Survey Reference Date

The survey reference date must be 2007-01-18 (Spring Census), 2007-05-17 (Summer Census), 2007-09-20 (Autumn Census).  This should be generated by your MIS, but you will be able to edit the date where there are unusual circumstances (as described in section 2.1).

3.1.1    Pupil Identifiers module

All data items in this module should be maintained on an event driven basis.  This module will be collected in all three censuses for all pupils on roll on the relevant census day.  All the data items except Preferred Surname will be collected for any additional pupils who are no longer on roll but for whom the attendance and exclusions modules are collected.

Unique Pupil Number (UPN)

This is generated by your MIS or transferred to you from another school in a CTF file and you are not expected to calculate it manually.  The UPN must be 13 characters in the format Annnnnnnnnnnn or AnnnnnnnnnnnA (for a temporary UPN) where A is a character and n is numeric. UPNs are generally produced automatically using routines programmed into the MIS software when a pupil first enters the maintained schools sector in England or Wales.  Temporary UPNs may only be issued as an interim measure until the permanent UPN is obtained. For further information see: www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/tools/ims/upn.

Pupil’s Former UPN

This is where the pupil has held another UPN whilst at your school (eg where a temporary UPN was allocated when the pupil was first admitted to the school, but subsequently replaced by the permanent UPN being retrieved from a previous school)

Pupil Surname

Full legal surname, as the school believes it to be (schools are not necessarily expected to have verified this from a birth certificate or other legal document).

Pupil Forename

In full, not shortened or familiar versions.

Pupil Middle Names

In full, not shortened or familiar versions.  If pupil has no middle name(s) then this field must be left blank

Pupil Date of Birth

Date of birth of pupil in the format CCYY-MM-DD

Pupil Gender

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

Gender of pupil in the format M (Male) or F (Female)

Pupil Former Surname

This should only be completed if a former surname is already known to the school.  If not this field should be left blank. Schools need not and should not take any special steps to establish the existence of former surnames of which they are not already aware.  If the pupil has more than one former surname, record the most recently used.

Pupil Preferred Surname

The surname most commonly used in the school.  In full, not shortened or familiar versions. 

3.1.2    Pupil Characteristics module

All data items in this module should be maintained on an event driven basis or collected/updated via the school’s normal data checking procedures.  Pupil’s Usual Mode of Travel to school, In Care Indicator, In Care while at current school indicator and In Care - Caring Authority Code, will only be collected in the Spring Census for all pupils on census day.  All other data items in this module will be collected in all three censuses for all pupils on roll on the relevant census day.  Some individual data items, as indicated, will be collected for any additional pupils who are no longer on roll but for whom the exclusions module is collected.

Pupil Ethnic Code

All pupils aged 5 and over as at 31 August 2006 should have an ethnic category assigned to them or if the information has not yet been collected ‘Not obtained’ or if the parent or pupil has refused to give the information ‘refused’ should be assigned. 

The codeset reflects categories used in the 2001 National Population Census, with two additional categories for Travellers of Irish heritage and pupils of Gypsy/Roma heritage.  If the national population census categories do not meet the needs of local monitoring, LAs may use the DfES approved list of extended categories.  Your LA will have decided which of the ethnic codes to use and these codes should be reflected in your MIS.

Source of Pupil Ethnic Code

(See Ethnicity Source codeset in Appendix 2)

This describes the source of the ethnic code information obtained eg parents, school, pupil. It must be completed for all pupils aged 5 and over as at 31 August 2006.  In order to meet data protection requirements, it is essential that information provided by parents or pupils can be distinguished from information ascribed by the school.  Further guidance can be found at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities/

First Language

(See Language  codeset in Appendix 2)

A first language other than English should be recorded where a child was exposed to the language during early development and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community.

If a child was exposed to more than one language (which may include English) during early development the language other than English should be recorded, irrespective of the child's proficiency in English.  In the case of an older pupil who is no longer exposed to the first language in the home, and who now uses only another language, the school should consult with the pupil or parent to determine which language should be recorded.

Where a pupil’s first language is not English, schools may record specific languages from the extended language codeset or continue to use the short codeset used in PLASC 2006.  ENB (Not known but believed to be English) and OTB (Not known but believed to be other than English) are appropriate where a pupil’s first language is not known with absolute certainty because the parents have not responded to enquiries, but the school can judge with a high degree of confidence whether it is English or not.

Further guidance can be found at http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities.

This is a compulsory field for all pupils aged 5 and over as at 31 August 2006.

