This guide covers the Meals and School Characteristics page. This is an "On-the-day" area that records aggregate school-level data, such as headteacher teaching commitments, governance, and meal uptake on Census Day.
PLASC Series
This is the third guide in our series on completing the Wales PLASC. You can access the other guides in the series here:
- Wales PLASC - General Guide and Overview
- Wales PLASC - The Classes Page
- Wales PLASC - Meals and School Characteristics (This guide)
- Wales PLASC - Pupil Counts
- Wales PLASC - Teachers and Support Staff
- Wales PLASC - Teaching of Welsh
Permissions
- To access and manage the census, you must have the Data Returns: Administer permission.
If you do not have this permission, ask your office staff or administrator to add it to your profile for you.
What is the Meals and School Characteristics Page?
This page is an "On-the-day" area of the census.
Unlike the individual pupil data (which Arbor pulls automatically from student profiles), the data on this page represents aggregated totals and a snapshot of activity specifically on Census Day.
Because this data often relates to physical events on the day (e.g., how many cartons of milk were actually consumed) rather than permanent records, you will need to enter or verify these figures manually for many of the data items.
The page is divided into five specific sections:
- School Characteristics
- Meals
- Breakfasts
- Milk
- Governance
Navigation
- Go to School > Data > Export > Data Returns.
- Select the PLASC
- Select Meals and School Characteristics from the left-hand menu.
School Characteristics
This section records the teaching commitments of your Headteacher and, for specific phases, the prevalence of Welsh medium teaching.
What to enter
-
Head Teacher Teaching Commitment: You must select a code indicating how much of the Headteacher's week is spent teaching. You must select the most appropriate code:
1 (None): Does not teach or only exceptionally.
2: Averages less than 50% of the week.
3: Averages between 51% and 99% of the week.
4 (100%): Teaches full-time.
-
Welsh Medium Subjects Taught: This field is mandatory for Secondary and Middle schools. Record the number of subjects (0–10) consistently taught entirely through Welsh or bilingually.
Note: Even if multiple Science or Modern Foreign Language subjects are taught in Welsh, they each only count as one towards the total.
How to do this
- Click on the School Characteristics section, click on Head Teacher Teaching Commitment or Welsh Medium Subjects Taught
- In the slide-over, select the correct code from the dropdown menu or enter a number between 0 and 10
- Enter the count of subjects (if applicable).
- Click Save Changes.
Things to note
This section is visible for Primary, Secondary, Middle, and Special school phases, but is hidden for Nursery schools.
Meals
This section records the uptake of school lunches on Census Day.
What to enter
- Free School Meals Taken: The number of pupils who were eligible for a Free School Meal (FSM) and actually took the meal on Census Day.
- Paid School Meals Taken: The number of pupils who paid for a school meal on Census Day.
How to do this
- Click on the Meals section.
- Manually enter the number for both fields (this should be a whole number; no decimals are allowed)
- Click Save Changes.
Things to note
- "Taken" vs "Eligible": Do not simply enter your total FSM eligibility numbers. This must be the count of meals actually served.
- Visibility: The "Paid school meals taken" field is not required for Secondary schools and will be hidden.
Breakfasts
This section tracks the Welsh Government's Primary Free Breakfast Initiative.
What to enter
- Free Breakfasts on Census Day: The total number of pupils who took a free breakfast on the day of the census.
- FSM Breakfasts on Census Day: A count of the FSM Eligible Students who have taken a free breakfast on Census day, should not include FSM-Transitional Protection or UPFSM Students
- Free Breakfasts in Typical Week: The number of pupils who took a free breakfast at least once during the typical school week preceding the census.
- FSM Breakfasts in Typical Week: The FSM Eligible Students who have taken a free breakfast in the week prior to census week. This must not include FSM-Transitional Protection or UPFSM Students. Each student must only be counted once, whether they had 1 or 5 free breakfasts
How to do this
- Click on the Breakfasts section.
- Enter the counts for the day and the previous week.
- Click Save Changes.
Things to note
- Visibility: This section is hidden for Secondary schools.
- Typical Week: If the week prior to the census was not "typical" (e.g., due to school closure or severe weather), use the next nearest typical week.
Milk
This section records the uptake of milk on Census Day.
What to enter
- Free Milk: The number of pupils who took free milk on Census Day.
- Paid Milk: The number of pupils who paid for milk on Census Day.
How to do this
- Click on the Milk section.
- Enter the figures manually on the slide-over
- Click Save Changes.
Things to note
- Visibility: This section is hidden for Secondary schools.
Governance
This section records the composition of your school's Governing Body as it stands on Census Day.
What to enter
- Head Teacher on Governing Body: Select Yes or No to indicate if the Headteacher is a formal member of the body.
- Male Serving Governors: The count of male governors currently in post.
- Female Serving Governors: The count of female governors currently in post.
- Welsh Speaking Governors: The count of governors who speak Welsh.
- Governor Vacancies: The total number of empty seats on the Governing Body.
How to do this
- Click on the Governance section.
- Complete the fields in the slide-over.
- Click Save Changes.
Things to note
- Visibility: This entire section is hidden for Nursery schools.
- Vacancies: Ensure you check your Instrument of Government to accurately calculate the number of vacancies (Total seats minus Serving Governors).
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