Arbor Autumn Census 2023 Guidance
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October 5th 2023 is Autumn Census day, but the dry run is now open, so you can start fixing any issues ahead of the big day!
Important Dates
| Key Dates | What you need to do |
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Census Dry run opens Thursday 21st September 2023 |
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Census Day is Thursday 5th October 2023 |
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Census Submission Deadline is Wednesday 1st November 2023 Unless told otherwise by your LA |
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Changes for this census
The only change this year, for Autumn, Spring and Summer censuses is that the Gender field has been replaced by Sex. You can find guidance here: Sex, Gender and Gender Identity in Arbor and statutory returns.
Getting Started
The first step is to create a dry run, you can do this by going to School > Data > Export > Data Returns.
Click on the Autumn census and then click the School Census Button. On the next page, click the orange ‘Generate Census’ button.
You’ll then get a list of Arbor errors and a list of DFE errors. Work through your Arbor errors first, and you’ll usually find this clears many of the DFE errors too.
Arbor has a wealth of support guides, webinars and recorded videos to help with the process, check out the links below.
Useful Links
For initial guidance:
School Census Guide - Autumn 2023 – Arbor Help Centre (arbor-education.com)
For more in general guidance on census’
School Census help and guidance – Arbor Help Centre (arbor-education.com)
Help with specific error and queries
School Census error and query codes – Arbor Help Centre (arbor-education.com)
A list of all upcoming webinars, including census, and access to previous webinar recording
Upcoming Webinars – Arbor Help Centre (arbor-education.com)
DFE Guidance
Complete the school census - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you need any support, or are interested in having us do your census as a remote service, you can get in touch with us via the service desk: 0345 222 1551 | Opt 3 or drop us an email misservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk
