Spring 2021 School Census - 21st January 2021

Please login and select the School Census Category to download the relevant production notes for your school.

**Updated DfE Guidance (07/01/2021) - Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools**

Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools - Guidance for all schools in England

The latest Department for Education guidance advises that pupil's attendance should be recorded as follows:

All pupils who are not eligible to be in school: Should be marked as Code X.  They are not attending  because they are following public health advice.

Vulnerable children: As vulnerable children are still expected to attend school full time, they should not be marked as Code X if they are not in school (except if they are shielding, self-isolating or quarantining). If the parent of a vulnerable child wishes their child to be absent, the parent should let the school know. The Department expects schools to grant applications for leave of absence given the exceptional circumstances. This should be recorded as code C (leave of absence authorised by the school) unless another authorised absence code is more applicable.

Schools should not plan for rotas or allow children other than those who are vulnerable or whose parent or carer is a critical worker to attend on-site, even if the school believes it can accommodate more children safely.

NB: This information may be subject to change in accordance with any updated Government advice.

Key Stage 1: administering the phonics screening check to year 2 pupils in 2020 autumn term

Key Stage 1: administering the phonics screening check to year 2 pupils in 2020 autumn term

Please click on the following link to access statutory guidance published on the GOV.UK website regarding phonics screening checks for year 2 pupils during the second half of the 2020 autumn term:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-1-administering-the-phonics-screening-check-to-year-2-pupils

School Census Collection Dates - Academic Year 2020/2021

School Census collection dates for academic year 2020/2021 are:

Autumn Term:   Thursday 1st October 2020

Spring Term:     Thursday 21st January 2021

Summer Term:  Thursday 20th May 2021

DfE Guidance for Full Opening of Schools

Please click on the link below to access DfE guidance regarding schools opening fully.  Please refer to Section 2: School operations for guidance on managing pupil attendance.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-2-school-operations

Parents Email Report

Parents Email Report Design

Please click here to access the routine to design a report to show parent email addresses for use in case of emergency.

Attendance Report for Local Authority Monthly Return

Please see below the routine for producing the required information for the whole school session attendance section of the monthly return spreadsheet:

Attendance whole school: from start of academic year to current month

This can be obtained via route: Reports | Attendance | Group Reports | Group Analysis by Attendance Category Report then:

1. Enter the required date range
2. Select Group Type of Whole School
3. Click Search
4. Click Print and OK

Patches to delete data no longer collected by DfE Census

As the DfE census will no longer collect Proficiency in English, Pupil Country of Birth or Pupil Nationality data, Capita SIMS have released three patches to delete data that is no longer collected from school databases:

• Proficiency in English Patch - Deletes all records for Proficiency in English information for all past, present and future students. Where a student has multiple proficiency entries, the patch will remove all instances of this.
• National Identity Patch - Deletes the National Identity for all past, present and future students.
• Country of Birth/Nationality Patch - Deletes the Country of Birth and where present the Nationality (actually called Nation inside the expanded Nationality and Passport Details record, only where passport details are blank) for all past, present and future students.

  If you would like any or all of these patches to be applied to your school Sims database, please contact the SimsforSchools team via email at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Free School Meals Update

Following the introduction of universal credit, a pupils FSM status will be protected until either the end of the universal credit roll-out period i.e. 31 March 2022 or until the end of their current phase of education. This means that:

• any claimant who is in receipt of free school meals at 1 April 2018 should continue to receive free school meals whilst Universal Credit is rolled out. This applies even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria
• any claimant who gains eligibility for free school meals after 1 April 2018 and until the end of universal credit rollout (31 March 2022) should continue to receive free school meals during the Universal Credit rollout period. This applies even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria

Consequently, it is not expected that FSM end dates will be entered by schools during the transitional period – with the exceptions being:

• where a parent has withdrawn the pupils FSM claim
• where a pupil transfers from another UK country – their non-English FSM must have an FSM end date

Further information can be obtained from the DfE website via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities

Proficiency in English, Pupil Nationality & Country of Birth no longer collected in School Census

Please note the DfE has decided that Proficiency in English, Pupil Nationality and Country of Birth data will no longer be collected in School Census collections from the School Census Autumn 2018 return onwards.