Q. Do we count staff employed in Breakfast Clubs and After School Clubs and staff in Children’s Centres as some of these may be on the school’s personnel system and some of them will be staff employed by the LA? Do we count Outreach Workers who are employed by Health Authorities?
A. Breakfast Clubs and After Schools Clubs – staff involved exclusively in these are not in scope, unless the activities are seen as an integral part of the standard curriculum. In most cases these are extended services and therefore not in scope. Children’s Centres and Early Years Settings (e.g. pre-schools) are out of the scope. Health workers – the general rule is to look for a ‘best-fit’ to the roles. If you can’t find a best fit then the role is probably out of the scope.
Q. Are Children’s Centres in scope for SWC?
A. Surestart, day care centres and children’s centres are not in scope. LA maintained nurseries are in scope. If staff work across more than one of these establishments they are in scope for the portion of time they are working in the LA maintained nursery schools. For example, a teacher working 0.5 FTE in an LA maintained nursery and 0.5 FTE in a Surestart or children’s centre would only count as a 0.5 FTE member of staff for SWC purposes.
Q. Most Children’s Centres operate on school premises although staff are not paid for by schools. These staff don’t appear on the staffing part of the Pupil Census and are not usually involved in teaching/supporting pupils in the LA’s maintained schools. Are they in scope for SWC?
A. If staff working at the Children’s Centres are not involved in teaching or working with pupils at the maintained school and are not paid for by the school then they are not in scope for SWC. The fact that the centres are physically situated on school premises is immaterial.
Q. We have taken over a pre-school which is now part of our foundation unit. How do I include the staff? (Note: School Workforce should only include staff who teach or support the school.)
A. Only include the FTE of the staff that will apply to pupils in Reception. If you have an LA designated Nursery Unit and these pupils were included on your School Census then include the appropriate staff in the Workforce Census. If not, staff (or a proportion of staff) will need to be excluded. You will need to email census@devon.gov.uk to adjust this information for you.
Q. What role should be used for Admin Officers? Administrator is lumped with a clerk and seeing as there are about 3 or 4 grades different between these, this would not reflect the true workforce of a school – should we use Other?
A. This is about the nature of work carried out by staff, not the office hierarchy, choose whichever role fits best. Other possibilities include bursar, school secretary, finance officer and office manager.
Q. Do school crossing patrol staff need to be included?
A. School crossing patrols do not need to be included.
Q. Are home-to-school transport people in scope?
A. There is a role code for ‘escort’ so these people are in scope, however, drivers are not. What we are after are people who provide support to children e.g. pupils with SEN, escorting them between various activities or locations.
Q. Do we need to include an EWO who is based at one school but works in other schools as well? Do all the schools they work in include them on the return?
A. Education Welfare Officers only need to be included in your School Workforce Census if they are in school on census day in the Third Party Headcount section. However, if one school is employing the EWO directly that school will need to include them in the SWC as a named record.
Q. Do School Improvement Partners (SIPs) need to be included on the return?
A. SIPS do not need to be included. There is no separate code for them and it is unlikely that they meet the other criteria for inclusion – in regular service as SIPS or spending the majority of their time in schools.
Q. I have a member of staff with two contracts. She is a Teaching Assistant but also is a home-to-school escort. Only the TA contract needs to be included in School Workforce Census – how do I exclude her contract as a home-to-school escort?
A. Unfortunately sims doesn’t allow you to exclude a contract. In situations where you need the person to be included in SWC you will need to submit both contracts then email census@devon.gov.uk with details of the member of staff (with their NI number where possible) and the contract that needs to be excluded. Your data will be amended centrally.
Remember to add a note to your Summary and Details Reports as they will no longer match the data submitted to the DfE.
Q. Do I need to record cleaning staff on the census and if so, is it only a ‘Headcount’ on the census day only?
A. Cleaning Staff need to be recorded on your school workforce census in some way;
- If you employ them direct you will need to record them on your Personnel system and include them in the SWC as a named record.
- If you employ them from an agency (e.g. Glen Cleaning or Norse) you would normally only need to include those that are in on the census day (regardless of the time of day, i.e. before, during or after school) in the third party support staff headcount section. However third party support staff isn’t being collected in this year’s census.
Q. Is it right that QTS route is only required for newly qualified teachers?
A. QTS route is only required for teachers who, in the last year, have taken up their first position since qualifying (or who are working towards QTS). This does not have to be back filled for all other staff who were employed as teachers and who had QTS before the last census.
