School Census

CONTENTS

Section	Section Topic	Page

1	Introduction	3-9
1.1	Purpose of the document	3
1.2	Which schools will participate in the School Census	3
1.3	Rationale behind the School Census	3
1.4	Structure of the School Census	5
1.4.1	School and Pupil Levels	5
1.4.2	Three collections a year	5
1.4.3	Historical and snapshot data	5
1.5	Main changes from School Census 2006 – New data items	6

2	Guidance: completing the School Census	10-16
2.1	Census Dates	10
2.2	Process Diagram	11
2.3	MIS with up to date data	12
2.4	Census specific data	14
2.5	Validation	14
2.6	Generating the School Census return and data checks	15
2.7	School Summary	15
2.8	Authorisation	16
2.9	Sending the School Census return	16

3	Preparation: data items required	17-62
3.1	Pupil Level	24-41
3.1.1	Pupil Identifiers	24
3.1.2	Pupil Characteristics	25
3.1.3	Pupil Status	30
3.1.4	Special Educational Needs	31
3.1.5	Exclusions	33
3.1.6	Home Information	35
3.1.7	Attendance	37
3.1.8	Post 16 Learning Aims	39
3.2	School Level	42-60
3.2.1	School Characteristics	42
3.2.2	Admission Appeals	45
3.2.3	Staffing	47
3.2.4	Class Information	53
3.2.5	Pupil and Teacher Reconciliation	55
3.2.6	ICT	57
3.2.7	Miscellaneous	58

4	Further information	61
Appendix 1	Information about surveys incorporated in School Census	62
Appendix 2	Codesets for data items	64
Appendix 3	Links to relevant websites	79

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose of this document

This document is aimed at Children’s Services/Local Authorities (LAs) and maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges (CTCs) and academies so that they

· understand the rationale behind and purpose of the School Census (Section 1)

· are able to prepare for the School Census (Section 3)

· are able to complete School Census returns during 2007 (Section 2).

It is envisaged that this document will be used as a handbook for data entered onto schools’ Management Information Systems (MIS) throughout the year, rather than just as guidance on census days.

This document is published on TeacherNet and LAs may choose to use it as it stands direct with their schools or amended to suit their local needs as appropriate. Software suppliers may also find it a useful reference document.

1.2 Which schools will participate in the School Census?

The School Census replaced PLASC in 2006 for all maintained secondary schools, CTCs and academies in England and on a voluntary basis Service Children’s Education (secondary schools). The term ‘secondary school’ includes middle (deemed secondary) schools. The maintained sector covers England only, and includes Community, Foundation, Voluntary Aided and Voluntary Controlled schools. In 2007, the arrangements for School Census are being widened to include nursery, primary, including middle (deemed primary), and special schools (including non-maintained special schools) and special hospital schools and on a voluntary basis Service Children’s Education (primary schools).

Independent schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), early years, general hospital schools and alternative provision will not participate in the 2007 School Census but will continue to provide data via the existing ASC process.

1.3 Rationale behind the School Census 2007

The following factors are the business drivers behind the School Census 2007:

· it is consistent with the overall vision underpinning the New Relationship with Schools (NRWS) programme which includes

o collect data once and use many times

o collection of data should be automatic

o data collected should be that which a well prepared school uses themselves or be justified with a clear business case

· it assumes that much of the data are already held in schools’ MIS ready for transfer on census day and so the need for data entry on the day is kept to a minimum.

· given that the majority of the data collected at pupil level are those which a well managed school uses themselves, the data should be kept up to date on an event driven basis (ie data should be updated by the school as soon as it is aware of any change or addition so the update is event driven) and so the burden of collection by the Department should not be high.

· the majority of data collected are as defined in the Common Basic Data Set (CBDS).

The Department has begun a data rationalisation process, in order to reduce and rationalise the number of surveys and data collections being sent to schools. The School Census therefore includes data items that have previously been collected via other surveys.

School Census 2007 comprises data items that will allow the following surveys to be dropped:

· Contextual and Absence checking exercise (subject to successful dual running in 2006)

· The School Census is the Department for Transport’s preferred mechanism for collecting data to measure the local transport plan mandatory indicator: Mode share of journey to school (LTP4). This applies equally to schools which have an approved travel plan and those which do not. We would not expect LAs to ask schools, which supply mode of travel data through the School Census, to provide this data in a separate survey.

· September Pupil Count

For more details of these surveys see Appendix 1.

Analysis of individual pupil records supports the drive to raise standards, provides accurate targeting of funding, and the monitoring and development of policy. For example, information about the numbers of pupils, teachers and education support staff is used to monitor child:adult ratios; information on class sizes, pupils with statements, pupils with SEN but without statements (School Action or Early Years Action and School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus), free school meals, ethnicity, absences and permanent exclusions is used to monitor the Government’s social inclusion policy. Pupil numbers are used for funding LAs and schools and contribute to the School and College Achievement and Attainment Tables exercise (previously known as Performance Tables).

Data will also continue to be used nationally for the National Assessment Agency (NAA) Pupil Test Registration process. The data are used to support other key areas involving LAs such as Revenue Support Grant and LA Benchmarking Tables. Without this information it would be very difficult for Ministers, Parliament, central and local government, pressure groups and the public to monitor government policies and their effectiveness.

