2016 – 2017 Academic Year school census changes
Changes from 2015 to 2016 school census specifications
New data items
(a) Proficiency in English [ALL schools]
Where a pupil’s language (100047) is ‘other than English’, the pupil’s proficiency in English (100601) is collected
(b) Pupil country of birth [ALL schools]
This new data item records the country of birth (100589) of the pupil,
(c) Pupil nationality [ALL schools]
This new data item records the nationality (100588) of the pupil,
(d) Traineeships [For: Secondary, all-through and PRU with appropriate age range]
This new data item adds an indicator to each of the pupils learning aims. The indicator shows where the individual learning aim contributes towards a traineeship (100585)
(e) Unique property reference number [ALL schools]
This new data item is added to the home information module and allows the unique property reference number (UPRN) (100586) to be returned,
Existing data items
(a) Admissions appeals
The structure of the admissions appeals module has been amended to accommodate all-through schools by separately recording primary admissions appeals and secondary admissions appeals. Infant admissions appeals have not been altered.
(b) Ethnicity
The collection of ethnicity (100563) has been expanded to include nursery schools. The age restriction which previously only made this data item mandatory for those pupils aged 5 or over has also been removed. As such, this item now applies to all schools and all pupils.
(c) Language code
As with ethnicity, the language code (100047) has been expanded to include nursery schools. The age restriction which previously only made this data item mandatory for those pupils aged 5 or over has also been removed. As such, this item now applies to all schools and all pupils.
(d) Adopted from care
The name of this data item has been changed from ‘Adopted from Care’ (100549) to ‘Post looked after arrangements’ (100587).
(e) Termly attendance
Special schools will move to reporting attendance on a termly basis from spring 2017; ie special schools will return their first termly report in spring 2017.
(f) National curriculum year groups
To provide flexibility and to allow school MI systems to record very young children, the department has introduced two additional year groups to the national curriculum year group codeset:
‘E1’ for children aged 0 – 1
‘E2’ for children aged 1 – 2
[followed by, as normal, ‘N1’ (2-3) and ‘N2’ (3-4)]
Please note that the introduction of these additional year groups does not extend the scope of who should be recorded in the school census and this remains children on the school’s admission register receiving education.
(g) QAN and ‘Discount Code’
Recent changes to the way accreditation is recorded has meant that the ‘Qualification Accreditation Number’ (QAN) has been renamed as ‘Qualification Number’ (QN). Similarly, the ‘Discount Code’ has been renamed ‘Subject Classification Code’.
Removal of data items
(a) School location module
The department’s EduBase system holds – as part of the formal school registration process – full details of the school’s statutory address.
With the introduction of the 60 day reminder action within Secure Access / EduBase, the information collected / held on EduBase provides the department with more timely information on address changes than that received via the termly school census.
As such, the collection of school address data has been discontinued via the school census. PLEASE ALL CHECK YOUR ENTRY ON EDUBASE
Schools can change their entry by accessing Edubase via Secure Access site
Schools may wish, however, to continue to maintain address information within their management information (MI) systems.
(b) In care indicator
Data item 100038 <InCare> relates to a pupil’s in care status at the point of an exclusion. As the SSDA903 return from local authorities is viewed as the definitive source of information for looked after children, the collection of this data item via the school census has been discontinued.