Data Collections Non-Government Schools Census

In SchoolsHUB, you can submit your census data in 2 ways by either:

• using the Census Upload Tool to enter all at once
• manually entering data into each field.

To access census reporting:

Step 1: Open the SchoolsHUB homepage, click Sign in.

Step 2: Enter your email or username and password, click Sign in.

Step 3: Go to the SchoolsHUB user dashboard. On the Data collection progress table, click Non-government schools census 2025.

Step 4: The Non-government schools census 2025 will open on the My organisations tab. Next to this is the Data Upload tab.

Data Upload

To upload your data using our Census Upload Tool, click on the Data Upload tab. You will find a link to the tool under How to upload data. You can also find the tool in the Downloads section on this page.

Manual Reporting

To manually enter your data in each field, click on the school name you wish to report on and click Start.

Reporting zero students at a location

If you have an operational location but have zero students to report at 2025 census day, please contact Schools@education.gov.au for further instructions.

You must have an active SchoolsHUB account to access the census. Your account must have the appropriate access role, and must be linked to your location, school, diocesan office, system office, or approved authority.

The table below shows census roles available in SchoolsHUB. For SchoolsHUB access details, visit the Using SchoolsHUB help and support page.

The information collected in the census is different for each school or location. The below table outlines the information each organisation type will provide.

The census consists of the following data entry pages:

1. Contacts: you will confirm your school or campus location details and your contact details. You will also complete the acknowledgment of obligations.
2. Getting Started: you will provide some information specific to the school or campus location to make it easier to provide your census data.
3. Enter Data: you will provide your census data for staff, and for students by each year level. The combinations required are based on your answers at Getting Started.
4. Review: you will check your data entered is correctly recorded.
5. Declaration: you (or your approved authority representative) will then complete a legal declaration. This will confirm your school/location has provided accurate and complete data.

Note: The data entry pages shown will vary depending on your user access level. 

Legal obligations

You are required to complete the census under section 77 of the Australian Education Act 2013. Providing census data is an ongoing requirement for approved authorities of non-government schools. Failure to complete the census on time and through the requested channel may result in a delay to recurrent funding.

Continued failure to complete the census may lead to the department varying or revoking an approved authority’s approval.

Providing false or misleading census information to the Commonwealth is a serious offence and may result in prosecution under Section 137.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

Record keeping and Census post enumeration

Your approved authority must maintain records verifying the eligibility of all students reported in the census for a minimum of 7 years. This is a requirement under section 37 of the Australian Education Regulations 2023 (the Regulations).

Each year after the census, the department conducts the Census post enumeration (census PE) exercise to review a sample of schools’ census records. If the department selects a school for census PE, participation is mandatory under section 39 of the Regulations.

More information on census PE can be found in the About the Non-government schools census post enumeration exercise section of this page.

Privacy information

You must inform parents, guardians, staff and students (where appropriate) about the collection of information through the census and advise the Australian Government will collect and use certain information about your school, its staff and the student body as part of the census. A Privacy Notice is available on SchoolsHUB for this purpose. The privacy notice provides information on how we will handle any personal information collected in the census.

Any personal information collected in the census and NCCD is protected by law under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and any use or disclosure of that personal information must be in accordance with the Privacy Act, the Act and Regulations, and any other applicable laws.

Please refer to the relevant Privacy Notice for further information. For queries about privacy-related matters, email privacy@education.gov.au.

Eligible students

A student is eligible to be reported in a school’s census if they are a primary or secondary student (including overseas students) and meet all the following criteria set out in section 9B of the Regulations. That is the student:

• is enrolled at the school on census day (1 August 2025)
• is enrolled in a year level the school is approved to provide at that location
• has a pattern of regular attendance at the school, or at school generally, during the year
• attended the school for at least one day during the census reference period.

Do not report students who did not attend during the census reference period. You can apply to include these students in your final census count by submitting a special circumstance application.

Ineligible students

A student is ineligible to be reported in the census if they do not meet the criteria explained above.

Examples of situations where the department considers a student is ineligible to be reported in a school’s census; is where a student:

• is enrolled but did not attend for at least one day during the census reference period
• is enrolled, but did not attend or have a pattern of regular attendance at school generally during the year
• unenrolled or has permanently ceased attending the school location before census day
• is not enrolled at the school – for example, because they are not eligible to enrol at a school location based on relevant state and territory requirements or because they are on a visa which prohibits them from engaging in study as a condition of their visa
• does not have a pattern of regular attendance because:
  • they last attended the school location before census day and will not be returning for the year (including students not returning until the following year). The school may include a student if this is unclear at census time. However, the school should notify the department if the student does not return
  • they are on a visitor’s visa and receiving primary or secondary education for less than 6 months (or less than half the school year)
  • they are on exchange and receiving primary or secondary education for less than 6 months (or less than half the school year)
• did not receive primary or secondary education because:
  • they did not study school subjects (from foundation to year 12)
  • they did not study any school subjects and only participated in apprenticeships, English as a second language courses, TAFE courses, tertiary subjects, work placements, or a combination of such activities, or
  • they are participating in a foundation program that goes beyond 12 months. This includes students participating in the first 6 months of an 18-month foundation program. For more information, download the recurrent funding for foundation year fact sheet on SchoolsHUB.