Pupil Free School Meal Eligibility

Pupils should be recorded as eligible (‘true’) ONLY if a claim for free school meals has been made by them or on their behalf by parents

and either

a)     the relevant LA has confirmed their eligibility and a free school meal is currently being provided for them, or

b)     the school or the LA have seen the necessary documentation (eg, a TC602 Tax Credit Award Notice) that supports their eligibility, and the administration of the free meal is to follow as a matter of process.

Conversely, if pupils are in receipt of a free meal but there is confirmation that they are no longer eligible and entitlement will be revoked, ‘false’ should be applied.

Children whose parents are in receipt of the following are entitled to receive free school meals:

·         Income Support (IS)

·         Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA)

·         support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

·         Child Tax Credit provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income from 6 April 2006 (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) which does not exceed £14,155

·         Guarantee element of State Pension Credit.

Children who receive IS or IBJSA in their own right are also entitled to receive free school meals.

It should be noted that it will not be necessary for individual schools/LAs to calculate a family‘s annual taxable income.  The Inland Revenue will perform this income calculation and it is this figure that should be used to determine free school meal entitlement.

Each time a tax credit award is calculated, the Inland Revenue will automatically issue a Tax Credit Award Notice (TC602) to the applicant.  The award notice will set out the annual income and key family details. This notice includes details of all the information that is required to assess a child’s free school meal eligibility (under the ‘tax credit’ category’ therefore we strongly suggest that this document is used to make that assessment.

Similarly, we strongly suggest that the Pension Credit Award Notice, issued automatically by The Pension Service to all those in receipt of Pension Credits, is used to assess a child’s free school meal eligibility under the ‘Guarantee State Pension Credit’ category.

Pupil’s Usual Mode of Travel to school

(See Mode of Travel codeset in Appendix 2)

Usual mode of travel to school should be recorded for all pupils in schools with an approved Travel Plan.  Where a pupil uses more than one mode of travel for each journey to school, the longest element of the journey by distance should be recorded.  For example a pupil who travels 5 miles by car and then walks the last mile to school, the pupil’s usual mode of travel should be recorded as Car/Van.  Car share covers both informal car share arrangements and formal car share schemes.

If a pupil uses different types of modes of travel throughout the week and the most frequently weekly mode can not be determined, then the most commonly used mode throughout the academic year must be record.

Pupils whose usual mode of travel is by Scooter, Skateboard or Roller Skates/blades should record their usual mode of travel as Walking.

Boarding pupils should record their usual mode of travel as Boarder - not applicable.

For other schools, which do not have an approved Travel Plan, the recording of pupil’s usual mode of travel is optional.  However, all schools will have to have a Travel Plan by 2010 and LAs will be using School Census for reporting progress against local targets (eg in Local Transport Plans) rather than carrying out separate surveys. 

Census validation will check whether or not a school reports any pupils' usual mode of travel and will result in a query message where none is found.  This query message can safely be ignored by schools who have not recorded pupils’ usual mode of travel because they do not currently have a Travel Plan.

We suggest that this information be collected from children (or parents) in the Autumn, as this will limit the burden for schools at Census time.  Perhaps the item could be on schools’ data checking sheets.  The Department for Transport is aware that a child’s usual mode of travel might be seasonal and could be different on different days of the week, but it is hoped that the suggestion of an Autumn collection of pupils’ usual mode of travel might balance out any bias.  

This item will be collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day.

Gifted & Talented indicator

Indicates if the child is in the Gifted and Talented cohort for the school.  Schools should include all pupils on their gifted and talented or able pupils register if they have one.  Any such register should include:

a)      all pupils in the Excellence in Cities (EiC) Gifted and Talented population, if the school has one; and

b)      all identified National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) members, if school has any.

If a school does not have a register but does have pupils identified in (a) and/or (b) above, these should be recorded in place of a register.

There is a default entry of false so schools will only need to populate this data item for the children to whom it applies.  Schools that do not identify Gifted and Talented pupils should just return the default value of false for all their pupils.  For more information see

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/identification 

Connexions Agreement

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This field should be completed for all pupils who are aged 12 and above (as at 31 August 2006 in Spring and Summer Census) and who are aged 12 and above (as at 31 August 2007 in Autumn Census).  If it is not completed the system will default to ‘unsought’.  The Census mechanism is used to transfer this data item from schools to their LA who can then pass on to the Connexions Service. This data item is not used by the DfES.

There is a legal requirement under the Learning & Skills Act 2000 to pass information on request to the Connexions Service for pupils in or approaching the Connexions age range. The information which schools are required to provide consists of:

a)      the names and address of pupils and their parents – which must be provided to the Connexions Service in any event;

b)      other information relevant to the provision of Connexions Services – in this case parents (or pupils themselves if aged 16 or over) have the right to instruct the school not to provide information to the Connexions Service.

