Guidance
Evidence required for removing a pupil
You can ask to remove certain pupils from your school’s performance measures if they meet specific criteria.
Admitted following permanent exclusion
If you admit a pupil who was permanently excluded from another state-funded school after 1 September 2024, you can request for them to be removed from your school’s performance measures.
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- DfE number of the excluding school
- date of exclusion (must be after 1 September 2024)
- evidence to support your request, such as a letter from the headteacher notifying the parent or guardian of the permanent exclusion
Admitted from abroad with English not first language
You can request to remove a pupil from your school’s performance measures if:
- English is not their first language
- English is not an official language of their country of origin
- they first joined a school in England on or after 1 September 2023
Your request will be rejected if the pupil’s country of origin has English as an official language, or if the 2026 spring census (15 January 2026) records English as their first language.
Check the countries list to see if your request is likely to be accepted or rejected (if all other conditions are met).
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- pupil’s first language
- pupil’s country of origin
- pupil’s date of admission to your school
- date they first joined a school in England
- date they arrived in England
If you want us to consider exceptional circumstances, you must also provide the following additional evidence, where applicable:
- brief details of the pupil’s education before they arrived in England, including school names and dates (if known)
- details of their education in England, including school names and dates (if known)
- any relevant documents from an external organisation, such as asylum, immigration or resettlement schemes (for example, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme)
- any other information or evidence to support your request
Child missing education
A child missing education is a child of compulsory school age who is not registered at a school and is not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.
A child reaches compulsory school age on or after their fifth birthday.
If they turn 5 between:
- 1 January and 31 March, they reach school age on 31 March
- 1 April and 31 August, they reach school age on 31 August
- 1 September and 31 December, they reach school age on 31 December
A child continues to be of compulsory school age until the last Friday of June in the school year they turn 16.
A pupil’s name can only be deleted for a reason set out in Regulation 9 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.
Deleting a pupil’s name for any other reason is unlawful. There are no set timescales, as each case is different.
You can request to remove a pupil from your school’s performance measures if they:
- did not return after a leave of absence, and the school and local authority have checked but cannot find them, or agree they are unlikely to return, and the pupil was removed from the school roll under Ground H of the school attendance regulations after the 2026 Spring census
- has been continually absent for 20 school days, and the school and local authority have checked but cannot find them, or agree they are unlikely to return, and the pupil was removed from the school roll under Ground I of the school attendance regulations
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- the date the pupil was removed from your school roll
- evidence from the school and local authority showing they worked together to try to find the pupil and confirm their circumstances, including the date the local authority was told, as outlined in the children missing education guidance for schools and local authorities
- this could include a completed joint school and local authority CME checklist
Child has died
If a pupil has sadly died, please provide the date you removed them from your school roll.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information or your request will be rejected:
- the date the pupil was removed from your school roll
Dual registered or moved school
Dual registration means a pupil is registered at more than one setting for some or all of their education.
You can also ask to remove a pupil if they have left your school to attend another school.
If a dual-registered pupil appears in your pupil included CSV file, and you think the other school should be responsible, you can ask to request them from your school’s performance measures.
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
In some cases, the local authority may have asked you to add a pupil to your roll to release funding for a place at another setting, such as a specialist or alternative provision.
If the pupil has never attended your school, you must provide evidence from the local authority to confirm this.
Before you submit a request, check these rules for dual registered pupils:
- if a pupil is dual registered at two state-funded schools, their results are counted at the main school
- a dual-registered pupil is only included in performance measures once, as shown in the table below
| Mainstream School | Alternative Provision (AP) | Non-Hospital Special School | Hospital Special School | Assign pupil to | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Mainstream school | AP performance measures are not published |
| Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | School of main registration | Both schools’ performance measures are published |
| Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Mainstream school | AP performance measures are not published |
| Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Non-hospital special school | AP performance measures are not published |
| Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Yes✓ | Non-hospital special school | Hospital school performance measures are not published |
Important: Before you submit a request for a dual-registered or moved pupil:
- work with the other school, as they must submit an ‘add or include pupil’ request during the June checking exercise, requests made after this will be rejected
- the school you ask to transfer accountability to must be published at KS4, requests for pupils who moved to a non-published KS4 school will be rejected
- we will reject your request if the pupil is not added or included at another school during the June checking exercise
Alternative provision (AP) settings, such as pupil referral units, AP academies and some independent schools, do not have performance measures published.