The submission of the School Census returns, including a set of named pupil records, is a statutory requirement on schools under section 537A of the Education Act 1996. Putting the School Census on a statutory basis:

· means that schools do not need to obtain parental or pupil consent to the provision of information; and are

· protected from any legal challenge that they are breaching a duty of confidence to pupils; and

· helps ensure that returns are completed by schools.

1.4 Structure of the School Census

1.4.1 School and Pupil Levels

The School Census is divided into two levels for 2007 – Pupil and School. Each level comprises modules of data items that relate to a single theme or topic. The modules and the individual data items included in each module are listed in Section Two. The School Census has been structured in this way to allow different combinations of modules to be collected in each collection.

1.4.2 Three collections a year

As in 2006 different modules will be collected in each Census - see Section 2.2 for what will be collected when. Your school’s MIS software will be able to extract from your MIS the relevant data items for each census.

1.4.3 Historical as well as snapshot data

Much of the data to be collected represents some characteristic of a pupil at a point in time, eg whether a pupil was in care on the census day. However, the modules for Attendance and Exclusions capture historical data from a previous term rather than census day. This enables the census to be generated from your software using data that the school will have input at the time, for example the date a pupil left the school. It also enables LAs and the Department to build up a continuous picture of pupil attendance and exclusions from successive censuses. Please note that these modules will require data on some pupils who have left the school before census day.

A third module which captures historical data is admission appeals. Admission appeals are in respect of potential pupils whose applications for admission have been refused; it is historical data to the school but is not pupil data.
1.5 Main Changes from School Census 2006 - New data items

The new data items are described below.

Data item	Rationale
Pupil Level
Member of SEN Unit (sometimes called special class) indicator	This indicator will allow the identification of pupils with SEN who are members of a SEN Unit (sometimes referred to as special classes) within a mainstream school where children are taught wholly or mainly within separate classes catering to particular types of need. For detailed definition see Section 3.1.4. The data on SEN units and resourced provision was collected from schools for the first time in School Census 2006. In 2007 the data will be collected as two distinct indicators to allow better comparative monitoring of the impact of different types of provision.
Member of resourced provision indicator	This indicator will allow the identification of pupils with SEN who are members of resourced provision, where places are reserved at a mainstream school for pupils with a specific type of SEN, those places being resourced to cater for their needs through eg specialist teachers and access to health professionals. Pupils in resourced provision are taught mainly within mainstream classes. For detailed definition see Section 3.1.4.
Pupil’s usual mode of travel to school	The Department for Education and Skills and Department for Transport have a joint ‘Travelling to School’ initiative. It sets out a programme of activity for schools, LAs and central government to increase walking (including Scooters, Skateboards and Roller skates/blades), cycling and use of public transport and to reduce car use for journeys to and from school. 250 school travel advisers in LAs are funded to support schools developing and implementing active Travel Plans, and capital grants are being paid to schools with Travel Plans that meet the national minimum standard. 10,000 schools will have such Travel Plans in place by March 2006, and all schools by 2010. A key element of each school Travel Plan is the requirement to monitor changes in mode share for journeys to school. Collection of the data through the Census will allow the linking of home postcode to mode of travel, thus allowing geographic and socio-demographic analysis of the data returned. It will also form a valuable cross-departmental strategic resource and will enable local transport planners to identify infrastructure improvements, for example the bus services needed to provide better support for pupils travelling to schools in their LA area. If a school has an approved Travel Plan, then they are required to provide usual mode of travel to school for their pupils via the Census. Other schools are not required to do so. However, providing the information via the Census should save schools having to do so through a local separate collection, which may well have a greater time burden than collection through the Census route.
Language code	Collection of good quality language data can contribute to the planning and implementation of strategies to support the educational inclusion of all pupils, particularly those who speak more than one language, both locally and nationally.
Pupil’s reason for absence and Number of sessions missed	In past years data has been collected on whether pupil absences are authorised or not. By collecting information on the number of pupil absences by the reason for absence, better information will become available on why pupils miss school, thereby informing local and national attendance strategies. Schools will also be able to benchmark their absence rates against other schools. This data item is only required from those schools with integrated attendance packages as part of their management information systems. Those who do not have integrated attendance packages may continue to provide data on authorised and unauthorised absences only. (See section 3.1.7)
Pupil’s full home address	The introduction of an Information Sharing Index, under the provisions of the Children Act 2004, will give practitioners working with children a resource to identify children who are not in receipt of statutory services or who need extra services. The child’s home address will be a necessary part of the Index. Obtaining this via the Census is a very effective way of getting information that schools will hold on their management information systems. The data will be collected termly. Although schools will only be required to check it is up-to-date on an annual basis, it is clear that most schools change a pupil’s address records as and when they are notified of any change.
Post 16 Learning Aims Module	This module will be collected in the Autumn Census only. The “Success for All” strategy[1] and the “14-19 Education and Skills” White Paper[2] have announced the development of comparable measures of success across all Post-16 provision. Data for the Further Education and Work Based Learning sectors are collected at learning aim level for each student. Data currently available from school sixth forms is limited to achievement data and aggregated participation data collected via the September Pupil Count and the Post-16 module of the School Census. To ensure equable treatment across the Post-16 sectors and proper accountability, data from sixth forms need to be provided in a manner similar to that for the other sectors. The five new data items agreed to be collected for each student are:
Qualification Accreditation Number (QAN)	A valid entry from a database of QANs. Every course of study leading to any level of qualification will have been allocated a QAN which may be linked for categorisation or analysis to: · Qualification Type (A Level, AS Level etc.) · Qualification Title · Awarding Body · Subject (with mapping to the Subject/Sector Framework) National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level.
Learning aim start date	The date on which learning for the learning aim began.

