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Which schools and pupils to include

Department For Education

January 9
12:59 2024

The school census collects individual school characteristics and pupil records, 3 times a year.

In England, all of the following schools are required to provide the information collected in this census to DfE:

  • maintained nursery
  • primary
  • middle-deemed primary
  • middle-deemed secondary
  • secondary
  • all-through
  • special schools (including non-maintained special schools)
  • pupil referral units / alternative provision schools (PRU / AP)
  • academy schools (including free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools)
  • city technology colleges (CTCs)

School categories

Different categories of schools may need to submit different data items. Your category of school is defined by the school phase you return in the census.

The statutory age ranges for each individual school are recorded on get information about schools (GIAS).

School phase Code Notes
Nursery school NS Including those with maintained or direct grant status
Primary PS
Middle-deemed primary MP
Middle-deemed secondary MS
Secondary SS
Special SP Maintained and non-maintained special schools, including hospital special schools and academy special schools
All-through AT Excluding PRU / AP and special schools. All-through schools must accommodate both pupils under the age of 7 and over the age of 14
Pupil referral unit and alternative provision (PRU and AP) PR This code is used for pupil referral units, alternative provision academy schools and alternative provision free schools

Which pupils are in scope

Individual data will be included in the return for the following pupils. You should ensure that all relevant data is maintained and up-to-date for:

  • all pupils on the register on census day
  • any additional pupils subject to any type of suspension or permanent exclusion in the previous 2 terms
  • any additional pupils who attended the school in the previous term for which termly attendance information is required - not for nursery schools
  • any additional pupils who attended the school in the previous academic year for which learning aims are submitted - autumn census for secondary, all-through and AP schools only
  • any additional pupils who had an alternative provision (AP) placement within the collection period (since the last census day), not applicable for nursery schools
  • any additional pupils awarded a bursary since the start of the academic year - spring and summer census only and not for nursery, primary and middle schools
  • any additional pupils who were recorded as in receipt of learner funding and monitoring since the start of the academic year not applicable to nursery schools

Early years

Schools with funded onsite early years provision make their return via either the school census or the early years census, but not both.

Registered pupils of a school (2, 3 and 4-year-olds)

Enter these children on the school census.

Children (aged 2, 3 and 4) who attend a separate Ofsted registered PVI provider on a school site

Enter these children on the early years census.

Children attending provision provided by school governing body under Section 27 of the Education Act 2002 - s27 (governor run) or provision which is run / managed by an academy or academy trust under charitable objectives

Enter registered pupils of the school on the school census (can include 2 year olds).

Enter children who are not registered pupils of the school on the early years census.

However, if a childs free entitlement is split between more than one place, they may appear on the 2 different censuses depending on where and how the pupil is registered.

We would expect that local authority contacts cross-check their early years census and school census returns to ensure there are no duplicates before submission.

Ministry of Defence schools

We would like these schools to complete the census, but they do not have to.

Registered independent schools

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