Management Information Sheet
School and Pupil Census Summer 2021
Quick Guide
Important Dates:
| Familiarisation Period for test files | Closes at 4pm Friday 14th May 2021 |
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| Summer School Census Day | Thursday 20th May 2021 |
| LA Maintained Submission Deadline | Friday 21st May 2021 |
LA Maintained Schools must upload and submit to COLLECT no later than Friday 21st May 2021. Any LA Maintained school that cannot meet this deadline must email the Intelligence & Analytics Team (I&A) at i&a@norfolk.gov.uk
Academies please note that the Local Authority (LA) is not able to see or assist with your School Census. Academies with any questions relating to completing the school census should contact the DfE helpdesk via email edd.helpdesk@education.gsi.gov.uk
Why is this Census Important?
The census is a key source of data used to calculate schools' funding. It is essential that all schools complete the census accurately and in a timely manner to ensure they are funded correctly. Failure to do so could result in a school missing out on funding to which it is entitled or receiving more funding than it is due and having to repay any overpayment.
Changes since the last Census
The DfE have not advised of any changes to the collection since the previous census.
Important information
Early Years Funding – The DfE have advised that for maintained settings, they intend to use the termly data from the 2021 summer term (and the 2021 autumn term) school census to determine the early years block funding allocation for three and four year olds in school nurseries, maintained nursery schools and academies.
As the summer term data will be used to determine the funding allocation for the early years entitlements, it is important to make sure your census information is accurately submitted and any additional data is provided to your early years contact at the local authority.
Unusual Circumstances – COVID-19 – The DfE have provided further detail on dealing with any COVID-19 related situations, particularly with reference to recording COVID-19 related absences in schools' census returns in the usual way; and where COVID-19 related absences occur and ‘school lunches taken' are affected, a day and time when the situation is regarded as normal is to be substituted. Further information can be found here.
DfE Sign in
Please remember to check you can login to COLLECT before Census day, using the following link: https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/
Census Checklist
For extended checklist see separate document called Census Preparation Checklist
| Before Census Day | Check you can log into COLLECT using DfE Sign-In | |
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| Check your entry in GIAS is correct | ||
| Ensure that all relevant pupil data is correct on your MIS | ||
Upload a file into COLLECT during the familiarisation period. This will enable you to check for any unexpected errors and queries that may not necessarily show up in your Management Information System (MIS). Please note this familiarisation period closes 4pm on Friday 14th May 2021, and the Census will not show up when you log into COLLECT. The blade will return on Census day ready for you to upload and submit your return. |
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| Census Day | Upload to COLLECT via Secure Access Once you have had your return approved by your Head/ Data manager then: Login to COLLECT via the DfE Sign-in https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/ and upload your xml file. |
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Check for Errors & Queries Open your return and check for errors and queries within COLLECT. To clear errors, amendments may need to be made within your MI system and a new file uploaded. Queries need checking and either data amending within COLLECT along with an appropriate note. Please see notepad guidance notes for acceptable wording. |
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Submit your file Once you've cleared all errors and attached all notes to queries within COLLECT you can submit your file. |
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| After Census Day | Approval and Authorisation If you are an LA Maintained School, NCC will check through your Census looking for additional errors. We may contact you if we have any questions regarding this. Once we are happy with your Census file we will approve it and send it to the DfE to authorise. If there is a problem with the data, the DfE will not approve the file and we will be in touch. |
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Post Approval Checking NCC will continue to run checks on the Census data and may still get in touch with you with queries even after the DfE have approved your file. |
Guidance
Further guidance on submitting your school Census can be found at Norfolk Schools website or on the DfE website at www.gov.uk/guidance/school-census