As you may know, the National Down Syndrome Policy Group has been actively campaigning for Down syndrome to be added as a separate category to the School Census. We have worked closely with Ministers, the Department for Education, and the All- Party Parliamentary Group on Down Syndrome to present a robust case for consideration, and we were delighted when our request was approved by the Star Chamber.
Thank you to all the individuals, groups and professionals who informed and supported our bid. When we work together, we can achieve great things.
WHEN WILL THE INSTRUCTION COME INTO FORCE AND WHERE?
This will come into force in January 2025, in England. It is expected that some of the data will be processed and published at least by early summer 2025.
WHAT IS THE SCHOOL CENSUS?
The School Census is a statutory procedure carried out electronically three times a year, which collects information from primary and secondary schools, special schools, maintained nurseries, academies, and pupil referral units.
WHICH AGE GROUP DOES IT TARGET?
The census mainly gathers data for the 4-16 age range, but it does include pupils if they are in maintained nurseries attached to schools, or in sixth forms attached to schools.
WHAT DATA DOES THE SCHOOL CENSUS ALREADY COLLECT?
The School Census currently collects a wide range of information such as pupil numbers, educational attainment, educational need, background details, children of armed forces personnel, children in care, free school meals eligibility, young carers, absence and exclusion information, and also pupil characteristics including age, gender and ethnicity. The School Census currently highlights 13 SEND conditions: Autistic Spectrum Disorder; Vision Impairment; Hearing Impairment; Specific Learning Difficulty, Moderate Learning Difficulty, Severe Learning Difficulty, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty; Social, Emotional and Mental Health; Speech, Language and Communication; Multi- sensory Impairment; Physical Disability; Other difficulty/disorder; SEN support needed (but no specialist assessment of type of need). Down syndrome will now be added to this list from January 2025.
WHY COLLECT ANY OF THIS DATA?
Collecting this data is essential as it helps develop a comprehensive understanding of the education sector, and measures performance and effectiveness. Authorities can make better-informed decisions around planning, resource provision and funding for individual schools. It also identifies which pupils qualify for additional funding such as pupil premium, SEND, support for disadvantaged students, universal infant free school meals funding and free early years entitlement allocations.
WHAT NOW?
Meaningful data is fundamentally important and has the great potential to improve experiences and outcomes, but as with all information, its true value lies in its effective utilisation.
‘As a community, we all now have a collective responsibility to ensure this new data is used to our best advantage.’
WILL ADDING ‘DOWN SYNDROME’ TO THE CENSUS BE BENEFICIAL?
Children with Down syndrome are all individuals, but most share a unique and specific learning profile. Research-based interventions for successful school inclusion based on this profile have existed for decades, but frustratingly have not been widely disseminated into educational settings where they are needed. We know there are significantly better outcomes for children with Down syndrome in schools and areas where the specific profile is fully understood, and these strategies are implemented. For the very first time, the number of pupils with Down syndrome in schools, and the location of these pupils will be known. We will no longer need to estimate these figures.
This will enable local authorities to evaluate and plan for more targeted specialist provision. It will facilitate the effective dissemination of Down syndrome specific education guidelines, interventions, and resources, and help predict and inform future staff and training needs both regionally and nationally.
It will help identify trends. We will be able to seamlessly monitor transition to and from mainstream or special settings, compare mainstream inclusion figures in different regions and identify regions which too heavily rely on an ‘automatic’ special school pathway. Figures can be used to support research, tribunals and to argue for more specialist support and training.
If given due consideration, this data has the potential for levelling up and diminishing the postcode lottery, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services, and to increase the number of children successfully educated in schools with improved outcomes. It will most certainly lead to increased accountability.
‘As a community, we all now have a collective responsibility to ensure this new data is used to our best advantage.’