Autumn 2020 School Census – 1st October 2020

Please login and select the School Census Category to download the relevant production notes for your school.

School Census Collection Dates - Academic Year 2020/2021

School Census collection dates for academic year 2020/2021 are:

Autumn Term:   Thursday 1st October 2020

Spring Term:     Thursday 21st January 2021

Summer Term:  Thursday 20th May 2021

GOV.UK Addendum: recording attendance in relation to coronavirus (COVID-19) during the 2020 to 2021 academic year

Please click on the link below to access up to date GOV.UK guidance for recording school attendance from September 2020:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance/addendum-recording-attendance-in-relation-to-coronavirus-covid-19-during-the-2020-to-2021-academic-year

DfE Guidance for Full Opening of Schools

Please click on the link below to access DfE guidance regarding schools opening fully.  Please refer to Section 2: School operations for guidance on managing pupil attendance.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-2-school-operations

Primary End of Year Procedures - 2020

Please login and select Categories to access the End of Year Procedures area to download the Primary guidelines for transitioning from the 2019/20 to the 2020/21 academic year.

Secondary End of Year Procedures - 2020

Please login and select Categories to access the End of Year Procedures area to download the Secondary guidelines for transitioning from the 2019/20 to the 2020/21 academic year.

Parents Email Report

Parents Email Report Design

Please click here to access the routine to design a report to show parent email addresses for use in case of emergency.

Attendance Report for Local Authority Monthly Return

Please see below the routine for producing the required information for the whole school session attendance section of the monthly return spreadsheet:

Attendance whole school: from start of academic year to current month

This can be obtained via route: Reports | Attendance | Group Reports | Group Analysis by Attendance Category Report then:

1. Enter the required date range
2. Select Group Type of Whole School
3. Click Search
4. Click Print and OK

Patches to delete data no longer collected by DfE Census

As the DfE census will no longer collect Proficiency in English, Pupil Country of Birth or Pupil Nationality data, Capita SIMS have released three patches to delete data that is no longer collected from school databases:

• Proficiency in English Patch - Deletes all records for Proficiency in English information for all past, present and future students. Where a student has multiple proficiency entries, the patch will remove all instances of this.
• National Identity Patch - Deletes the National Identity for all past, present and future students.
• Country of Birth/Nationality Patch - Deletes the Country of Birth and where present the Nationality (actually called Nation inside the expanded Nationality and Passport Details record, only where passport details are blank) for all past, present and future students.

  If you would like any or all of these patches to be applied to your school Sims database, please contact the SimsforSchools team via email at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Free School Meals Update

Following the introduction of universal credit, a pupils FSM status will be protected until either the end of the universal credit roll-out period i.e. 31 March 2022 or until the end of their current phase of education. This means that:

• any claimant who is in receipt of free school meals at 1 April 2018 should continue to receive free school meals whilst Universal Credit is rolled out. This applies even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria
• any claimant who gains eligibility for free school meals after 1 April 2018 and until the end of universal credit rollout (31 March 2022) should continue to receive free school meals during the Universal Credit rollout period. This applies even if their circumstances change and they would no longer meet the eligibility criteria

Consequently, it is not expected that FSM end dates will be entered by schools during the transitional period – with the exceptions being:

• where a parent has withdrawn the pupils FSM claim
• where a pupil transfers from another UK country – their non-English FSM must have an FSM end date

Further information can be obtained from the DfE website via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools-and-local-authorities