The DfE report on exam performance based on the student information from the Spring Census (Thursday 18th January). This article explains how to set up a census set of student data in KS4, to ensure your student information is accurate for headline figures reported on Results Day.
To check that your student list and filter values in Analytics reflect the Spring Census, navigate to DATA > select KS3/4 & Current Yr 11 > STUDENTS > Cohort.
The 'Active Students' section will list students with a status of:
- On Roll - Included in school performance measures (where eligible)
- Guest - Excluded from school performance measures, but included in student performance measures for internal analysis.
The 'Inactive Students' section at the bottom of the page includes students with the status:
- Left School - Excluded from ALL reports for that cohort.
| Above the list of Active Students you can also check your total 'On Roll' student count. You can also create new students here manually if required by using the 'Create Student' button at the top of this page. If you create students manually however, you'll also need to manually add their classes. |
There are two ways in which you can ensure your student data reflects the Spring Census, and both options are detailed below:
Option 1 / Manually change students in Analytics (for a few changes)
To change one or more students to the same status, place a tick next to their name(s) in the Actions column, then click 'Change Status'.
To change a student's filter value(s), click on their name, then expand the Filters section and click 'Edit Filters'.
For further information on editing student's filter values, please take a look at the following article: KS3/4: Editing Student Details (Admin).
Option 2 / Import Spring Census Student Data (for more changes)
If there are a large number of changes to make, you can extract student data from your MIS at the time of the spring census, save this as CSV (MS DOS) and import this into Analytics. This will update the cohort and filters automatically.
To do this, click on STUDENTS > Import. At the top of the page, Analytics will display an example of the file format it expects for your school. When you have your file ready, select the key stage the data relates to in the dropdown, which in this case is KS4, then select the file to import and click ‘Import’.
During the import, you will see the following import options:
- Update Classes - Select 'No' to continue using the latest, summer classes (if imported).
- Update Filters - Select 'Yes' to use the students' filter values from the Spring Census file.
- Update Statuses - Tick 'Yes' to automatically reflect the students included in the file as ‘On Roll’. Any students not in the file will be set to ‘Left School’.
For further information on importing student data to Analytics, please see the following article: KS3/4: Importing Student Data (Admin).
Once you have done this, double check the Students List via STUDENTS > Cohort to ensure all students have been awarded the appropriate status. Finally, republish the STUDENTS area (STUDENTS > Publish Students > Publish) to reflect these changes in the reports.
| If you have students who joined after the census (set automatically to ‘Left School’ during the import), who won’t affect your school performance but you would like to analyse internally, you can set them to ‘Guest’ status. |
Thanks for reading!