Census special circumstance applications are for a student who did not attend during the census reference period and/or did not have a pattern of regular attendance but otherwise meets the census eligibility requirements. These students are individually assessed and considered against the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the census.

An application can be submitted for a student who:

• is enrolled at the school on census day (Friday 1 August 2025)
• is enrolled in a year level the school is approved to provide at that location, and either:
  • did not have a pattern of regular attendance at the school, or at school generally, during the year, and/or
  • did not attend the school for at least one day during the census reference period (for a student who did not attend for at least one day, equivalent to their usual full-time equivalent [FTE] during the census reference period).

Providing supporting documentation for each student is highly recommended to corroborate the details in the census special circumstance application.

When reviewing this documentation, the department seeks evidence that the student is currently, and will continue to be, engaged in education at the school for the year. While submitting these documents does not guarantee acceptance, it enables the department to make a more informed decision on the application.

All special circumstance applications and supportive documentation must be submitted via email by Friday 15 August 2025 to specialcircumstances@education.gov.au.

Full-time students

To include a student as full-time, they must be undertaking a full-time study load for the year level.

For example, if a student is attending school full time but only undertaking half the study load, they must be reported as 0.5 FTE. This includes students undertaking variable progression rate, extending completion of the year level over more than one year. 

Part-time students

A student who is not undertaking a full-time study load is to be counted at the fraction of the full-time study load which the student is undertaking. 

Part-time students must have an FTE between 0.1 and 0.9, rounded to the nearest decimal. 

TAFE, tertiary studies and alternative pathways activities

Students may be undertaking school-based subjects while also participating in alternative pathways, accredited by the state or territory as contributing to the relevant year level completion. That is, the alternate pathway is part of the approved curriculum for that year level. Alternative pathways may include:

• apprenticeships
• school-based apprenticeships
• traineeships
• TAFE courses
• university courses
• work placements.

A student completing an alternate pathway accredited by the state or territory as contributing to the relevant year level completion counts towards a student’s FTE.  

A student completing an alternate pathway not contributing to the relevant year level completion does not count towards a student's FTE and must be reported as a part-time student. 

Age

Student ages should be reported in the census as of 1 July 2025.

Gender

The Australian Government recognises that individuals may identify, and be recognised within the community as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth or during infancy or as a gender not exclusively male or female.

Options to report students are male (M), female (F) and indeterminate, intersex, or unspecified (X).

Indigenous students

Indigenous students are students of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who self-identify as and are acknowledged by the community in which they live as being of that descent.

Where parents have choose not to identify a student as being Indigenous or non-Indigenous, you must report these students as non-stated.

Options to report Indigenous students are yes (Y), no (N) and non-stated (N/S).

Day students

A day student is a student who attends school during school hours only. They are not engaged in distance education and are not accommodated in the school's residential facilities. 

Boarding students

A boarding student attends the school location for their schooling but is accommodated in the school’s residential facilities rather than staying with a parent or guardian.

Distance education students

Distance education students can only be reported at schools:

• that have been approved by the relevant state or territory for distance education (and have advised the department)
• where the state or territory provides funding to the school for distance education students (other than financial assistance provided to the state or territory for the school in accordance with the Act).

To be reported in the census, a distance education student must:

• reside in the state or territory in which the school is located
• not be approved as a home education student (home schooling) in accordance with the law of the state or territory in which the student resides, and
• not be an overseas student

A distance education fact sheet is available in the census download documents.

Students on visas

Students on visas are students who are not Australian citizens. This includes both permanent residents and New Zealand citizens.

Students who are not Australian citizens and who do not have a visa are eligible for inclusion in the census, provided the students meet all other census eligibility requirements. These students will attract Australian Government recurrent funding. As these students are not Australian citizens, when they are reported in the census, they should be reported in the students on visa count and not reported as overseas students.

Students on bridging visas

Where a student may present a bridging visa, the school must identify whether the bridging or substantive visa is in effect on census day and report the student based on the visa in effect. Use the Department of Home Affairs VEVO website to identify which visa is in effect on census day and retain evidence of the VEVO check.

