Guidance

General hospital schools census: guide

Guide to help general hospital schools complete their 2026 census.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 23 January 2019
• Last updated: 25 November 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 25 November 2025

     Updated the general hospital schools census guide for 2026.

  2. 21 October 2024

     Updated the general hospital schools census guide for 2025.

  3. 16 October 2023

     Updated the general hospital schools census guide for 2024.

  4. 24 November 2022

     Published the guidance for the 2023 census.

  5. 1 October 2021

     Added School level annual school census (SLASC) general hospital schools 2022.

  6. 15 January 2021

     Updated the guidance for the 2021 census.

  7. 2 January 2020

     Updated guidance document and census date for the 2020 census.

  8. 23 January 2019

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

General hospital schools census 2026: guide

PDF, 431 KB, 24 pages

Details

This guide helps you prepare and submit your school’s annual census return.

Census day for registered general hospital schools is Thursday 15 January 2026.

The census collects the following information from general hospital schools:

• their contact details
• how many pupils there are on the attendance register
• the number of teaching staff and non teaching staff
• how many pupils have special educational needs (SEN)
• how many pupils are eligible for free school meals (FSM)

Read more guidance about submitting data for the general hospital schools census.