The provision under (b) is for an opt-out.  Until and unless the parent or pupil gives an instruction, the school remains under a statutory duty to provide information to the Connexions Service on request. Fair Processing Notices need to be issued to parents advising them of their (or their child’s) right to instruct the school not to provide information beyond name and address.  If the following values are recorded: No or UNS (Unsought) then information beyond name and address cannot be shared with the Connexions Service.  A model Fair Processing Notice will be available for issue by LAs and schools in summer 2006.

Further information on Connexions can be found at www.connexions.gov.uk

In Care Indicator

Indicates whether a pupil is in the care of the LA.  This indicator may be system generated from recording the date that a period in care started for a child on your MIS.  The indicator is collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day.

Schools should be informed about all children who are in care and use the In Care Indicator to record this.  Those responsible for completing this return should liaise with the school’s designated teacher for looked after children.  The designated teacher should receive a Personal Education Plan (PEP) for each child who is in care (a PEP is a statutory requirement).  In addition, the school can check with the LA’s ‘Looked After Children Team’ - details can be obtained via the following website www.dfes.gov.uk/educationprotects

Under the Children’s Act 1989, a child is looked after by a LA if he or she is in their care or is provided with accommodation for more than 24 hours by the LA.  They fall into four main groups:

1. children who are accommodated under a voluntary agreement with their parents (Section 20)
2. children who are the subject of a care order (Section 31) or interim care order (Section 38)
3. children who are the subject of emergency orders for the protection of the child (Section 44 and 46)
4. children who are compulsorily accommodated.  This includes children remanded to the LA or subject to a criminal justice supervision order with a residence requirement (Section 21).

In all cases Social Services would be involved.

In Care indicator at the time of any exclusion will be collected together with exclusion information in all three censuses.

In Care while at current school indicator

Used to indicate if a pupil has ever been in care while at this school.  The indicator is collected in the Spring Census only, for all pupils on roll on census day.

In Care - Caring Authority Code

Code of the 'originating' LA, where the child was originally placed in public care and which looks after the child for the purposes of the Children Act 1989.  All LA codes can be found in the LA look up table (LEA List) at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datamanagement/cbds/CBDSspecs/.  (Valid LA codes exclude pre-LGR codes included in this look up table.)

This field is collected in the Spring Census only, for all pupils on roll on census day and must be completed with a valid LA code (or XXX if the originating LA is not known) if either ‘In Care Indicator’ or ‘In Care while at current school indicator’ is ‘true’

3.1.3    Pupil Status module

All data items in this module should be maintained on an event driven basis.  This module will be collected in all three censuses for all pupils on roll on census day and Pupil Date of Entry, Pupil Date of Leaving and Pupil Part-time Indicator will be collected for any additional pupils who are no longer on roll but for whom the attendance and exclusions modules are collected.

Pupil Enrolment Status

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

Indicates the enrolment status of a pupil using one of the registration codes supplied in the codeset.  Ensures that pupils are not double counted for funding purposes.  The MIS will automatically default the value of this field to C for Current.  Please ensure that dually registered and guest pupils are recorded correctly.                                      

Pupil Date of entry

Date of entry to current school. 

Pupil Date of leaving

Date pupil left current school.  The completion of this field will enable identification of pupils who are no longer on the school’s roll.

Pupil Part-time Indicator

Indicates whether a pupil is part-time or not.  The MIS will automatically default the value of this field to false as the majority of pupils will not be part-time.

Part-time attendance is allowable for all ages. Part-time attendance is anything less than 10 sessions per week, and refers to part-time in education NOT part-time at one or more establishments, ie three full days in one school and two full days in another school should not be classified by either school as part-time.  For a pupil who is on a part-time timetable, for whatever reason, the school is authorising absence for the time the pupil is not timetabled to be present.  For further guidance please see the school attendance website www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/otherinitiatives/absence.cfm.

Pupil Boarder Indicator

(See Pupil Boarder codeset in Appendix 2)

Indicates whether a pupil is a boarder or not. The MIS will automatically default the value of this field to N, not a boarder. 

Pupil's Actual National Curriculum Year Group

(See Pupil NC Year Group codeset in Appendix 2)

The year group in which the pupil is taught for the majority of their time, regardless of their chronological age.

