School Census – Migrating MIS data to Sims

If you have recently migrated your pupil and staff data into a Sims database from another MIS system (e.g. RM Integris) and you do not have sufficient historical information in your Sims database to complete the census a template can be requested from the DfE to input the additional information.

Please complete a DfE service request form with the following information:

• DfE number
• School name
• Contact name
• Contact email address
• Telephone number

Please state on the Service Request which template/s you need. If you are not sure ask the DfE which templates you need to complete.

The DfE will make the template available via S2S together with guidance notes. To download it log into S2S, click on ‘downloads’ on the left-hand side menu, then click on ‘download generic files’. (The template upload is in addition to the usual census file upload).

When you download and save the file it is important to accept the default file format. You can save a copy of the file using an .xls file extension (Office 97-2003) or the .xlsm extension (Office 2007+ with macros). Do not attempt to alter the template in any way, to do so will disable the VBA code and you will not be able to load the file onto COLLECT. Do not save the file as an Excel 2007+ format (.xlsx) file, doing so will strip out the VBA code required for normal operation and will break the export routines.

Additional templates may be required depending on your type of school and when your school opened –

Attendance Templates

If you were a new school or became a sponsor-led academy on or after the 1 January 2019, attendance data is not required.

If you are not a new school or you have ‘converted’ to academy status i.e your establishment number has not changed, historical attendance is required and therefore you will be required to complete the ‘termly’ attendance template

The termly attendance template must include all pupils aged 4-15 as at the previous 31 August and not a ‘boarder’ who were on roll for at least one session during the autumn term, this may include pupils who have since left your school.

Exclusion Template

If you are a new school or you have become a sponsor-led academy from the start of the autumn term or later, historical exclusion data is not required and therefore you do not need the ‘exclusion’ template. If you are not a new school or you have ‘converted’ to academy status i.e your establishment number has not changed, historical exclusion data is required.

The exclusion template must include any pupils who incurred any exclusion during the summer term. Please note this may include pupils who have since left your school.

The process for sending the completed forms back to the DfE is via S2S.   Please do not email the file as it will be deleted and recorded as a security breach.

Please following the required naming convention:

If the file is from a school the file name should be:-

LLLSSSS_DFESXXX_Censussummer.EXT

Where LLL is the LA number, SSSS is the school number, Censussummer is a constant and the EXT is the file type e.g .zip, .xls, .xml.

(For example, if you are sending back an attendance template you could save the file as LLLSSS_DFESXXX_ATTENDCensus.EXE)

If the file is from an LA the file name should be:-

NNNLLLL_DFESXXX_Censussummer.EXT

Where NNN is the LA number, LLLL is a constant, Censussummer is a constant and the EXT is the file type e.g .zip, .xls, .xml. If the naming convention is not followed this may lead to the file being deleted.

 Please note: all files must be zipped and password protected prior to upload onto the S2S system.

To Zip and unzip files

1.    Locate the file or folder that you want to zip.

2.    Press and hold (or right-click) the file or folder, select (or point to) Send to, and then select Compressed (zipped) folder. A new zipped folder with the same name is created in the same location. (Please send the templates separately).

Once this has been sent via S2S please complete a service request form to inform the DfE it has been loaded onto S2S, including the password used to encrypt the file. Failure to inform the DfE that the file is available may result in the file not being processed.

kb24710