodged on or after 1st September are not required, neither are in-year appeals (relating to admissions during the course of the academic year).

Only appeals which are the responsibility of the school’s governing body should be included. If a school has contracted another agency, such as Devon County Council, to administer their admissions appeals process and the school’s governance is voluntary aided or foundation (or an academy), then the school should complete this module. If your school operates arrangements jointly with other schools, your return should include appeals for your school only.

NOTE: Information is collected for Primary and Secondary school appeals, with a sub-set of infant appeals also collected for Primary Schools. (Infants are NCY R,1 & 2).

Information is collected on the number of appeals lodged, withdrawn, heard, rejected and decided in favour of the parents.

1) Admission appeals lodged: total number of appeals lodged (including infant admission appeals) by parents between March 2024 and August 2024 inclusive against non-admission to the school for the start of the academic (admission) year beginning September 2024.

Appeals lodged as “refusal to admit for academic year 2024/25” should be included if the appeal was lodged before 1 September 2024. This will include:

• Appeals lodged prior to 1 September, where the hearing or decision took place after that date
• appeals not pursued to the hearing stage, and those not resolved
• appeals that did not reach a hearing because a place became available (at your school or another) which was accepted by parents

2) Admission appeals withdrawn: total number of the above admission appeals withdrawn by parents before reaching an independent appeals panel (a panel set up by the governors in accordance with The School Admissions (Appeals Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012. This includes appeals that did not reach a hearing because a place became available and was accepted by the parents.

3) Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel: total number of the above lodged admission appeals heard by an independent appeals panel.

4) Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel – decided in parent’s favour: total number of the heard admission appeals decided in parent’s favour by an independent appeals panel.

5) Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel – rejected: Total number of the heard admission appeals rejected by an independent appeals panel.

Infant Appeals – (primary voluntary aided and foundation schools)

This information is only collected in the Spring Term for voluntary aided and foundation schools (or academies) with infant admissions (Reception, Yr1 and Yr2).

Complete this section if any of the appeals you have recorded in the Admission Appeals panel were lodged by parents against non-admission to infant classes in the 2024/25 academic year.

The definitions for Lodged, Withdrawn, Heard, Rejected and Decided in favour of the parents are the same as for Admission Appeals but only relate to infant classes’ appeals.

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Once you have completed your census select Create & Validate, a message appears whilst the data is being processed which says;
Data is being collected.  Please wait…

Once the data has been collected, a screen will appear indicating whether you have any errors or queries to resolve, please see next section for further information.

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Once the create and validate process is complete a screen will appear at the bottom of the census window indicating whether you have any errors.

Red error messages (type F) must be corrected and cleared whilst black queries (type Q) are acceptable as long as the data is true.

Due to the layout of the screen you may need to hover over the Message, Location and Solution to see the full details.

If you click on the error a new window appears with the details to be amended to clear the error. Alternatively, you can click on the Report button to view or print a list of errors.

If you have an error that applies to a large number of pupils, for example, first language is missing, you can amend all the pupils in one procedure by using Bulk Update. You need to go to Routines | Pupil | Bulk Update. If you are making amendments after the census date you will need to change the effective dates when running through the Bulk Update.

SIMS guidance on bulk update can be found in the ‘SIMS notes‘ section of the school census webpage.

Note 1: Once you have worked on the errors you need to Create & Validate to remove them from the listing.
Note 2:  Term on Term queries are only generated in COLLECT (via DfE Sign-In), they do not appear in SIMS.  It is therefore vital that you check for additional queries in COLLECT

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Once you have cleared your errors and checked your queries you should print the summary and detail reports to check that the information is correct, for example; number of pupils eligible for free school meals.
SIMS.net cannot know if there are pupils missing, suspensions missing or that pupils have left (if they haven’t been given a leaving date or a reason for leaving) etc. You must check the summary and detail reports thoroughly. The absence of any validation errors or queries does not guarantee a successful return!

Note: as these reports are no longer automatically generated during the authorisation process it is important to print them at this stage.

