Correspondence

EFA e-bulletin for academies: 1 October 2015

Published 1 October 2015

This correspondence was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.

1. Action: autumn school census 2015

Today (1 October) is the autumn school census 2015 day.

Accurate and on-time census returns, including recording pupils registered for free school meals, are an essential feature of schools funding and accountability.

EFA has produced a series of short training videos providing an overview of the school census, how to prepare and submit your data, and how the data is used.

EFA has also published an interactive post-16 census tool to encourage accurate post 16 school census data returns.

The deadline for approved submissions is Wednesday 28 October.

If you have any questions about the autumn school census, please use the data collections helpdesk service request form.

2. Information: pupil premium payment

EFA will pay the second quarterly pupil premium payment on 6 October 2015.

EFA pays the pupil premium grant separately to General Annual Grant (GAG) payments and issue a separate remittance advice.

Further information about pupil premium payments is available on GOV.UK. This includes how to check the number of eligible pupils in your academy using the Key to Success website.

3. Reminder: summer schools funding claims

You must complete your claim for summer school funding by Friday 9 October 2015 using the form on the Key to Success website.

Please note, the Department for Education will not accept claim forms submitted after 9 October 2015.

4. Reminder: changes to the school admissions timetable

The Schools Admission Code 2014 introduced changes to the timetable for consultation and determination of admission arrangements. These are about to come into effect. The main changes for all admissions authorities including academies are:

  • you must consult when you change your admission arrangements and the consultation period must be at least 6 weeks. This should take place between 1 October and 31 January (previously, it was 8 weeks between 1 November and 1 March)
  • you must determine your admission arrangements by 28 February (previously 15 April)
  • you must send a copy of your determined admission arrangements to your local authority by 15 March (previously 1 May)
  • the deadline for objections to the Schools Adjudicator is 15 May (previously 30 June)

As previously, you must consult when you change your admission arrangements or if you have not consulted within the last 7 years.

5. Action: check the EFA Information Exchange

Please remember to ensure EFA holds the correct contact details for your institution in My Contact Information feature within the EFA Information Exchange. This is particularly important for academy trusts, who have to notify us of any changes to key roles within 14 days.

The EFA Information Exchange also has a Knowledge Centre section. This should help you find the answers to some of the most commonly-asked questions EFA receives and will save you time when you need information.

Also, please note that the Document Exchange feature does not hold documents permanently, and it is important that you download any information we post about your institution. The Document Exchange will retain documents for 13 months before they are deleted.

You can find out more about how to use My Contact Information on GOV.UK – please log in through your Secure Access account to check your details are correct.

6. Information: academies financial benchmarking website

The Department for Education has updated the academies financial benchmarking website with 2013 to 2014 income and expenditure data.

For the first time DfE has included income and expenditure details for academies in multi-academy trusts. To do this DfE has taken the central income and expenditure for each MAT and allocated this across its schools according to pupil numbers.