School and pupil census
Census Checklist
For extended checklist see separate document called Preparation and Readiness for School Census Summer 2026 (PDF, 720 KB)
Before Census Day | Check you can log into COLLECT using DfE Sign-In | ☐ |
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Check your entry in GIAS is correct | ☐ | |
Check the pupils' basic details | ☐ | |
| Check that leavers and re-admissions have all been recorded correctly Only those students on roll on census day should be included within your school's census return. If your census return contains a child who is submitted on another school's return and is verified as having attended there on census day, you will need to resubmit a corrected return later. | ☐ | |
| Check and correct student UPNs If a student has attended a previous school, please obtain the UPN from that school. Temporary UPNs should only be used as an interim measure and can flag up as an error on Duplicate UPN reports. | ☐ | |
| Check Pupils Previously Looked-after Care Status Check pupils previously looked-after care status where pupils have left care through adoption, special guardianship order of child arrangements order. The Autumn census is vital for receiving Pupil Premium plus funding attracted by previously looked after pupils in the following financial year. However, it is also important to keep an accurate record of previously looked-after pupils in each census submission. The Virtual Schools Website has more information regarding pupils previously in care. | ☐ | |
| Check Free School Meals are correct Check free school meal eligibility information is fully recorded. For the Summer census, the following FSM eligibility information is collected: Any FSM eligibility which started on, or before, 21 May 2026 where the FSM end date is either not present or between 16 January 2026 and 21 May 2026 (inclusive). Please remember, any student who is eligible for FSM will remain eligible until the government completes the rollout of Universal Credit and from then until the point transitional protections expire. Therefore, you should not record any FSM end dates unless advised to do so by the local authority or the Department for Education. FSM for children in households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) - Previously the guidance was to not record these children on the census as FSM eligible but to keep a separate list. However, these children should now be recorded on the census in the same way as other children who are eligible for free school meals. | ☐ | |
| School Lunches on Census Day Ensure you have, or can be provided with, a list of all individual students in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who will be eating a school lunch on census day. This would include all children eating a school lunch irrespective of whether they take this under the universal infant free school meals scheme or under free school meal deprivation criteria. If a pupil is absent on census day, see which scenarios which qualify as an where you may need to record this information in a different way, so it doesn't affect your funding. | ☐ | |
| Early Years Funding: If applicable to your school please check hours at Setting, Funded Hours for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, Extended Childcare Hours, 30 Hour Code Indicator, Disability Access Fund, EYPP eligibility and basis for funding and 2-year-old eligibility and basis for funding. Please ensure this is consistent with information recorded on the Early Years Portal. If there is a difference, we may call you to confirm what was correct on census day. | ☐ | |
Exclusions/Suspensions Data | ☐ | |
| Attendance Data Check attendance data. Deal with any missing marks and investigate any 'N' codes. | ☐ | |
| Check pupils' enrolment status This is particularly important for those students who are dual registered. Most pupils will be recorded on the census as 'C Current - Sole Responsibility'. Dual Registered pupils should be recorded as 'M Dual Registered - main school' or 'S Dual Registered - subsidiary school'. Only one school should be recorded as main school. | ☐ | |
| Check School Level information e.g.: establishment details, school email address, URN etc. | ☐ | |
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 15 May 2026, 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. | ☐ | |
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. | ☐ |
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. | ☐ | |
Submit your file Once you've cleared all errors and attached all notes to queries within COLLECT you can submit your file. | ☐ | |
After Census Day | Run Reports | ☐ |
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. | ☐ |
Further Guidance:
This document is intended to be read in conjunction with the separate Quick Guide and Supporting Guidance Document. If you cannot find the answer to your question within these documents, further guidance produced by the DfE can be found here: DfE Census Guidance for Schools
- If you still require help, please contact [email protected] and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.
- Any issues relating to your MIS software, please contact your provider directly as the LA cannot advise regarding this. Software providers normally issue guidance to help in the preparation of your census file - we strongly recommend you read this.
