Guidance

School census autumn 2014 to summer 2015: technical information

Technical specification, XML schema files and validation rules for submitting 2014 to 2015 school census data.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 28 February 2014
• Last updated: 21 May 2015
  Show all updates

  1. 21 May 2015

     Updated the 'School census summer 2015: XML schema files' zip file and the validation rules file, which includes a version history describing the changes.

  2. 27 April 2015

     Updated the validation rules document with version 2.6 - the document includes a version history describing the changes.

  3. 22 April 2015

     Replaced the business and technical specification document. The file includes a version history describing the changes.

  4. 16 April 2015

     Replaced the business and technical specification document and the validation rules document. Both files include a version history describing the changes.

  5. 27 March 2015

     Added 'School census summer 2015: XML schema files' zip file.

  6. 24 March 2015

     Replaced 'School census 2014 to 2015: validation rules'. The document includes a version history describing the changes.

  7. 10 March 2015

     Updated the business and technical specification with version 1.6 and the validation rules with version 2.1. Each document includes a version history describing the changes.

  8. 13 February 2015

     Updated the validation rules document with version 2.0 - the document includes a version history describing the changes.

  9. 26 January 2015

     Updated the technical specification document with version 1.5 - the document includes a version history describing the changes.

  10. 21 January 2015

      Updated the business and technical specification. Also added updated validation rules and XML schema files.

  11. 2 December 2014

      The update incorporates a number of changes which are described in the version history of the document.

  12. 14 October 2014

      Updated the technical specification with version 1.2 - the document includes a version history describing the changes.

  13. 2 July 2014

      Download updated to include a number of changes which are described in the version history of the document.

  14. 28 February 2014

      First published.

This publication was withdrawn on 2 August 2019

These documents are for the 2014 to 2015 school census. For the current census, visit our guide to submitting data for the school census.

Applies to England

Documents

School census 2014 to 2015: business and technical specification - version 1.8

Ref: DFE-00064-2014

PDF, 3.76 MB, 132 pages

School census 2014 to 2015: validation rules

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 257 KB

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School census 2014 to 2015: validation rules

ODS, 95.5 KB

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School census summer 2015: XML schema files

17 KB

School census spring 2015: XML schema files

ZIP, 17.4 KB

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School census autumn 2014: XML schema files

ZIP, 42.9 KB

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Details

This is technical information about submitting data for the school census 2014 to 2015. It is for:

• suppliers of software for school management information systems (MIS)
• users of school MIS software

The business and technical specification sets out:

• what data schools should supply at school level and pupil level as part of the school census
• how to structure the data in XML
• how to check that data against the validation rules

Software suppliers should use the schema files so that schools can provide data in the correct XML format.

Suppliers should use the list of validation rules so that schools can validate the data they submit.

You should also read the common basic data set (CBDS). This defines common data items that schools use in MIS software and that we use in our data collections.

You may also be interested in technical specifications for creating school summary reports.

More guidance on submitting data for the school census is available.