Data item

Rationale

Learning Aim Planned End Date

The date by which the school and learner plan to complete the learning related to this learning aim.

This will allow for analyses on the basis of bringing together all learning aims planned to end in a given year. So, two year programmes starting in 2005/06 and one year programmes starting in 2006/07 are all brought together in the data reports for 2006/07; that is the year when they were due to end. It will also enable matching of learners across teaching years, ensuring that learners on two year programmes who withdraw in year 1 are included in reports, which guarantees that success rates take into account the outcomes of all members of the starting class/cohort.

Learning Aim Actual End Date

The date that the learner completed the learning activities necessary to achieve the learning aim.

This will confirm that the learner is still in attendance and is eligible for funding; that learning has ended and that a valid entry is required in completion status (see below); and will provide a proxy for planned end year when planned end date is missing.

Learning Aim Completion status

An indication of the degree of completion of the learning activities leading to the learning aim.

This will confirm that learners have completed the formal learning programme and can be considered as having been retained; that learners have withdrawn before the end of the formal learning programme; that a learner has transferred out of one learning aim and into another; or confirm that a learner is still actively engaged in the formal learning programme (continuing).

Data item	Rationale
School Level
Provision of Extended Services	This item was introduced, for secondary schools, in School Census 2006, but the codeset has been amended and expanded for 2007. Schools select from a codeset the categories of extended services that apply to them. For detailed definition see Section 3.2.7. Extended schools are high profile in both the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners and the Ten Year Childcare Strategy. These strategies set out the Government’s vision for all schools to become extended schools by 2010, providing a core set of services including all year round 8am-6pm school based childcare for primary school aged children and a range of interesting activities before and after school for secondary school aged children. A prospectus for schools was published in summer 2005. The provision of extended services on school sites can lead to a number of benefits including: improved pupil behaviour, attendance and achievement; greater parental involvement in their child’s education; making better use of schools’ facilities by opening them up to the community; providing better help to school staff and parents to address children’s wider needs; and enabling parents to return to work and so reducing the numbers of children living in poverty. The Department rolled out funding to support the development of extended schools from 2003-04. Initially aimed at areas of deprivation, all LA areas received this funding from 2005-06. Robust information on the prevalence and characteristics of the extended services in schools is required to assess the impact of this funding and to monitor progress towards these policy objectives.
Extended Services: Number of childcare places	This item is for those schools indicating, in the item on the provision of Extended Services, that they are providing access to 8am-6pm year round childcare for school age children.

2 GUIDANCE: COMPLETING THE SCHOOL CENSUS

2.1 Census Dates

Every maintained secondary school, CTC and academy in England is expected to complete three Census returns in the calendar year 2007. There will be one collection each term, or for LAs that operate six term years, collection will be every other term.

The Census dates will be as follows:

· third Thursday in January (18 January 2007 )

· third Thursday in May (17 May 2007)

· third Thursday in September (20 September 2007)

If unusual circumstances impact on census day for example, severe weather conditions or religious observances, schools may find that the numbers of pupils and/or staff who are not at school that day are abnormally high. If any census figures for example, ‘school meals taken’ are affected, then (as cited in sections 3.2.3, 3.2.4 and 3.2.7) a day and time when the situation can be regarded as normal should be selected.

Schools/LAs may interpret this literally as the next normal day (possibly Friday 19 January) or alternatively, as an earlier day in census week or the previous Thursday, if that reflects the normal situation.

If alternative days/times are used, schools should record these for audit purposes.

2.2 Process Diagram

The process diagram below shows the steps that need to be taken to produce, check, authorise and send each Census Return.

2.3 School MIS with up to date data

The individual pupil records and school characteristics information for the School Census will be extracted automatically by your MIS and parts of them may not be edited manually. Also, although strenuous data validation will take place within your software, missing pupils, missing excluded pupils, exclusions and attendance data for pupils no longer on roll and some incorrect data may not flag up any errors or queries. It is essential therefore that all relevant pupil data have been entered and updated in your system before the School Census return is created. Information on exclusions, attendance, teaching and education support staff and classes as taught will (as far as possible) also be extracted automatically where the relevant data have previously been entered, but can if necessary be keyed directly into the School Census return.

Individual pupil data will be included in the return for the following pupils and so you should ensure that all relevant data are kept up to date for these pupils:

Spring Census (January)	Summer Census (May)	Autumn Census (September)
· &