This page contains guidance for completing the Autumn 2024 School Census. It will be updated as and when we receive updates from DfE.
IMPORTANT: Please note the Autumn 2024 Census is now available to run.
IMPORTANT in order for any resolved errors or queries to be removed from the list of errors or queries you would need to generate a new Census return and remember to use save & validate for the errors/queries to update/clear.
Access: The permissions required to run and troubleshoot the Autumn Census are found in the Census Module of Config>Setup>Roles and Permissions. Each tick box on the right determines which functions are visible/available on the page for users with the selected Role.
See also: How to get started with Roles & Permissions
Important Dates
Census Date – Thursday 3rd October 2024
Return Date – Wednesday 30th October 2024
Known Issues
School Summary Table 12: Any exclusions with a start date between the 1st and 9th April 2024 will be displayed in the spring column when they should be displayed in the summer column. It is expected this will only impact a small number of schools as the date range affected is when the majority of school were closed due to the Easter holidays.To reiterate, this issue only affects the counts in Table 12 of the summary report – the underlying data in the Census file will be correct.
Bulk Learning Aim Update Page showing duplicates
Error 5130 — Programme Aim not returned in the Census if it begins more than 2 Academic Years ago.
Resolved Issues
Error 5230: “The disability access fund indicator is missing or not a valid value for pupils aged 9 months to 3 years or 4 years in nursery provision’ Two students do not have the DAF flag in the file who are in the date range where it should appear.
Error 1851: ‘Child’s funded hours must not be provided for pupil aged 5 and over or aged under 2’ Two students have the funding hours field included who are out of date range
Bulk Learning Aim Update Page not showing Withdrawal Reasons
FAM Hours Tag appearing for FAM Records incorrectly.
Error 3033: ‘Expanded childcare hours have been entered where pupil is not in the eligible age range or does not have a valid eligibility code’ reported when expanded hours have not been entered.
Error 5235: ‘2-year-old basis for funding is missing or an invalid value for a two year old with funded hours’ <FundingBasis> tag missing from file
Census Error 2759: ‘Traineeship must not be present for learning aims which started after 31 July 2023’ is erroring incorrectly
Census Error 2912: ‘Traineeship must not be present for programme aims which started after 31 July 2023’ is erroring incorrectly
Error 1843: ‘Early years pupil premium basis for funding is missing or invalid’ Students are being incorrectly flagged with error 1843
Error 3110 – ‘A 30-hour code has been entered where pupil is not in the eligible age range or in year groups ‘E1’, ‘E2’, ‘N1’ or ‘N2′, or extended hours is missing’
Error 3140 – Child’s extended hours not provided or out of the range of 0 to 15 hours
Error 1846: ‘Early years pupil premium must be recorded for all under 4 year olds, ‘ : when dob in range 1/9/21 – 31/8/22
Read DfE Guidance
DfE guidance about the Census is published here including the main changes compared to previous years.
For DfE guidance on generating and submitting a return see here.
Book onto a Census Overview Webinar
You can book onto one of our free Census Webinars below, there are several dates available for each session. Click on the links below;
Book onto Secondary Census Webinar
- Tuesday 17th September 9:30am – 12noon
- Wednesday 25th September 9:30am – 12noon
Book onto Post 16 Learning Aims Webinar
- Wednesday 18th September 9:30am – 11:00am
- Thursday 26th September 9:30am – 11:00am
Book onto Primary Census Webinar
- Thursday 19th September 9:30am – 11:30am
- Tuesday 24th September 9:30am – 11:30am
Read the Bromcom Guidance
Click on the links below for Bromcom School Census Autumn 2024 guidance.
Census How to run the Autumn Census 2024 version 1
Census Error Resolutions Guide Autumn Census 2024
In addition to the above guidance documents you can now search for detailed guidance on resolving the most common errors or queries in our Help Centre.
Simply type in the Error or Query Number into the Search box
Watch Webinar Recordings
Click on a link below to watch a recording of our Autumn 2024 sessions. You will need to enter your name and email address to view the recording.
Primary Webinar Recording Autumn 2024
Secondary Webinar Recording Autumn 2024
Programme Aims and Learning Aims Recording Autumn 2024
Daily Drop in Sessions
For users who have attended one of our Autumn Census Webinars but still have follow up questions, we are also hosting daily Drop in Sessions, Monday to Friday , 9:00am-11.00am throughout October via Teams.
To attend a Drop in Session, click the link below to join the sessions and dates can be found below;
Click here to join the meeting
Post-16 Preparation Tasks
How to set Student Prior Attainment
Additional Guidance
For recording children receiving free school meals under the criteria for families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) See DfE guidance Free School Meal eligibility.
For Census Reporting see How to View Census Reports
For Pupil Premium see How to Manage Pupil Premium Students
For Attendance Reporting see How to Access Attendance Analysis Exports and How to Access Attendance Reports