Arbor Spring Census 2024 Guidance
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January 18th 2024 is Spring Census day, but the dry run is now open, so you can start fixing any issues ahead of the big day!
Start your Arbor Dry Run NOW!
Simply click on the banner at the top of your Arbor screen or follow the route School > Data > Export > Data Returns. There you can click on School Census and generate Dry Run!
The Census and dry runs can be generated as many times as you wish. When you do run your Census, Arbor will output data as if it were Census day. For example, students who have joined your school after census day would be excluded.
Unless specific instructions are given by your local authority, you do not have to submit the Census on census day. The DfE sets a Census deadline, which is visible on your Census page.
The Spring 2024 Census collects information relating to the class activity that all pupils undertake at a selected time on Census Day. The selected time is based on the last digit of a school’s DfE number as follows:
| Last digit of the School DfE number | Selected time |
|---|---|
| 2, 3 or 6 | the selected time is one hour after the start of afternoon school |
| 4, 7, 8 or 9 | the selected time is one hour after the start of morning school |
| 0, 1 or 5 | the selected time is one hour before the end of morning school |
Important Key Dates
| Key Dates | What you need to do |
|---|---|
|
Census Dry run opens Thursday 4th January 2024 |
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Census Day is Thursday 18th January 2024 |
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Census Submission Deadline is Wednesday 14th February 2024 Unless told otherwise by your LA |
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Arbor HQ
To sign up for the Arbor Census webinar – you will need to register for Arbor HQ! https://support.arbor-education.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004135797-Joining-the-Arbor-HQ-Community
Webinar: Census Dry Run – Friday 12th January 2024, 10:00am - https://arbor-hq.circle.so/c/webinars/webinar-census-dry-run
Webinar: Census Day - Thursday 18th January 2024, 10:00am - https://arbor-hq.circle.so/c/webinars/webinar-census-day
Main Changes to Spring Census 2024
The Gender field has been replaced by Sex.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.
- 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.
- For the summer census, an additional field called Expanded hours has been added for recording hours in school for Early Years and Nursery Students. You will see this new field, but you do not need to fill this in yet as it is not output in the spring census: Hours at setting, funded hours, extended hours and 30 hour codes
Useful Links
Below are some useful links for completing your Spring School Census
- Arbor School Census help and guidance - here >
- Arbor Preparing for the school census - here >
- Arbor School Census Preparation Checklist - here >
- Arbor School Census page - here >
- Sign up page for Arbor Webinars - here >
- Arbor Census Day Videos - here >
- DFE list of changes - here >
As always SBS are here and ready to help so please do drop us an email misservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk or call 0345 222 1551 | Opt 3
Would you like us to do your Spring Census for you?
Let us take it off your to-do list this month by contacting us. Looking ahead, we can do ALL of this year's returns for you - whether you are already an SBS customer or not!
