Changes to the School Census

Below you will find any changes or updates to the School Census that have been released by the Department for Education. 

• For full guidance from the DfE on changes to the census, click here.
• For further information detailing what data your school must return in the Autumn, Spring or Summer census, click here.

Changes 2026/2027

For the 2026/2027 academic year, some changes are collected from the Autumn 2026 census onwards, and some changes are not yet collected until Spring 2027. Additionally, the Kinship care indicator is collected from Autumn 2026, but is not collected for the Spring/Summer censuses.

Managed moves (from Autumn 2026)

A managed move is a planned, voluntary transfer of a student to another school; an alternative to permanent exclusion.

• It is recorded when the student leaves (i.e. no longer on roll), through your existing leaving / unenrol process.
• Managed moves do not apply to nursery schools.

You can record a managed move, its start date, the destination school, and the reason in Arbor. More details here: How to record a managed move 

New Free School Meals fields (from Autumn 2026)

Two new pieces of information for Free School Meals - the date eligibility was last checked and an FSM category - are collected from Autumn 2026.

You can see how to record FSM Categories and Eligibility check dates here: Managing the 2026 changes to Free School Meals (FSM) Eligibility

Kinship care indicator (from Autumn 2026 - Autumn Only)

Kinship care is where a child lives with and is cared for by a relative or family friend instead of a parent (for example, under a special guardianship or child arrangements order).

• Recorded for children on roll on autumn census day only; it is not returned in spring or summer
• Not recorded for nursery schools.

See how Kinship Care Indicators are recorded and managed here: Logging and reporting on students in Kinship Care

Exclusion Cancellations (from Spring 2027)

You will be able to record when an exclusion (both Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions) is cancelled, including the reason it was withdrawn and the date the student is reinstated.

A cancellation is the headteacher withdrawing an exclusion before the governing board meets (also called withdrawing or rescinding). 

• This is not a review outcome; you never record both for the same exclusion.
• Only the headteacher can cancel, and only before the governing board has met. 
• Once a review has been recorded, cancellation is no longer available.
• The student returns to school without delay. Days already served still count toward the 45-day annual limit.
• Sessions missed are recorded as a suspension.

Reasons an exclusion could be cancelled include: 

• New evidence came to light
• A managed move was agreed 
• An off-site direction to an alternative setting
• Exceptional circumstances

More on these changes here: Cancelling a suspension or permanent exclusion

Exclusion Reviews (from Spring 2027)

Governing body and independent review panel outcomes are now part of the School Census. Reviews now cover suspensions as well as permanent exclusions, and each review records whether it was a governing body or an independent review panel.

• A review happens after the exclusion and is the result of either a governing body meeting or an independent review panel (IRP) meeting. A review represents the actual outcome. A review can only be recorded if the exclusion went ahead and the board/panel actually met to decide whether the pupil should be reinstated.
• Permanent exclusions always go to the governing board (within 15 school days). If the board does not reinstate, parents can ask for an independent review panel.
• Suspensions are reviewed by the governing body only, never an independent panel, and only when the days suspended in the term pass set thresholds.
• Only two reviews are sent to the census: While a complex permanent exclusion might involve three physical meetings (Governing Body ➔ IRP ➔ Governing Body reconsideration), the census only collects a maximum of two records: one for the Governing Body and one for the IRP.
• The IRP acts as the final state: If an IRP directs or recommends the governing board to reconsider, the school does not log a third review. Instead, they update the IRP review record with a code that reflects the outcome (e.g., Pupil offered reinstatement after IRP directed governing board to reconsider)

More on these changes here: Recording and viewing Permanent Exclusions and reviews

Updated Exclusion Reason Codes (from Spring 2027)

The list of exclusion reasons has been refreshed with the DfE's new reasons for 2026/27, to cover things like weapons brought into school, cyber-bullying, harmful sexual behaviour, misogynistic and misandrist behaviour, vaping, mobile phone use, and misbehaviour outside of school.