Overseas students

Overseas students are students who are on a visa that permits them to travel to Australia to undertake education.

Overseas student visa subclasses include 500, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, and 575.

Overseas students do not include:

1. a dependent of a person who is receiving sponsorship or scholarship for the purpose of undertaking a course provided by an institution in Australia that:
   1. is a Table A provider or a Table B provider (within the meaning of the Higher Education Support Act 2003), and
   2. is meeting the full cost of the education component of the course.
2. a person who is undertaking a course of study provided by an institution or body in Australia under a student exchange program registered by the relevant education authority in the state or territory where the person is undertaking the program, or
3. a person, or a dependent of a person, who is receiving sponsorship or scholarship from the Commonwealth for the purpose of undertaking a course provided by an institution or other body or person in Australia. For more information on the type of visa a student is on, consult the Department of Home Affairs.

Can I report exchange students in the census?

Exchange students are students participating in a student exchange program (SEP) registered by the state or territory education authority. Students participating in a SEP are excluded from being ‘overseas students’.

To be eligible for the census, a SEP student must meet the census eligibility criteria.  

Examples of situations where the department considers a SEP student is ineligible to be included in the school’s census, is where a student is:

• on exchange and receiving primary or secondary education for less than 6 months (or less than half of the school year)
• on exchange and has completed their formal schooling in their own country.

The department collects data on students with disability using the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) model.

To be eligible for the census, students with disability must meet the census eligibility and the following criteria. That is the student:

• has a disability as defined in section 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (see appendix 4 of the NCCD Guidelines)
• has been provided with an adjustment(s) for a minimum of 10 weeks of school education (in the 12 months leading up to and including census day) to address the functional impact of a disability.

Schools must have documented evidence of the adjustments provided. For:

• examples of supporting evidence, see section C.5 of the 2025 NCCD Guidelines.
• guidance on what qualifies as 10 weeks of school education, refer to section C.3.1 of the 2025 NCCD Guidelines.

What information is reported for each student with disability?

In reporting students with disability, you will need to provide the department with the following information:

• disability category (see appendix 3 of the NCCD Guidelines)
  • physical
  • cognitive
  • social-emotional
  • sensory
• level of adjustment (see NCCD Quick Guide)
  • support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice (QDTP)
  • supplementary
  • substantial
  • extensive

Visit the NCCD portal for more information and resources. Useful information includes:

• NCCD Quick Guide
• examples of evidence to support reporting students with disability
• infographic explaining what it means to have 10 weeks of adjustments
• guide on selecting levels of adjustment.

Report staff employed or engaged on census day (Friday 1 August 2025).

Eligible Staff

• staff who work with students from foundation to year 12
• staff with an FTE greater than 0.1
• staff absent from their position for less than 4 weeks (excluding school holidays)
• emergency and casual relief staff (teaching or non-teaching) are only included in the census if they are employed in the position of a staff member who is absent for 4 continuous weeks or longer (excluding school holidays for teaching staff)
• staff employed under government-sponsored employment schemes.

Ineligible staff

• cleaners
• boarding staff
• tutors not employed by the school
• staff who only work outside regular school hours (for example, before or after school care).

Report staff according to their ‘major function’ rather than their type of appointment. If a staff member spends 70% of their time at work teaching and 30% on administration duties, report them under their ‘major function’ of teaching. Include a staff member in either the full-time or part-time only section of the staff tables.

Principal

A principal is a person nominated by the approved authority as being responsible for the overall control and administration of the school.

You may report different principals if your school has multiple campuses. If one principal works across multiple campuses, report the principal as part-time at each campus (total FTE must not exceed 1.0).

Teaching staff

Teaching staff impart the school curriculum and provide information and support services to students. Teaching staff spend most of their work time with students either in direct class contact or on an individual basis. These include:

• deputy principals
• teachers
• permanent relief teachers
• specialist subject teachers
• librarians
• chaplains imparting the school curriculum
• undergraduate students working as teaching staff.

Specialist support

Specialist support functions help students or teaching staff in developing the school curriculum. While these staff may spend most of their time in contact with students, they are not employed or engaged to impart the school curriculum. These include:

• student support services, such as career adviser or student counsellor or liaison officer
• educational development, such as staff and curriculum development
• school psychologists, guidance officers, social workers, pathway planning officer
• sports coordinator
• school nurse.

Building operations and other

Building operations, general maintenance and other staff are those involved in the care of buildings and grounds. These include those staff providing associated technical services and other janitorial staff. This includes:

• building or grounds maintenance staff
• technical services and general maintenance staff
• canteen staff
• IT support staff
• staff not included in other staffing categories.