Q. Do I include Clerk to Governors?
A. No, these do not need to be included.
Q. The school has two security guards that patrol the school perimeter. They don’t enter the school or its grounds, nor do the school pay them (they’re employed and paid for by a private company).
A. No, security guards acting in the way described are not in scope for SWC.
Q. We record ‘Date of arrival’ in school for support staff which is not required in SWC. Is it OK to return it or should it be filtered out?
A. Collection of this item for support staff is not required for the SWC, it is an optional item. Your school should decide whether or not to filter it out
Q. Do I need to record an ‘origin’ for all my staff?
A. No, origin is only required for teacher and teaching assistant contracts starting from 1/09/09. It is optional for other members of staff.
Q. How do I find out the reason for leaving and destinations of the staff that have left?
A. Reason for leaving and destinations are only required for teachers and teaching assistants who left during the previous academic year. It can be collected via your normal procedures, e.g. an exit interview.
Q. What should schools enter if they are not given the reason for leaving or next destination of Agency staff?
A. Destination is an optional field for agency staff so schools are not required to enter this information. Should you wish to do so, you can select ‘Not Known’ if appropriate.
Q. We have some apprentices working in our schools, should they be included in the SWC?
A. If they have a contract for one month (28 days) or more and are fulfilling one of the roles listed in the role code set then they should be included for that role. If they are employed on a more casual or training basis, then they would not be included.
In addition to this, if the member of staff is an Apprentice Teacher, the DfE now have a post of ‘Apprentice Teacher’ which should be used.
Q. We have a Teacher previously employed under the ONE to ONE scheme and have continued to employ her in the school in a similar capacity.
A. If she is a teacher in regular service employed in the school she should be included in the workforce census. If she is only engaged for the ONE to ONE Tuition Programme then she should not be included. This is unlikely though as the funding for this programme ceased in 2011 as it was to be channelled into the national schools budget.
Q. Executive principal role is being introduced as a leadership role – not a Headteacher but a professional who advises on the curriculum, pedagogy, resources etc – I don’t think this is the same as the new executive head role – does a new role need to be considered?
A. The DfE have split the post of ‘Support Staff’ into two categories; ‘Other Support Staff’ and ‘Leadership – Non Teacher’. You can use the ‘Leadership – Non Teacher’ post for this type of position and select a role that best fits the function carried out by the staff member.
Q. My school is part of a federation with an Executive Head who looks after three schools. Which one includes the Executive Head in their SWC?
A. The information on the Executive Head should only be returned by the school that holds the contract (normally the school that holds his/her information in Personnel). The other schools should not include the Executive Head in their return. However, any other staff shared between the schools in the federation need to have their time (and any other relevant information) apportioned between them (see next FAQ).
Q. We currently have a federation of 2 schools that are under one governance but have 2 establishment numbers. They share teachers and have the same head teacher, they use the same bursars, librarians etc. How should these be recorded?
A. The DfE advise that a return must be made for both the schools. Staff that are shared across the schools should be returned separately for each school showing the appropriate hours worked and f.t.e. hours per week for the time they spend working within that school.
This can easily be done if the 2 schools have separate Personnel systems. However, if the data is only held by one school you will need to provide a file with all staff for both establishments then send a listing by school of which staff relate to each establishment with the FTE for each.
The only exception to this is the Headteacher who should be recorded as an ‘Executive Head’ and only appear on the SWC for the school that holds his/her contract details. You will also need to provide snapshot data i.e. Occasional Teachers, Teacher Vacancies and Third Party Headcount data separately. Please email the details to census@devon.gov.uk, EDIT will then make the changes for you.
You would normally provide Absence Data for each establishment separately but absence data is not being collected this year.
Q. How do I record Teaching Staff temporarily Acting-Up
A. If a member of staff is acting up within a school, e.g. a deputy head acting up to a head post, the contract for the acting up post should be returned and not the original substantive post. ScoMIS have previously advised that you should;
- Clone the original contract and add future dates
- End the original contract
- Enter the acting up contract to fill the gap between the ending of the original contract and the re-starting of the future contract
If you suspend a contract this could generate query 4745Q member of staff working more than 48 hrs, or query 6530Q Same person has total Full Time Equivalent ratio greater than 1.5. In these instances you will need to email census@devon.gov.uk with details of the suspended contract and date the suspension started. The contract will then be amended in COLLECT on your behalf.