3.1.4    Special Educational Needs module

All data items in this module should be maintained on an event driven basis.  SEN provision will be collected in all three censuses for all pupils on roll on the relevant census day.  All other data items will only be available on schools’ MIS for those pupils with Pupil SEN Provision equal to P (School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus) or S (Statement) and will only be collected in the Spring Census.

Pupil SEN Provision

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

Valid provision types under the SEN Code of Practice.  For further details, see http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/teacherlearningassistant/.

It is anticipated that a history of provision should be recorded within a school’s MIS. 

This data item will be collected in all three censuses for all pupils on roll on census day. SEN Provision at the time of any exclusion will also be collected in all three censuses.

Pupil SEN type code

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This field records the nature of a pupil’s special educational need.  The primary need and, if appropriate, their secondary need should be recorded.  Guidance on Data collection by type of special educational need is available at www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/datatypes/.  

This data item will be collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day with a SEN Provision of P (School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus) or S (Statement)

Pupil SEN Type ranking

This indicates the rank order of a pupil’s special educational need, recorded in Pupil SEN type. The most significant, or primary need, should be ranked 1, the secondary 2.

This data item will be collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day with a SEN Provision of P (School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus) or S (Statement).

Member of SEN Unit or special class indicator

This indicator will allow the identification of pupils with SEN who are members of a SEN Unit, sometimes called special classes.

SEN Units, or special classes are provisions within a mainstream school where the children are taught wholly or mainly within separate classes which:

·         receive additional funding from the LA specifically for the purpose of the provision

·         cater for a specific area or areas of SEN (eg hearing impairment)

·         are usually for pupils with statements of SEN (but may include pupils at School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus - decisions about resources to support pupils with additional needs, SEN and severe and complex SEN, will vary depending on the arrangements the LA has with its schools).

(Most pupils placed in units will have the unit written into their statement of special educational needs.  It is extremely unlikely that a child would be in both a unit and a resourced provision, but a school could have resourced provision for one type of need and a unit for another.)

Pupils who are taught wholly or partly in the provision and partly in mainstream classes (the balance may vary widely) should be included.

This data item will be collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day with an SEN Provision of P (School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus) or S (Statement).

Member of resourced provision indicator

This indicator will allow the identification of pupils with SEN who are members of a resourced provision.

Resourced provisions are where places are reserved at a mainstream school for pupils with a specific type of SEN, taught mainly within mainstream classes, who would require a base and some specialist facilities around the school and which::

·         receive additional funding from the LA (specifically for the purpose of the provision)

·         cater for a specific area or areas of SEN (eg hearing impairment)

·         are usually for pupils with statements of SEN (but may include pupils at School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus - decisions about resources to support pupils with additional needs, SEN and severe and complex SEN, will vary depending on the arrangements the LA has with its schools).

(Some LAs may make placements without the details being written into a pupil’s statement of special educational needs.  Other LAs may include the details of what will be provided through the resourced provision in a pupil’s statement.  It is extremely unlikely that a child would be in both a unit and a resourced provision, but a school could have resourced provision for one type of need and a unit for another.)

Pupils who are taught wholly or partly in the provision and partly in mainstream classes (the balance may vary widely) should be included.

This data item will be collected in the Spring Census only for all pupils on roll on census day with a SEN Provision of P (School Action Plus or Early Years Action Plus) or S (Statement).

3.1.5    Exclusions module

The whole module will be collected in all three censuses for all types of exclusions that occurred two terms previous to that in which the census falls, ie exclusion data relating to the autumn term will be collected in the following Summer Census, that relating to the spring term in the following Autumn Census and that relating to the summer term in the following Spring Census.

Where known, the following should not be included:

a)      permanent exclusions overturned by the governors where the pupil has been reinstated;

b)      permanent exclusions overturned by an independent appeal panel where the pupil has been reinstated

c)      permanent exclusions overturned by an independent appeal panel where, because of exceptional circumstances or other reasons, it was not practical to give a direction requiring reinstatement, although it otherwise would have been appropriate to give such a direction.

To satisfy conditions (b) and (c) above, exclusions with Exclusion Appeal Result equal to R (Reinstatement) or O (Reinstatement would be appropriate but not in the best interests of the child given other circumstances) will be filtered out by the extract routine.  Schools must therefore ensure that Exclusion Appeal Result is maintained on an event driven basis so that these exclusions can automatically be filtered out when data are extracted for the Census.