• The reason list a school sees depends on the exclusion's start date, not today's date: exclusions starting before 1 August 2026 use the old reasons; on or after, the new ones.
• Exclusions are collected for the previous two terms, so the new reasons first appear in the Spring 2027 return (covering the autumn 2026 term) and again in Summer 2027. 
• They do not appear in the Autumn 2026 return, which only reaches exclusions up to July 2026 (old reasons).

More on these changes can be found here: Arbor Suspension and Exclusion Reasons mapping to DfE codes

Free breakfast clubs (Spring 2027)

From Autumn 2026, the DfE requires schools running government-funded free breakfast clubs to record daily pupil attendance using DfE-specified codes. This data feeds into the Spring 2027 school census. We're adding support for this directly into the Clubs module.

Who should record what?

• Participating schools record daily breakfast club attendance for pupils in Reception to Year 6.
• This is a part of the government's free breakfast club rollout, so only attendance at the government-funded programme is recorded; not parent-paid or other clubs.
• Schools not in the programme, or with only secondary pupils, do not record it.

What's collected (per student, Reception to Year 6)

• Number of possible sessions and number of sessions attended
• An attendance code for each day, from the national set:
  • FBC0 — did not attend (the default)
  • FBC1 — attended, before the start of the compulsory school day
  • FBC2 — club fully closed: staff shortages
  • FBC3 — club fully closed: unsuitable space or premises
  • FBC4 — club fully closed: other reasons
  • FBC5 — partial closure: staff shortages
  • FBC6 — partial closure: unsuitable space or premises
  • FBC7 — partial closure: other reasons

Find more on the changes here: DfE Free Breakfast Clubs & Attendance Codes

Changes 2025/2026

Expanded Hours Field

The Expanded Hours field in the Other section of student profiles has been updated to accept up to 30 hours. Previously, the maximum allowed was 15 hours.

To find the field in question:

• For an individual student, go to Students > All Students > Browse Students > Student Profile > View “Other” [Scroll down to the Expanded Hours field]
• To bulk view and update, go to Students > All Students > Bulk Update > Bulk Update Funded Hours

The expanded hours field only shows on Early Years and Nursery students' profiles, excluding 4-year-olds in Reception. For each individual student, the information required and the maximum number of funded hours allowed depend on the student's age and National Curriculum year. When you generate the census, any incorrect or missing data will be brought to your attention. Please refer to the census documentation for more information on early years funding.

Find more about updating funded and extended hours here: Hours at setting, funded hours, extended or expanded hours and 30-hour funding codes

Post-16 English and Maths Minimum Hours

Two new fields have been added to record the confirmation that a student is studying the minimum hours required for English and Maths. These fields confirm whether the minimum hours are planned for students undertaking eligible qualifications who do not yet have a GCSE grade 4+ or equivalent in the subject.

This change aligns with the Maths and English conditions in the funding guidance for 16- to 19-year-olds. To meet the condition of funding in the 2025/26 academic year, students must study eligible qualifications for a minimum of 100 hours for Maths and/or 100 hours for English.

This support must be delivered as in-person, whole-class, stand-alone teaching.

To Access and update this information, head to one of these pages:

• School > Data > Data Quality > Students > Demographics > Bulk Update GCSE Attainment for Funding
• Student Profile > GCSE Attainment for Funding section
• School Census > Overview > Download Post-16 Report [The report includes the new fields]

Find more on how to use these pages here: Adding prior attainment for English and Maths

Traineeships No Longer Collected

The DfE is no longer collecting information about Traineeships in the School Census.

Note: No changes have been made to how Traineeships are recorded within Arbor.

Changes 2024/2025

Gender Field > Sex 

The Gender field has been replaced by Sex. Please see our guidance here: Sex, Gender and Gender Identity in Arbor and statutory returns. Schools can choose to record Gender Identity but this is not returned in the census.

Expanded Hours (Recording Hours in School) 

For the summer census, an additional field called Expanded hours has been added for recording hours in school for Early Years and Nursery Students: Hours at setting, funded hours, extended or expanded hours and 30 hour funding codes