Autumn Term School Census Day

Preparing for Census Day

We advise schools to complete a Dry-Run of their Census prior to Census Day. This will help highlight any issues with the data so these can be resolved in advance.

Census Day - Maintained Schools

All files from Maintained schools should be sent to Management Information through the secure method of Perspective Lite by Friday 2 October 2020. If you think you will have difficulties in meeting this timescale then please contact us at MIEducation&WiderEH@kent.gov.uk.

Census Day - Academies and Free Schools

All files from Academies and Free Schools must be submitted directly to the DfE through the web-based system called COLLECT. Guidance on how to use COLLECT and various reports can be found on the DfE website.

What’s collected in the Autumn Census

Our School Census page has guidance on what is collected in the return, how to send your file to Management Information and other useful documents to help you complete your statutory return. Please look through this information so that you are ready to fulfil your statutory obligation on census day.

Maintained School - Query Notes

You will need to send us any explanations for the queries in your census return so that we can add them to the file on the DfE website Collect.

Please send them to MIEducation&WiderEH@kent.gov.uk as we cannot see the notes that you enter in the authorisation box in SIMS.

Reduced Timetable

KCC are required to maintain a central record of all pupils not accessing a full-time education in the usual way and schools have a responsibility to record and submit that information so that it can be monitored centrally. You should already be recording this information through the online form so that KCC can monitor the information in schools. Part of this monitoring is to record those schools that do not have reduced timetable information at census time for the current census term.

In order to collect this information, we will send an email during census week asking that if you have a nil return for the current school term, you reply to the email stating your DfE number and “NIL RETURN”. If you do not have a Nil Return for the current term, then you should record the information through the online form as soon as you have the information. See the Reduced Timetable information.

For further information on Census, please see our School Census page.

Thank you in advance for your help with this statutory return.