Spring School Census 2026 – Bulletin

This FAQ lists the latest information regarding the School Census. 

For Schools wanting the latest documentation for Census and using Bromcom – Click here  to jump to the relevant section.

For Schools wanting the latest documentation for Census and using Arbor –  Click here  to jump to the relevant section.

For information preparation for the upcoming Census click:   How can I prepare data and be ready for the School Census Return?

Census Date:   Thursday 15th January 2026    

DfE return date:   Wednesday 11th February 2026

KNOWN ISSUES: Please check back on regular basis – Known issues will be posted here
15/1/2026 Bromom Class Panel – recording mixed year group classes

Mixed year group classes will need to be as ‘M’
13/1/2026 Bromcom update 

The census is now available to run
9/1/2026 Bromcom known issue

Withdrawal group Staff with Post (SWF) set to Teaching Assistant are not showing in class information table under Support staff column.
9/1/2026  Bromcom – Error on DfE validation file – selected time

The DfE have advised that there is an error in the Selected Time specified in the census file. As such it will be necessary to update the Selected Time on the Census Return.

Please see the guide on amending this in Bromcom here
6/1/26 Update from Bromcom: The Spring 2026 Census is now available to run, however, the DfE Validation files have not yet been applied so incorrect errors may be generated.

This bulletin will be updated when the validation files have been applied.

 

Documentation – Bromcom 

All Information released by Bromcom can be found on the Bromcom Census page  –  School Census – Bromcom

Census Date – Thursday 15th January 2026

Return Date – Wednesday 11th February 2026

SCOMIS – Census ‘Quick Summary Guide for Bromcom’ – ‘Pre-checks’ and ‘Generating School Census’  –  CLICK  HERE
Guides and Webinars 

Please find a link to Bromcom’s Census Page & Errors Guide below:

Census guide  Spring 2026 School Census Guide

Details of how to book onto a webinar Webinar

Errors guide  Spring 2026 Error Resolutions Guide

Documentation – Arbor 

  • Thursday 15th January 2026 is census day
  • Spring Census Dry Run opens 2 weeks before Census Day
  • 11th of February 2026 is your census submission deadline (unless otherwise advised by your Local Authority)
SCOMIS – Census ‘Quick Summary Guide for Arbor’ – ‘Pre-checks’ and ‘Generating School Census’  –  CLICK  HERE

Please find a link to Arbor’s Census Pages and Errors Guide below:

Overview census page here and a link to Arbor guide, errors and FAQ’s here.

Census guide  – School Census guides – Arbor

Errors guide  – School Error guides – Arbor

 

How useful was this article?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Similar Posts

  • BROMCOM:Shared Staff in a tutor group

    Posted on Updated on

    If you have more than one staff member with scheduled timetabled registers e.g Mr Smith is timetabled for Mon-Wed and Mrs Brown is scheduled Thur- Fri then you might want to remove tick box ten from the Daily Maintenance Settings. The Daily Maintenance Settings are a group of processes that are performed automatically on a…

  • Bromcom: How to enter marks into Key Stage DFE assessment marksheet

    Posted on Updated on

    Once you have opened your marksheet- BROMCOM: How to View Marksheets as a Teacher or Admin – Frequently Asked Questions you will need to enter your marks There are three ways to enter marks into Bromcom  You can enter marks by  clicking in each cell and entering the marks 1 by 1 Alternatively if you…

  • BROMCOM: Key Stage Year 6 CTF

    Posted on Updated on

    How to create a Year 6 KS2 TA CTF Once you have entered in all your marks you need to create a CTF file to send to the National Assessment Agency Please check with your LA to confirm the destination. To create a CTF in Bromcom click Students  from the left hand side menu Select…

  • Bromcom Finance : How do I clear a salary commitment ?

    Posted on Updated on

    You will need to clear a salary commitment if you have reconciled manually via Individual salary payments or central payments as follows: Browse to Modules> Finance> Homepage> Staffing> Salary Projections. Click the “Actions” button top left > Click “Amend Commitments” Select the staff member & posting period. Click “Clear Commitments” How useful was this article?…

  • Bromcom: How do I add a comment to an attendance mark in the register?

    Posted on Updated on

    There may be occasions where you need to add a comment to an attendance mark within the register. To do this you will need to go to Modules > Attendance > Manage Attendance. From here you can select the parameters for the register that you would like view. The register will then load. Click into…

  • Bromcom: Attendance – What is the “Projector Mode” when taking a register?

    Posted on Updated on

    Projector mode, which when turned on, will hide potentially sensitive information on registers from being shown on the Teacher’s screen.  This could be sensitive information such as a students SEN, PP or FSM.   In the example below the Projector Mode is Off.  In the example below the Projector Mode is On.  To reenable the Projector…