Administrative and clerical

Administrative and clerical staff are responsible for the general administrative functions at the school. This includes:

• classroom assistants and teacher aides
• library assistants
• bursars/school administrators

Executive staff

Executive staff undertake senior administrative functions, broader than that of a single school. This can include regional directors, chief executive officers etc.

The executive staff option is only available for some approved system authorities or diocese offices. Report staff with similar functions at schools as administrative and clerical staff. Teaching staff should be reported at the location they are working at on census day and should not be reported at a system/diocese office.

How to report staff FTE (full-time equivalent)

Eligible staff with a full-time workload at the school location are reported as full-time staff. These staff have an FTE of 1.0.

Eligible staff with a less than full-time workload at the school location are reported as part-time staff. These staff have an FTE between 0.1 and 0.9.

The Census Upload Tool is an MS Excel document that contains macros. Macros are a series of commands used to automate and perform tasks that may otherwise take a significant amount of time. The Census Upload Tool uses macros to convert data from a format that is easy to enter and read into an XML file, which is the upload format that SchoolsHUB can accept.

To protect you from viruses, Excel will block all macros by default. After opening a file you trust, Excel gives you the option to enable macros for that document. If you try to use Census Upload Tool without first enabling macros, you will get an error message saying that the content is disabled.

When you open the file using:

• Excel 2010 or later, a yellow message bar should appear at the top of the page with a shield icon and an enable content button. Click Enable Content to allow macros to run in the Census Upload Tool
• older versions of Excel, a light blue message bar appears at the top of the page with a shield icon and a security warning. Click Options. A pop-up window will appear where you can select Enable this content and then OK.

If the warning bar does not appear when you open the document, you will need to update your macros settings manually. More information about enabling macros is available on the Microsoft support website.

Security settings at your school or office may prevent you from changing these settings yourself. Talk to your school’s IT professionals for assistance with enabling macros for the Census Upload Tool.

We're here to help. Please contact us if you have any queries.

Non-government schools census

For enquiries relating to census reporting, contact us by:

• calling 1800 677 027 (selct option 2)
• emailing schools@education.gov.au
• submitting a support request through SchoolsHUB.

SchoolsHUB Technical Support

For technical assistance, contact us by:

• calling 1800 677 027 (select option 1)
• emailing schoolsHUB@education.gov.au
• submitting a support request through SchoolsHUB.

Special circumstance applications

For enquiries relating to special circumstance applications, contact us by:

• calling 1800 677 027 (select option 2)
• emailing specialcircumstances@education.gov.au

• submitting a support request through SchoolsHUB.

NCCD students with disability

For further enquiries relating to NCCD, contact us by:

• emailing helpdesk@nccd.edu.au
• reading NCCD frequently asked questions
• emailing an NCCD key contact in the non-government schools sector.

The Census post enumeration (census PE) is an important component of the department’s Schools Funding Assurance Framework and is a validation exercise related to the annual Non-government schools census counts. The census PE checks if the information declared within a school’s census return is true and correct. The census PE is the department’s measure of accuracy of Australian Government recurrent funding payments, with the outcomes reported to the Australian National Audit Office. Approved authorities for schools selected in the census PE process are required to participate under the Regulations.

Using a nationally consistent approach, the department engages contractors to engage with selected non-government schools yearly via onsite visits and desktop reviews to verify the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of a school’s census return.

These contractors will have the authority to request access to the school premises, information and records relating to your school. If the approved authority for your school is selected to participate in the census PE process, then it will be required to participate by providing the contractor with certain requested information and records relating to the census and, if requested providing the contractor with access, at reasonable times and with prior notice, to the authority’s and the school premises.

Based on the records sighted, the contractors may recommend adjustments to a school’s census return. Contractor recommendations are assessed by the department before a decision is made as to whether to rely on them to adjust the school’s funding calculation.

Reports are prepared for all schools, detailing the outcome of the census PE process so schools can use the experience of the census PE to improve their administrative and reporting practices.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) provides the community and government with information about Australian school students who receive adjustments due to disability. Adjustments help a student with disability take part in education on the same basis as other students.

Information about students with disability (NCCD) is collected annually as part of census.

A school's approved authority must provide information for each student with disability that is reported in the census. This includes the student’s:

• level of adjustment
• broad category of disability.

Funding from the Australian Government for students with disability is based on the NCCD. NCCD data is also used to inform improvements to students with disability programs. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) annually publish high-level, de-identified NCCD data.

NCCD reporting is required under the Australian Education Regulations 2023. Non-government schools provide NCCD data in August each year.

Find out more about the NCCD.