The Spring Census extract routine will select all those exclusions with Start Dates between 17/4/06 (Easter Monday) and 31/8/06, the Summer Census will select all those exclusions with Start Dates between 1/9/2006 and 31/12/2006 and the Autumn Census will select those with Start Dates between 1/1/2007 and 8/4/2007 (Easter Sunday).  Whilst these dates do not represent real term dates, they will ensure that the vast majority of exclusions for the Autumn (terms 1 and 2 for schools with 6 terms) and Spring (terms 3 and 4) Terms are picked up for the majority of schools.

If schools do not use a module in their MIS which records exclusions the data items will need to be manually calculated for each pupil and manually added to the Census return.

Exclusion Category

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

For each exclusion, this indicates the type of exclusion: fixed period, lunchtime or permanent.

Exclusion Reason

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

For each exclusion, the reason for the exclusion.  Some MIS allow schools to enter more than one reason for any exclusion, so schools can record a main reason as well as secondary reasons for any exclusion on their MIS.  But for the Census only the main reason will be collected for each exclusion.

Exclusion Start Date

From 1 September 2005 the definition of exclusion start date changed. The exclusion start date should reflect the date the exclusion starts, ie the date that the pupil was asked to leave the school by the Head teacher. By not collecting the data until two terms after that in which the exclusion started, it is anticipated that all appeals procedures would have been completed by the time the data are collected and so only exclusions which have been upheld will be included in a return.

Actual number of sessions excluded from

For each fixed period and lunchtime exclusion, the actual number of sessions for which the exclusion is in effect.  For fixed period exclusions, each full school day counts as two sessions: a half school day counts as one session. For lunchtime exclusions, each lunchtime for which the exclusion applies counts as one session. Although information about reinstated exclusions are not being collected in the School Census, schools may wish to record the number of sessions for which the child was excluded before being reinstated and for this the actual, not the planned number of sessions should be recorded.

This data item will be collected for fixed period and lunchtime exclusions that occurred two terms previously.

3.1.6    Home Information module

All data items should be maintained on an event driven basis.  These data items will be collected only for a pupil’s current address, ie addresses for which ‘Pupil Address Type’ = ‘C’ (current).

The introduction of an Information Sharing (IS) Index, under the provisions of the Children Act 2004, will give practitioners working with children a tool to identify children who are not in receipt of statutory services or who need extra services.  Home address for all children will be collected via the Census termly for populating the IS Index.  Although schools will only be required to check that the information 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.  Increasingly data is being used for geographic analysis, which means that accurate recording of postcode is especially important.

Fair Processing Notices will need to be issued to parents/guardians explaining why it is proposed to pass home address information for these pupils to the Department and the use that will be made of the address information.  A model Fair Processing Notice will be available for issue by LAs and schools in summer 2006. 

Schools are able to provide the Department with their addresses in whichever format their data is currently held within their MIS, either Sub-Dwelling, Dwelling, Post Town etc Postcode (BS7666 Address), or Address Line 1-5, Postcode (UK Postal Address).  (Schools should not worry if these field names do not mean anything to them, no change is needed to the way in which address information is currently held within their MIS to complete the Census returns.)

The expectation is that schools will be able to provide a valid home address for the great majority of their pupils (including boarding pupils).  Where a child has multiple addresses (ie where the child lives with both parents at different stages of the week) both addresses should be supplied.

Whilst every effort must be made to obtain these pupil details, the Department understands that in extreme circumstances this is not always possible.  In such extreme cases these fields can be left blank or a partial address can be supplied and the validation errors ignored.

Sub-Dwelling

Flat, apartment name or number or other sub-division of a dwelling. 

Dwelling

Dwelling name and/or number. 

Street

Locality

Street name or street description (Validation will result in a query where there is a dwelling name/number but no street.  If the address legitimately has no street, the query can be ignored.)

The locality name refers to a neighbourhood, suburb, district, village, estate, settlement, or parish that may form part of a town

Town

The town name refers to a city or town that is not an administrative area, a suburb of an administrative area that does not form part of another town or a London district.

Administrative Area

Geographic area that may be the highest level local administrative area eg county, unitary authority, London.

Post Town

Post Office usually assigns these based on Sorting Office.

Postcode

The code allocated by the Post Office to identify a group of postal delivery points. 

Or

Address Line 1

First line of address.

Address Line 2

Second line of address. 

Address Line 3

Third line of address. 

Address Line 4

Fourth line of address. 

Address Line 5

Fifth line of address. 

Postcode

The code allocated by the Post Office to identify a group of postal delivery points. 

This module will be collected in all three censuses, providing information for a pupil’s attendance in the term prior to the census.  

This module will only be collected for pupils of compulsory school age (pupils aged 5 before 1 September 2006 and aged 15 or younger on 31 August 2007).  For terms in the academic year 2006/2007, information should be included for pupils who were aged 15 or younger as at the 31 August 2006 (ie their date of birth falls between 1 September 1990 and 31 August 2001) and who were on the school roll for at least one session during the specified term. 

This module will not be collected for any pupils who are boarders, ie Pupil Boarder indicator does not equal N. 

The data required for each pupil will be the aggregate number of possible attendance sessions and the actual number of absences by reason for absence.

For schools that use the electronic registration module on their MIS, the census will extract relevant data for each pupil for each term.  Schools which use electronic registration that is not integrated with their main MIS (or record attendances in paper registers) will need to extract the relevant data for each pupil included in the Census, according to the dates for the previous term, and manually add this data to the Census return.  In this case absence reporting by reason is not required and schools should report on the number of authorised and unauthorised absences for each pupil.  Schools should seek advice from the supplier of their main MIS on how to manually add data for the Census return.  Please note that for the summer term, attendance information is only required up until 25 May 2007, the Friday before the spring Bank holiday, rather than the full term.

Possible Sessions

Possible sessions during the term.   There are 2 sessions for each school day (morning and afternoon).

Pupil Attendance Codes

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

Number of sessions missed

Valid reasons for absence codes.  The use of fixed codes to assist in monitoring not only whether pupils are absent with or without the permission of the school, but why pupils are absent from school.

The number of sessions missed for each specified reason for absence.

Sessions missed due to Authorised Absence

Authorised absence is absence which has been authorised by a teacher or other authorised representative of the school.  Absence can be authorised retrospectively if the teacher or other authorised representative of the school subsequently ‘accepts’ a reason for the absence provided by a parent.

Sessions missed due to Unauthorised Absence

Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school.  This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences

3.1.8    Post 16 Learning Aims module                                                                                        

The Post 16 Courses module in School Census 2006 is completely replaced in the Autumn Census (September) with the new Post 16 Learning Aims module. 

This module gives information on the learning aims studied by pupils in year 12 and above, regardless of their age; and any pupils in Year 11 or below aged 16 or above on 31/08/2007. 

This module will be collected for all the relevant pupils registered at the school on Autumn census day and for pupils no longer on roll who were on the school roll for at least one session during the current and/or previous term. This may include pupils who have left the school prior to the census day.

Schools will be expected to enter details for each learning aim undertaken by a pupil on an event-driven basis from the release of software to schools in May 2007. In preparation for September 2007 schools will need to enter learning aim details for all relevant pupils who were registered in the school from the beginning of the 2007 Summer term.  (This may include historic data for pupils who have left the school and for pupils who have changed courses.)

A re-sit occurs when an examination is retaken, or coursework resubmitted, but the pupil does not attend regular lessons for the course. (Attendance at revision classes may occur.)  Re-sits will be identified by having identical values for Learning Aim Start Date and Learning Aim Planned End Date. Re-sits will have a Learning Aim Completion Status value of “0” (which will not change after the examination has been taken or coursework resubmitted).

If a pupil is retaking a complete qualification, including attendance at regular classes, this will be treated in the same manner as any other normal course.

Where schools have consortium arrangements it is important that the students are identified with the correct school. All schools should record course data for all students who are on their roll, irrespective of the location of any course delivery. If a school is providing courses for students enrolled at other schools and the provider school wishes to record details of these students in its own software system then these other students must only be recorded with a Pupil Enrolment Status of ‘G’ (Guest).

For pupils in Year 12 or above, it is not expected that details of courses studied in Year 11 (or before) will be recorded or collected. For those pupils in Year 11 (or below) where Level 3 information is required, it is not expected that details of Level 1/2 (or Entry Level) courses will be recorded or collected.

Each pupil may have a number of learning aims.  For each learning aim, five new data items are to be collected:

Qualification Accreditation Number (QAN)

Every course of study leading to any level of qualification will have been allocated a QAN.

Learning aim start date

The date on which learning for the learning aim began.

Each QAN in use in a school should be set up with standard start and end dates so that entering the QAN gives an automatic means of providing these data at pupil level. Only exceptions, which will be rare, will need to be entered manually.

Learning Aim Planned End Date

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

Unless otherwise indicated by the Completion Status, see below, this will be either:

(a) blank [Completion Status = 1] – ie the student is currently undertaking the course;

(b) the date the student left the school, if the student's Leaving Date is prior to the Learning Aim Planned End Date; or

(c) the Learning Aim Planned End Date, if the date is prior to, or equal to, the student's Leaving Date.

