Guidance

School preference data collections guide

Guide for local authorities completing the school preference data collections 2026.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 21 September 2021
• Last updated: 21 October 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 21 October 2025

     Updated school preference data collections guide with the 2026 version.

  2. 20 September 2024

     Updated school preference data collections guide with the 2025 version.

  3. 7 November 2023

     Updated 'School preference data collections 2023: guide' with the 2024 version.

  4. 14 October 2022

     Updated 'School preference data collections 2022: guide' with the 2023 version.

  5. 21 September 2021

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

School preference data collections 2026: guide

PDF, 844 KB, 23 pages

Details

This guide provides local authorities with information about the school preference data collections, including:

• the scope of the 2 collections
• what data to include
• how to submit data returns