Data Sources

For a given reporting year, you will need to populate your Keypas system with both assessment and contextual data in order to run ‘full’ reports and make use of other Nexus features reliant on LA loaded data. Broadly there are two different types of files that can be imported - assessment files and contextual files (including school census, pupil premium, CLA census and CIN census)

EYFSP, Phonics and Key Stage 1

Assessment files are files containing pupil-level attainment results. These files are usually generated within a school’s MIS (Management Information System) as a CTF file, then submitted to the Local Authority for cleaning, before they are submitted to the DfE via COLLECT.

(There are a small number of Local Authorities that have made arrangements for their schools to submit these CTF assessment files directly to the DfE via the STA / Primary Assessment Gateway website.)

Keypas contains all the necessary tools for you to import individual files submitted from schools, check the submitted data for errors and clean it. Once you are happy that the data within Keypas is of sufficient quality and accuracy you can create the DfE return for each school which can then be uploaded to COLLECT.

You are able to import assessment files in both CTF (.xml) or CSV (.csv) format. EYFSP, Phonics and KS1.csv file imports must follow the DfE’s Excel spreadsheet template to be imported.

Key Stage 2

Most schools submit their Key Stage 2 Teacher Assessment results from their school MIS directly to the DfE via the STA / Primary Assessment Gateway website, without the Local Authority having to be involved in the submission process.

However, Local Authorities can download these CTF files from the STA / Primary Assessment Gateway website and import them into Keypas, to view the data and run reports. (As previously noted the smaller number of authorities undertaking this step should be considered when looking at NCER emerging national results)

(There are a small number of Local Authorities that have made arrangements for their schools to submit their CTF assessment files to the LA, who then clean and process them before submitting to the DfE via the STA / Primary Assessment Gateway on the school’s behalf.)

Primary Assessment Gateway datasets

You are also able to import Key Stage 2 datasets containing pupil-level test and teacher assessment results into Keypas once these are made available for download from the Primary Assessment Gateway websites. This will usually be on the day in July that KS2 results are made available to schools (11th July in 2023 though this was delayed by a week due to an extra bank holiday). This data can be used for attainment reporting and is also the final component of the KS1 to KS2 Early Progress data (see Early KS1 to KS2 Progress Reporting in Nexus guide)

School Census files

The School Census files can be described as files containing pupil-level information on pupil characteristics and identifiers. These files are generated each term and are submitted by the school to COLLECT, though many LAs collect the files directly. 

You are able to import the School Census files into Keypas. Once imported, you will be able to produce reports using pupil characteristics as filters. For example, you may wish to report against a certain set of vulnerable groups – contextual information held in the School Census file will allow you to identify pupil characteristics for further analysis.

Generally you will want to ensure that - at least - the January census file from the year of the assessment is loaded as this matches DfE protocols and includes ethnicity data. You may then choose to update records with the May census. 

Both assessment and School Census files contain a lot of data, some of which is not used in Keypas. You do not need to edit the files received from Schools or the DfE in any way before importing them into Keypas.

Developments of the system in the last few years means it is now the case that there is a single method of importing census files into Keypas which suffices for all the purposes to which school census information is put in Nexus. In addition, census files are retained and only need to be loaded once (previously they needed to be loaded after each update of the associated assessment records).

School census files contain sensitive information about pupils and should be protected accordingly during the process of preparation for loading to Nexus.

Pupil Premium Import

Pupil premium data, released by the DfE to Local Authorities via Get Information About Pupils is a key data element that Local Authorities will wish to load into Nexus. The process for obtaining and loading this is covered in the Pupil Premium Import Guide.

LA census files - CLA and CIN

The SSDA903 (CLA Census) and the CIN Census are returns made by Children's Social Care in each LA to the DfE. For these returns the DfE make the return available in COLLECT for LA to download after submission. LA will wish to make sure they do this before COLLECT closes and should plan to get them as soon as the deadline for submission has passed in June and July each year. 

Other Data Sources

You may import additional, custom data items using the Extra Pupil Fields. Please see the Extra Pupil Fields guide for more help with this. There are also other imports available in Keypas such as Expected Cohorts, KS1/2 Prior Attainment etc. that are covered in other articles. KS1/2 Prior Attainment loading is covered in the Early KS1 to KS2 Progress Reporting in Nexus guide.