This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Systems and School Support Manager, Paul Brotherton, for the attention of Headteachers, School Business Managers and any staff responsible for completing the school census.
The DfE has confirmed the Spring School Census will go ahead as planned, with the census date itself being 21st January 2021.
There will be some guidance issued by DfE explaining how to record specific data items which may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and/or current national lockdown. However, it is our understanding the vast majority of the data items collected on the census return should be recorded by schools as normal. Once the aforementioned guidance is available, we will ensure it is shared with you.
In the meantime, all schools should begin preparing by ensuring their MIS systems are upgraded to the minimum version, and by completing practice runs of the return to identify any issues needing correction. Your software support providers will be able to assist you with either of these issues should you have questions or encounter problems.
If you feel your school would have a significant problem with meeting the census requirements, please either:
- For maintained schools email paul.brotherton@slough.gov.uk and anjum.javaid@slough.gov.uk with details of your concerns so we can address these with DfE directly.
- For academy schools contact DfE directly by raising a “data collections service request form” available here.