In other cases, if the Completion Status is "3" or "4" then a manual entry will be required. The number of such cases in an individual establishment is likely to be relative small.

Learning Aim Actual End Date

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

This will confirm that learning has ended and that a valid entry is required in completion status (see below). 

Learning Aim Completion status

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

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

The Completion Status will be automatically generated as follows:

If the current date is after, or equal to, the Learning Aim Start Date then Completion status = 1;

If the current date is after, or equal to, the Learning Aim Planned End Date, and the Leaving Date is after, or equal to, the Learning Aim Planned End Date, then Completion status = 2;

The relatively few instances of a student not completing a course or changing courses will require manual entry as follows:

If the learner has withdrawn from the learning activities leading to the learning aim then Completion status = 3;

If the learner has transferred to a new learning aim ie the learner has withdrawn from this learning aim and at the same time started studying for another learning aim within the same school then Completion status = 4.

Survey Reference Date

The survey reference date must be 2007-01-18 (Spring Census), 2007-05-17 (Summer Census), 2007-09-20 (Autumn Census).  This should be automatically input by your MI system, but should be variable to allow for alternative dates where there are special circumstances (as described in section 2.1).

All data items should be maintained on an event driven basis.   This module will be collected in all three censuses.

LA Number

A three digit code that identifies a particular LA.  The LA number represents the LA responsible for maintained education. You can check your LA code by accessing www.edubase.gov.uk/EstablishmentFind.aspx  

DfES Establishment Number

The DfES Establishment number is a four digit reference number allocated to each school. You can check your DfES Estab number by accessing www.edubase.gov.uk/EstablishmentFind.aspx

School Name

In full, including the word ‘School’ or ‘College’ if this is part of the school’s full name.

School Phase

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This code indicates the phase of education offered by your school.  SS is the code for secondary schools (including CTCs and academies) and MS is the code for middle deemed secondary schools.

School Type

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This code indicates which type of educational establishment the school is.

Gender of entry

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This code indicates the gender of pupils catered for at the school. A school is defined as single sex if 90% of the pupils are one gender.

Gender of sixth form entry

(See Gender of entry codeset in Appendix 2)

For schools with a sixth form, this code indicates the gender of pupils catered for. A sixth form is defined as single sex if 90% of pupils between 16 and 18 are one gender.

Minimum Year Group

(See School NC Year Group codeset in Appendix 2)

This is the lowest year group for which the school customarily makes provision. Exceptional pupils/ situations eg ‘early entry’ or ‘held back’ should not influence these values. 

Maximum Year Group

(See School NC Year Group codeset)

This is the highest year group for which the school customarily makes provision. Exceptional pupils/ situations eg ‘early entry’ or ‘held back’ should not influence these values. 

Intake Type

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This code denotes the policy for admitting pupils to the establishment and is decided by the school in conjunction with the LA. 

If the school has no specific criteria for offering a place then COMP should be recorded.  This means comprehensive in the sense of ‘of broad scope’, which includes pupils being in a certain catchment distance area from the school.  If a school has more than one criterion for offering a place, eg it is a catholic grammar school, only one intake type can be recorded; the main one.  If both are equally weighted, then the school must decide on one.

Governance

(See codeset in Appendix 2)

This code specifies the governance of the school as indicated on a school's Instrument of Government.

School Email Address

The e-mail address for official communications must be present and include the character @. The email address provided must be for an account that is used on a regular basis and one that is accessible to the Head teacher, eg ‘head@’ or ‘office@’.  It would not normally be one that identifies a particular individual by name. This email address may be used for future DfES correspondence.

School Telephone Number

This should be the main school telephone number which is used for official purposes.

Schools are able to provide the Department with their addresses in whichever format their data is currently held within their MIS, either, Sub Dwelling, Dwelling, Street, Locality, Town, Administrative Area (BS7666 Address), or Address Line 1, Address Line 2, Address Line 3, Address Line 4 and Address Line 5 (UK Postal Address).  (Schools should not worry if these field names do not mean anything to them, no change is needed to the way in which address information is currently held within their MIS to complete the Census returns.)

Sub-dwelling

Flat, apartment name or number or other sub-division of a dwelling.

Dwelling

Dwelling name and/or number.

Street

Street name or street description that has been allocated to a street by the street naming LA.

Locality

The locality name refers to a neighbourhood, suburb, district, village, estate, settlement, or parish that may form part of a town, or stand in its own right within the context of an administrative area.  Where an industrial estate contains streets it is defined as a locality in its own right.

Post Town

Post Office usually assigns these based on Sorting Office.

Town

The town name refers to a city or town that is not an administrative area, a suburb of an administrative area that does not form part of another town or a London district.

