Exclusions, Preparing for the May Census and Handling Exclusions Data in the Future

Now that he January Census is out of the way, the May Census will seem some way off. However now is a good time to ensure one aspect of your data will be ready for May, especially as by doing so we can reduce your work load.

The May Census requires details of your temporary (fixed term or FEX) and permanent (PEX) exclusions. If you are not already using Phoenix/E1 (or another MIS if you are not a Phoenix user) then please ensure you start recording these as soon as possible (click here for guidance on how to do this). Further you should use the period between now and the end of term to record any exclusions that have occurred between 5 September 2006 and to date. By the end of this term, to meet DfES requirements, all exclusions must be recorded in anticipation of the May Census.

This new DfES requirement on all schools means that we can improve the way in which the LA handles the notification of exclusions. With effect from the start of next term (17 April 2007) we will no longer require you to tell us of exclusions using the existing paper forms. Instead we will simply ask you to submit the record from Phoenix (or other system) electronically. The plan is:

Through the Spring term 2007 all schools to ensure their pupil records are up to date with particular emphasis on excluded pupils.

Towards the end of the Spring term the LA will give access to an upgrade to Phoenix and further information to enable the withdrawal of the current paper based exclusion notification system.

From 17 April exclusion records and LA notifications carried out electronically.

May 17 School Census to include exclusion data.

May 17 2007 and onwards: Phoenix/E1 used to hold school exclusion data to meet DfES and LA requirements.

I hope you will see that this change will reduce aspects of the record keeping relating to exclusions.

If you have any questions or concerns about this your contacts are:

The exclusions process and record keeping: Allan Turner on 01603 224102.
Phoenix/E1 and related data collection and submission issues: Keith Sowter on 01603 475600.
The School Census and related issues: Louise Bassett 01603 222352.

Additional information for schools that do not use Phoenix or E1

It is hoped that the benefits to schools of this change are self-evident and that you will want to provide your exclusions data electronically. To do this will require two developments:

1. Ensure the following fields are held within your MIS in relation to exclusions. (As all MIS providers have been asked to meet this requirement by the DfES it is likely that these are already in place):

Permanent Exclusions	Fixed-Term Exclusions
School DfES Number	School DfES Number
Pupil Name	Pupil Name
UPN	UPN
DOB	DOB
Year Group	Year Group
Exclusion Start Date	Type
Reason	Exclusion Start Date
Appealed	Exclusion End Date
In Care at Time of Incident	Length of Exclusion (half days)
SEN Stage at Time of Incident	Reason
	Appealed
	In Care at Time of Incident
	SEN Stage at Time of Incident

2. To submit the above data via the AVCO system (S2S cannot be used for this purpose) as a CSV file in the following format:

File format: All of the above fields with each record sent as a separate file.

File name format:
For Permanent Exclusions: P_XXXX_ddmmyyyy_nnn.csv
For Fixed -Term Exclusions: T_XXXX_ddmmyyyy_nnn.csv

Where XXXX is the four digit school DfES number. ddmmyyyy is the date the record is created and nnn is a number to make the filename unique from others already sent.