A pupil’s results will instead count towards the mainstream or non-hospital special school they were on roll at the time of the 2026 Spring census on 15 January 2026.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information or your request will be rejected:
- the DfE number of the school where accountability for the pupil should be transferred to
Elective home education
If a pupil left your school for elective home education before the Spring census day on 15 January 2026, you can ask for them to be removed from your school’s performance measures.
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Important: If the pupil left your school for elective home education after the Spring census day on 15 January 2026, your request will be rejected.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- the date the pupil was removed from your school roll
- a copy of the notification your school sent to the local authority when the pupil was removed
- if applicable, an explanation of why the pupil was still on roll on the Spring census day on 15 January 2026
Not on roll at the time of January census
For independent schools and FE colleges with 14 to 16 provision, we allocate pupils to a school or college using exam data from awarding organisations and information from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR).
If we have incorrectly included pupils who are not on your roll, you can request to remove them from your school or college’s performance measures.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following evidence or your request will be rejected:
- evidence that the pupil was not on roll, for example if they were a private candidate
Permanently excluded from current school
If a pupil was permanently excluded before the Spring census day on 15 January 2026, you can request to remove them from your school’s performance measures.
You cannot use suspensions as a reason to remove a pupil from your school’s performance measures. In the legislation, a suspension is described as a fixed-term exclusion.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following evidence or your request will be rejected:
- proof of permanent exclusion
- date of permanent exclusion
- DfE number of the school the pupil went on to (if this is not known please use ‘0000000’ for the DfE number when requesting the pupil removal within the checking exercise portal)
- explanation detailing why the pupil was recorded on 2026 spring census day (15 January 2026), and, if applicable
- evidence of exclusion review outcome
Permanently left England
If a pupil has permanently left England and was removed from your school roll before the exam period, you can ask for them to be removed from your performance measures.
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- the country the pupil moved to
- the date they were taken off your roll (this must be before 7 May 2026)
- a copy of the notification you sent to the local authority confirming the pupil was removed from your roll
Social care involvement – including police or prison
You can ask us to remove a pupil from your school’s performance measures if their circumstances meet one or more of the situations below and you provide the required evidence.
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Social care involvement
You can request to remove a pupil if they have been involved in a recent or ongoing situation requiring social care support, and this has seriously affected their ability to access education (in person or online) or sit all their exams.
Reports from your school’s internal systems (for example, CPOMS) do not count as third party external evidence.
Evidence from social services or another relevant external agency must be dated in 2026 and before exams start. It must clearly show the pupil’s circumstances and how social services involvement affected their education (in school or online).
Evidence you must provide
You must provide all the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- external third party evidence from social services that shows how the situation seriously affected the pupil’s ability to access education (in person or online) or sit all their exams
- the evidence must be dated in 2026 before exams started on 7 May 2026
- this could include a social worker’s report or multi-agency meeting minutes
Police involvement
You can request to remove a pupil if they have been involved in a recent police situation and any restrictions have affected their ability to access education (in person or online), or to sit all their exams.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- a police report that shows what restrictions were put in place and how they prevented the pupil from accessing education (in person or online) or sitting all their exams
- any other evidence to support your request, for example how the situation affected the pupil, if applicable
Prison, remand or secure unit
You can request to remove a pupil if they have been detained in a prison, remand centre or secure unit for at least 4 months.
If the pupil was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, you must use the ‘life-limiting or critical illness’ category when you submit your request.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- external evidence from a prison, remand centre, secure unit, the Ministry of Justice or the police showing the dates the pupil was detained (these must total at least 4 months)
- if applicable, any other evidence to support your request, including details of restrictions put in place that prevented the pupil from accessing education (in person or online)
Life-limiting or critical illness
You must provide third party external medical evidence from a health professional.
A school or college’s own account is not enough.
We will reject requests that are only based on a pupil’s SEND status.
The evidence must meet the date requirements. If it does not, we will reject your request.
Your evidence must clearly show how the illness or injury affected the pupil and their ability to access education (in person or online).
Read the KS4 June pupil removal requests guidance for tips and examples.
Life-limiting illness
You can request to remove a pupil from your performance measures if they have a life-limiting illness.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- evidence from a medical professional confirming that the illness is life-limiting
Critical illness
You can ask us to remove a pupil from your school’s performance measures if they have a critical illness or condition that:
- has lasted, or is being investigated, for at least 12 months before KS4 exams start on 7 May 2026
- has seriously affected their ability to access education or sit all their exams
This could include needing an organ transplant or a severe and ongoing mental illness, such as psychosis or a condition requiring long-term in-patient care.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- evidence from a medical professional, dated in 2026 and before exams start on 7 May 2026, showing that the pupil has been unable to access education (in person or online) for prolonged periods or sit all their exams
- evidence from a medical professional confirming the pupil has had, or been under investigation for, a critical illness or condition for at least 12 months before KS4 exams start on 7 May 2026
In some cases, one piece of medical evidence may be enough if it includes all the information needed for points 1 and 2.
Recent life changing illness or injury
You can ask us to remove a pupil if they have a recent diagnosis of a life-changing illness or injury that has seriously affected their ability to access education (in person or online) or sit all their exams.
For example, this could include a cancer diagnosis or a limb amputation.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following evidence or your request will be rejected:
- evidence from a medical professional, dated in 2026 and before exams start on 7 May 2026, showing that the pupil has been unable to access education (in person or online) or sit all their exams
Pupil is pregnant or given birth
If a pupil is pregnant or has recently given birth, you must provide confirmation, for example a MAT B1 maternity certificate.
You must also provide a statement explaining how the pregnancy or birth affected the pupil’s ability to access education (in person or online) or sit all their exams.
Change a pupil’s year group
Important
Year 11 is the end of KS4. If you request to change a pupil’s year group to anything other than Year 11, they will no longer count as being at the end of KS4. This means they will be left out of your school’s 2025 to 2026 performance measures.
If you record a pupil aged 15 or over as being in Year 10, they will not count as being at the end of KS4 for your school’s 2025 to 2026 performance measures. However, they will be reported against your school’s results the following year under the ‘add-back’ rule.
If you request to change a pupil from Year 11 to Year 12 or above, we will check the records where they were previously counted as being at the end of KS4. This is because pupils cannot skip Year 11.
Evidence you must provide
If the year group changes to below Year 11, you must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- the year group the pupil should be moved to
- an explanation of why the year group needs to be changed
If the year group changes to above Year 11, you must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- the year group the pupil should be moved to
- the DfE establishment number of the school where the pupil was last recorded at the end of KS4
- any other evidence to support your request
Remove a pupil who has been added back
If a pupil has been added back to your school (with inclusion status code 403), you can request for them to be removed from your performance measures due to the following circumstances:
- Admitted from abroad with English not first language
- Pupil has died
- Permanently left England
If a pupil has been added back to your school for the ‘admitted from abroad with English not first language’ reason, their first admission to a school in England can be on or after 1 September 2022.
Completed KS4 studies this academic year in Year 11 at another school
If a pupil left your school and finished year 11 at another school, you can ask for them to be removed from your performance measures.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information or your request will be rejected:
- the DfE number of the school where accountability for the pupil should be transferred to
Alternative provision (AP) settings, such as pupil referral units, AP academies and some independent schools, do not have published performance measures.
This means the pupil’s results will count towards the last mainstream or non-hospital special school they were on roll at the Spring census on 15 January 2026.
Other
From 2026, you can use a new option to request for a pupil added back to your school this year to be removed.
Only use this option if:
- the pupil’s situation is not covered by the options above
- your school did not ask to change their year group during the June 2025 KS4 checking exercise
We will check our data to make sure this is correct before we decide on your request.
Evidence you must provide
You must provide the following information and evidence, or your request will be rejected:
- an explanation why you want to remove the pupil who has been added back to your school
- evidence to support your request, such as a permanent exclusion letter sent to the parent or carer, or a notification to the local authority confirming the pupil was removed from your roll