Administrative Area

The administrative area is a geographic area that may be the highest level local administrative area, which may be a county or a unitary LA, an island or island group or London.

Postcode

The code allocated by the Post Office to identify a group of postal delivery points.

Or

Address Line 1

First Line of Address

Address Line 2

Second Line of Address

Address Line 3

Third Line of Address

Address Line 4

Fourth Line of Address

Address Line 5

Fifth Line of Address

Postcode

The code allocated by the Post Office to identify a group of postal delivery points.

3.2.2    Admission Appeals module                                                            Spring Census only

Information in this module is only required if your school was responsible for its own admission appeals against non-admission at any time during the 2005/06 academic year – that is if it is a foundation or voluntary aided school.

Only appeals organised by the school’s governing body should be included. If your school operates arrangements jointly with other schools, your return should include appeals for your school only. 

This module will be collected in the Spring Census only, providing information for a school’s admission appeals against non-admission during the whole of the previous full academic year. 

Admission appeals lodged

Total number of admission appeals lodged by parents between March 2005 and July 2006 against non-admission to the school at any time in the academic (admission) year between September 2005 and August 2006 as shown in the diagram below.  

The following should be included:

·         appeals lodged before the start of the 2005/06 academic year against non-admission for that year, including

·          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

The following should be excluded:

·         appeals lodged after September 2005 against non-admission for the 2006/2007 academic year ie appeals lodged between March 2006 and August 2006 against non-admission in September 2006

Admission appeals withdrawn

Total number of admission appeals withdrawn by parents before reaching an independent appeals panel (a panel set up by the governors in accordance with Section 423 of the Education Act 1996)

Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel

Total number of admission appeals heard by an independent appeals panel.

Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel - decided in parent's favour

Total number of admission appeals decided in parent’s favour by an independent appeals panel.

Admission appeals heard by Independent Admission Appeals Panel - rejected

Total number of admission appeals rejected by an independent appeals panel.

The information required may be held in the personnel module of your MIS or it may be held elsewhere.  It is exactly the same as that required for School Census 2006.

This module will be collected in the Spring Census only and is split for ease of presentation into Teachers and Education Support Staff. 

Teachers

Include all teachers who normally work at the school (during the school day, not including teachers working in extended school services), regardless of how they are funded, including all outreach and peripatetic teachers, all teachers funded from sources such as the Standards Fund, Single Regeneration Budget (SRB), Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), Traveller Grant, etc and PTA funded teachers. The source of funding is immaterial for the purposes of the School Census return – the fact that the teacher normally works at the school is the crucial factor.

Information is required for the following groups of teachers:

a)      teachers normally employed at the school as at the Spring Census week (week beginning 15 January 2007) unless unusual arrangements occur in that week, in which case the normal situation should be recorded), and other teachers on the school’s books as at the Spring Census week

b)      teachers normally employed who are teachers of minority ethnic pupils.

The information required for each of these groups is set out in a series of diagrams below.  These diagrams do not necessarily correspond exactly to any screen displayed by your software, although there may be some similarities.  It may be that information in precisely the format required cannot be generated from the personnel module of your software, even if you have fully populated it with data, and that you will therefore need to carry out some manual adjustments or data entry.

For all the teacher categories below the information required includes the total weekly directed hours of part-time staff.  ‘Directed hours’ are the average hours per week for which a teacher is required to attend school, including assembly but excluding lunch breaks.  A full-time teacher is

considered to work 32.5 directed hours per week, and the weekly directed hours of part-time teachers should be calculated on a pro rata basis.  For each category of teacher for which a figure is required, the directed hours of each part-time teacher in that category should be calculated in this way and then added up.

The total should be rounded to the nearest whole number of hours (rounding 0.5 upwards)

You may find the following ready reckoner helpful for converting contracted full-time equivalence (FTE) to directed hours per week

a) Teachers normally employed at the school as at the Spring Census week

Include: 

·         peripatetic teachers who regularly teach at your school

·         staff on short term paid absence (less than a term)

·         relief staff covering long term absence (a term or more)

·         relief staff filling nominal vacancies;

Exclude:

·         staff on long term paid absence (a term or more); for example on maternity or sick leave, or on secondment.  In these cases the absent teacher is, by virtue of the length of absence, no longer regarded as ‘normally employed’

·         relief staff covering short term absence (less than a term); in these cases the absent teacher is still regarded as ‘normally employed’

·         any vacancies not filled by relief staff

·         student teachers on school centred Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses.

Information required for these teachers is as per the following diagram: