Spring School Census 2025 – Bulletin

Main changes compared to School Census Spring 2024 

ESS have released the following in regard to changes since School Census Spring 2024

Please note that Childcare has been by far the most volatile of the DfE changes to specification and this is reflected in the modification that will be needed via CWPau1 (Consolidated Workstation Patch Autumn Release1). Please refer to the Childcare section of this newsfeed item below.

ESS are also looking into the possibility of improving the Childcare screen display via the workstation patch.

Normal yearly update to dates and date spans

Primary schools

Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census – Defaults to Spring 2025 Term

Secondary schools

Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census – Defaults to Spring 2025 Term

New set of DfE session attendance codes to be reported in school census for the first time

Checks that the new version of the DfE attendance code is available

Attendance panel of Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census

Checks that none of the defunct codes have been used

In the example below the now defunct H code has been entered in advance for a pupil and before the new set of codes was introduced. This checking take place when Create & Validate is run.

Message 1 appears at the bottom of the screen to indicate that the return file could not be be generated and Message 2 appears adjacent to the Create & Validate button to explain why the return file could not be generated.

Message 1

Message 2

Reports the new two-character session attendance codes in the XML return file and reflects this in the detail report

Attendance Report from Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census

Childcare changes

1. Places can be offered to everyone.

Select Before School Childcare row in Childcare Details panel of Focus | School | School Details

2. Where signposted is set to ‘Yes, formal arrangements including escort to/from the site’, opening or closing data becomes editable.

Select Before School Childcare row in Childcare Details panel of Focus | School | School Details

Select After School Childcare row in Childcare Details panel of Focus | School | School Details

3. Where signposted is set to ‘Yes, list of providers that pick up from school’, listed providers coverage data for 8am to 6pm becomes editable.

Select Before School Childcare row in Childcare Details panel of Focus | School | School Details

4. Signposted has been moved down the screen so that it is above the two new data items, e.g.

Childcare Details panel of Focus | School | School Details

Questions in the blue box above are relate to Type plus On Site, while question in the purple box are related Type plus Signposted.

5. Other Schools will be available for Under Fives Childcare

As you probably know, the DfE has made a very late change to it specification so that Other Schools becomes editable for Under Fives Children in the same way as it is editable for Before School Childcare and After School Childcare.

The new ethnicity codes

The following new ethnicity codes will be included in the census where they have been entered for a pupil. However, the DfE will not be making use of them where they are reported in this census. With this in mind, the DfE suggests that schools that have not already made use of these new ethnicity codes delays use of them until academic year 2025/26.

• ABRI: Asian – British
• AWEL: Asian- Welsh
• BBRI: Black – British
• BWEL: Black- Welsh
• WIRI: White – Irish Traveler
• ORAB: Arab (extended code for main code OOTH: Any other ethnic group)

Changes to the collection of early years data

Childcare – Very late changes to the DfE specifications 

ESS have confirmed the following:

The DfE has announced the following two changes to its specification.

Change 1

The “Childcare for Children aged between 0-4 years” question have been updated to include Is it open to children from other schools? (YES / NO / UNKNOWN)

Childcare penal of Focus | School Details

Currently the ‘Other Schools’ cell for ‘Under Fives Childcare’ is greyed out but will need to be made active.

Dealing with this very late change in the DfE specification will need to be part of a Workstation Patch for the SIMS Autumn Release 2024. CWPau1 is in the final stage of testing ready for expected provision during week beginning 02/12/2024, so this change will be provided via CWPau2.

Change 2

Two of the childcare tags in the XML return file have been changed by the DfE as follows.

From

<ChildcareCovers8AMto6PM>A</ChildcareCovers8AMto6PM>

To

<ChildcareCover8AMto6PM>A</ChildcareCover8AMto6PM>

Dealing with this very late change in the DfE specification will need to be part of Fileset 2903.

Preparing attendance data for reporting in this census

ESS have recommended as this will be the first school census to provide attendance data to the DfE that is based on the new DfE attendance codes introduced in August 2024 we recommend that you check the schools use of attendance for the autumn term against the DfE regulations.

You can click here (external link) to obtain a copy of the DfE guidance on their regulations.

In particular we suggest that you check any use of attendance codes ‘C’ and ‘T’, as we understand that there is some confusion regarding their use, e.g. code ‘C’ should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

ESS have confirmed the DfE has informed software suppliers that they will not be making use of any of their new ethnicity codes when reported in the 2024/25 round of censuses. However, they are expecting to make use of their new ethnicity codes in their next round of censuses in academic year 2025/26.

They have also let us know that there is no need for schools to reallocate ethnicity codes where the new codes have already been applied, but the DfE would be happy for no further application of these new codes/ to take place until further notice.

The new ethnicity codes that the DfE will NOT be making use of for School Census Spring 2025 are as follows.

• ABRI: Asian – British
• AWEL: Asian- Welsh
• BBRI: Black – British
• BWEL: Black- Welsh
• WIRI: White – Irish Traveler
• ORAB: Arab (extended code for main code OOTH: Any other ethnic group)

I will be adjusting previous newsfeed items to take account of the changes in the DfE approach for reporting their new ethnicity codes in this academic year’s round of censuses.

Questions and Answers 

ESS have supplied the following Questions and Answers:

Question 01 (Relevant to all schools subject to the School Census Spring 2025)

Re: Applying CDPau (Consolidated Database Patch Autumn Release) 1 and importing Fileset 2901.

Once a school is updated to the SIMS Autumn Release 2024. do I have to wait for CDPau1 to be applied and for Fileset 2901 to be imported before carrying out the first ‘dry run’ of School Census Spring 2025.

Answer

CDPau1 and Fileset 2901 will be made available a week or so after the SIMS Autumn Release 2024 is made available, so waiting for them would be a viable option. However, given that there are no relevant improvements provide by CDPau1 and that the DfE validation and summary reports included in Fileset 2901 are very little better for this census than those provided in the SIMS Autumn Release, I recommend carry out a dry run as soon as possible without waiting for CDPau1 or Fileset 2901.

DfE Session Attendance codes Academic year 2024/25 

ESS added the following table to help clarify the significant impact on School Census Spring 2025 compared to the relatively small impact on School Census Autumn 2024.

Early years data required for School Census Spring 2025 

ESS produced the following table to help with any confusion regarding what data the DfE requires for early years in School Census Spring 2025. The table is based on version 1.5 of the DfE specification for 2023/24 school censuses and version 1.0 of the DfE specifications for 2024/25 school censuses. I will update the table to take account of any changes beyond these versions of the DfE specifications in this area.