The On Roll Basic Details Report lists all pupils on roll on census day. The report is useful for identifying pupils whose year taught in differs from the expected year group based on their date of birth (the year taught in cell is highlighted yellow).  This report also provides information about a pupil’s part time status.  For the spring census it also includes the new ‘young carer’ information.

Pupil Attendance Report – in the autumn census there are two reports:  Attendance First Half of Summer Term Report and Attendance Second Half of Summer Term Report, whilst in the spring and summer census there is one report. This report is useful for identifying pupils with N codes (reason for absence is unknown).  As N codes count as unauthorised absence please check your records and amend where possible, e.g. a pupil was ill.  Reducing the N codes will improve your performance data.  The report also provides information on number of sessions possible and attended e.g. attending approved educational activity.

The Absentees Report is useful for identifying pupils who have breached the threshold for persistent absences (absence rate of 10% or above) and need to be monitored.
NOTE: Please pay attention to the Attendance and Absentees Reports.  Absence data collected in the school census is published at school level alongside national and local authority statistics. This is your only opportunity to check and amend the attendance data before publication.

Exclusions Report – this report is useful for checking that all pupils who were excluded in the relevant term have exclusion/suspension records in the school census.  It includes information on the exclusion start date and number of sessions excluded.  As exclusions are now collected for the previous two terms this report is useful for checking against any E codes in the Attendance Report (E codes indicate absence due to exclusion).  Please note; permanent exclusions are only collected if a final review has taken place.

Permanent Exclusions without a Final Review Report: this report is useful for checking any permanent exclusions that aren’t included in the census.  It details permanent exclusions that will not be included in the census, either because the exclusion process is still ongoing or because the school has not recorded the final review result. The report has been provided to assist schools in checking whether details have been recorded accurately.

The SEN Report lists all your pupils recorded with Special Educational Needs and is useful to pass to your SEN Co-ordinator for their consideration.  It also indicates whether any pupils have been flagged as being a member of a SEN unit or resourced provision.  For the spring census it also includes the SEN need and ranking.

The School Dinner Taken Report lists the pupils in NCY R–2 on roll on census day who have taken a school dinner on the reference date. This is normally school census day unless there are exceptional circumstances and another date was chosen.  It also indicates whether or not a school dinner was taken (yes / no).  The report also displays the total number of dinners taken and dinners not taken.

The Free School Meal Eligibility Report lists pupils who were eligible for free school meals at any point since the last census and is useful to check against the listing that you receive from the Free School Meals Team at Devon County Council (DCC). It is also an early indicator of pupils who may fall within the FSM Ever 6 category for pupil premium. The ‘total pupils’ number in this report is the number of pupils who are currently eligible and those whose claims have been cancelled since the last census. If you only wish to know the total number of pupils currently eligible then please refer to Table 5. of the summary report which shows the number of pupils eligible for free school meals on census day.

Top-up Funding Report – this report provides a list of pupils who have been recorded as being in receipt of Top-up Funding as at census day and is useful to pass to your SENCO or Finance person to check that all pupils have been recorded.

Funding and Monitoring Report – this report provides a list of pupils along with the funding and monitoring type and code, e.g. pupils in receipt of tutoring.

Early Years Report – this report lists pupils on roll on census day who have Early Years data and provides information on pupils’ hours at setting, funded hours, 30 hour code, extended funded hours, expanded hours and disability access fund status.
A pupil’s part time status continues to be illustrated in the On Roll Basic Details report.

EYPPR Report  – this report indicates pupils’ eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium (Early Years Pupil Premium Receipt flagged within the Early Years Panel) and the basis for pupil premium eligibility.  It also includes hours at setting and funded hours.

2 Year Old Basis for Funding Report  – this report lists pupils on roll on census day who have been recorded in the census with 2 year old basis for funding data.  It includes hours at setting, funded hours and the eligibility criteria.

Post Looked After Arrangements Report – this report provides a list of pupils who have been recorded with post looked after arrangements on census day.  In the autumn census it’s also an early indicator of pupils who will be eligible for pupil premium.

Classes Report – this report provides a summary of the classes and pupil reconciliation.  For primary schools it also illustrates the number of teachers on PPA time and any class size exceptions.  A key to the class size exception reasons is displayed below the classes table. The pupil reconciliation data is displayed at the bottom of the report.

General Report – this indicates free school meals taken on census day, admissions appeals and childcare provision recorded in the census.

Alternative Provision Report – this provides information on school arranged alternative provision placements that fall within the data collection period for the census. It includes information on the alternative provision setting, companies house number, alternative provision postcode, reason, dates and attendance.

Post 16 Learning Aims – the following reports are available in the autumn census;

• On Roll Learning Aims
• Leavers Learning Aims
• Learning Aims by Status
• Post 16 Programmes of Study
• Post 16 Programmes of Study and Learning Aims
• Work Placements
• Prior Attainment

NOTE: These reports can be exported to Excel if you need to manipulate / re-sort the data.  Hover over the report, right click your mouse and select ‘export to Microsoft Excel’ from the menu. This can be helpful if you need to work on lengthy reports, e.g. the On Roll Basic Details report to identify a pupil in the wrong NCY (sort by pupil date of birth).
Reminder:  Census data is used by the DfE policy divisions, other government departments, LAs, external agencies and educational researchers. The data is also used for funding purposes and underpins performance tables and Analyse School Performance.

Accuracy of data is therefore of paramount importance.

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Once all errors have been resolved, queries checked (and resolved if applicable) and you are satisfied that all the information is correct (after checking your reports), click on Authorise.

A window appears advising that the return cannot be edited once authorised and asks if you wish to continue, click “Yes”. A screen will appear requesting confirmation that the head teacher is satisfied that the census is accurate and complete.

NOTE: The headteacher is responsible for reviewing and authorising the census data before it is submitted to the LA and DfE.

Authorisation by the headteacher confirms that the data submitted is accurate and correct.

The Census Summary Report, Validation Errors Summary Report and Authorisation Report will appear in new windows where they can be printed for your records. The reports are saved in your census folder (same location as your census return). The authorisation process no longer generates a full set of Census Reports on screen so reports need to be printed before the file is authorised, or, once it has been authorised you can retrieve the reports from Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Retrieve Authorised Census Return Files.

Note: Once the census has been authorised it cannot be amended. Should you need to make any amendments you will need to copy the census using the buttons in the census main screen (browse for the relevant census file, highlight it, click copy and open the “copy” file). When copying a return, the message appears stating that the values will not be copied but will be populated from the information held in the database and asking if you want to make a copy.

Click on Yes, the copy is then displayed in the School Census browser window where it can be opened. Once you have amended the data you will need to Create and Validate again, resolve errors/queries, print the summary reports and authorise the new file.

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All schools must upload and submit their census return direct via COLLECT, which is now available via the DfE Sign In portal.

Alternatively, if you have user management access within sims you can set up a shortcut for users to the new Sign In portal. ScoMIS have produced an FAQ on assigning shortcuts which is available via their website.

Once the census file has been authorised (.xml file), log in to the DfE Sign In portal and select COLLECT from your available applications. Click Continue on the next page.

Select the appropriate data collection i.e. School Census 2025_Spring by clicking on the data collection to highlight it and then click Select Data Collection.

You need to Upload your return and then Submit the return.

Note:

• The file name should be in the following format: 878nnnn_SC1_878LL25_aaa.XML where nnnn is your DfE Establishment Code and aaa is the file number.
• Once you have Uploaded your Return you must then click the Submit Return to enable the Department for Education and Local Authority to access the file.
• The status of your data return should then indicate ‘Submitted’ (top of the section)  and there should be a Date Submitted in ‘What is happening to my data return?’ (bottom of the section).

Once you have submitted your return you should open your return to check for errors and queries – please see next section.

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Once you have uploaded your file into COLLECT you can then check immediately for any queries that might have been generated and enter explanatory and/or confirmation notes (there is no longer any need to wait 24 hours before checking).

