A Common Transfer File (CTF) is a standard electronic file used by schools in the UK to transfer pupil data securely when a student moves from one school to another.
Use this guide to understand the following;
Access: the minimum permissions required to Export a CTF are found in the Framework>Student Module from Config>Setup>Roles and Permissions
For information on Processing Leavers see How to Process a Student Leaver and Export a CTF
What is a CTF
A CTF is a standard electronic file used by schools in the UK to transfer pupil data securely when a student moves from one school to another.
The goal of the CTF is to make sure pupil records follow them automatically between schools, ensuring continuity in education and support.
Transferred using the Department for Education’s (DfE) secure systems, like S2S (School to School).
Export a CTF
Click on Students in the left hand vertical bar, this will open the Student List page.
Choose the required Student(s) by clicking on the names, then from the Actions dropdown click CTF Export
Then complete the fields in the CTF Export panel by choosing from the drop downs.
See the next section in this guide for more information on CTF Types
When you are happy with your choices click Export, the CTF will be saved locally on your PC.
If the School Name required isn’t listed in the School Name drop down, and you’ve tried All Schools see How to Add a School
All Schools
Lets look at an example where a student is processed as a leaver and their destination school is for example Bromcom Primary in Derbyshire Council. When you select School Type = Destination schools only you only see Bromcom Primary in the School Name list. However, if you select All Schools, you can see all schools under Derbyshire Council.
The reason this happens;
- A student is processed as a leaver without a destination school for example, leaving reason is left county or Missing Pupil.
- School attempts to export a CTF but the school isn’t listed as it’s not a destination school (as leaving reason was left county or other as above, no school selected at that time).
Another point to note here as well is when you export the CTF for a student who has left the county for example, the name of the CTF Export file will be the DFE number of the sending school e.g. 2043968_CTF_MMMMMMMM with the M’s at the end.
For further information on the file names see here.
CTF Types
When selecting Student(s) from the Student List page and then from the Actions drop down select CTF Export the following Export Types are available.
For DfE guidance on CTF Specification, that covers the file name part see here