It is advisable to check your file for any queries as Term on Term queries are only generated in COLLECT (they do not appear in SIMS). Even though the return might show 0 errors and 0 queries on the front screen, please Open the Return to check, as some queries are not visible in the initial screen.

To assist you, a list of the Department for Education’s acceptable notes for queries commonly generated in COLLECT can be found in Appendix D.

NOTE: Please ensure your notes include the query number at the beginning and adhere to the minimum acceptable note criteria in order to meet the Department for Education requirements. Failure to meet the minimum acceptable note criteria may delay authorisation of your statutory return.

To check your file for queries, click on ‘Open Return

Click on the All Errors button to view your errors and/or queries. Please enter your notes in the Return Level Notes field.

In the Note Page screen click Add New Note. This will generate a text box where you will be able to enter your note. Once you have typed your note, click Create and log out of COLLECT and from DfE Sign In.

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Suspension or Permanent Exclusion Reasons

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Autumn 2024 attendance codes – collected in Spring 2025 school census

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There are a number of reports within the COLLECT portal available to help schools validate their data and check data used in the census to inform funding allocations.  All available reports can be accessed via the ‘launch reports’ button on the school ‘source page’ of COLLECT.

Note: Some reports are populated overnight and therefore where new files are loaded or data is amended on screen, this may not be reflected in the reports until the following day.

Pupil number report

This report provides a headcount of your pupils by NC year group, plus a headcount of your pupils minus subsidiary registrations.  It also provides the number of pupils that will be used in numerous funding streams and therefore will account for funded and extended hours and unresolved duplicate UPNs.

Duplicate UPN and duplicate pupil report

The duplicate UPN report shows any pupils appearing on your census and that of another school where there is an invalid combination of enrolment statuses.  Your school’s funding may be affected if these remain unresolved when the census closes.

The duplicate pupil report identifies pupils whose personal details are the same but the UPN differs.

Please refer to the DfE’s Duplicate reports guidance available via https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-the-school-census/check-your-data

Free school meals report (FSM)

Allows schools to check the FSM eligibility data submitted in their census return. This report refers only to FSM eligibility reported in the current census and not the FSM ever measure used to allocate the pupil premium.

Universal Infant Free School Meals (UiFSM)

This provides a breakdown of the infant pupils the DfE will use in the UiFSM funding calculation.

Zero funded hours

Highlights the number of early years pupils who have ‘zero’ funded hours recorded on the school census return. The DfE use funded hours to calculate the early years block of the dedicated schools grant, therefore, it is important that schools check and verify this data.

Pupil premium 

Allows schools to check and verify the data contained in their autumn and spring school census, which will feed into the deprivation, service child and post looked after child (LAC) elements of the pupil premium allocation.

Early years pupil premium

Allows schools to check and verify the data contained in their spring school census which the DfE use for the early years pupil premium allocations.

Learning and Monitoring (FAM)

This report allows schools to check and verify the data returned in each termly census on pupils in receipt of specific elements of the education recovery package.

Post 16 funding reports (autumn census)

Schools will be able to access a series of ESFA funding reports in the autumn census which show schools the data the DfE will use for their post-16 funding calculations;

• Funded student summary report
• student detail report
• 16 to 19 Maths & English GCSE status by student
• T Level students report

Schools are strongly advised to use these reports to help quality assure census returns.

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The lists below provide the minimum acceptable note that needs to be entered against common queries in COLLECT to meet the Department for Education’s requirements.  A full list of queries and acceptable notes is available to download via The DfE website.

Pupil/School Level

Term on Term Queries

Please note:  Acceptable notes for all other Term on Term Queries generated in the Census is “confirmed as correct”.

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If you need some assistance in completing your return, further help is available:
Education Information Team: Additional guidance notes are available via our website.

If this is the first time that you are running a school census or need further advice please email census@devon.gov.uk and someone from the Education Information Team will contact you to provide guidance and support.

Scomis: For the latest SIMS information please view the Scomis website and search for the latest census bulletin.
Schools with service level agreements may also contact Scomis for technical support on 01392 385300.
Department for Education: School census guides for submitting data can be found via the DfE webpages.

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