Important: Please check your Student and Activity records for the upcoming KS4 and KS5 Attainment Track extract

Last month, we asked members to ensure all Activity and Student data for the most recent academic year (2024/2025) is checked and cleaned by the end of October. Now that this data entry and data cleaning time period is drawing to an end, we are preparing for the next KS4 (GCSE) and KS5 (A-level or equivalent) Track extract for the 2025 Exam Year.

As per our previous Summer Data Cleaning 2025 Data Update, there is one fixed deadline by which all data must be entered onto the database to be included in the HEAT Track, which is Friday 28th November 2025.

After this date, the Data Team will extract any eligible Students who took their KS4 and KS5 exams in 2025, and the Activities they participated in, and send these to the Department for Education (DfE) for tracking. Once the DfE have linked the Student data, they will share it with us via the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS), where we will then prepare your KS4 and KS5 Attainment Track datasets to be used with our tracking dashboards. This involves combining the linked data from the DfE with activity participation data taken from the HEAT database and aggregating it to Descriptor, Programme Title and Activity Type levels for your organisation.

Important note on the Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 Track

The 2025 Exam Year data extract will take place only once. This means that once we have extracted the eligible Student and Activity data from the database after Friday 28th November 2025, the data becomes static and any changes made on the database to your organisation’s Student or Activity records will not be reflected in your datasets for the 2025 exam cohort as the deadline will have passed.

KS4 2025 Exam Year Cohort Tracking Criteria and Timeline

For Students to be included in the KS4 2025 Exam Year extract, they must meet all of the following criteria:

• They were expected to have sat their KS4 (GCSE) exams in Summer 2025 based on their Date of Birth
• They have a ‘Complete’ record and ‘Permission to Track’ = Yes
• They are attached to an Outreach/Partnership Activity while in Year 7 to Year 11

You can view the Student records that currently fit the Student data criteria above via the filter search link for your KS4 Students (members only). To check which Students meet the Activity data criteria, we recommend you run a Student Export including Activities and filter for Outreach/Partnership activities delivered in the relevant Academic Years for possible pre-16 outreach.

The image below shows the timeline for the KS4 2025 Exam Year Cohort:

KS5 2025 Exam Year Cohort Tracking Criteria and Timeline

For Students to be included in the KS5 2025 Exam Year extract they must meet all of the following criteria:

• They were expected to have sat their KS5 (A level or equivalent) exams in Summer 2025 based on their Date of Birth or based on their Expected HE Entry Year (if not calculated based on their Date of Birth)
• They have a ‘complete’ record and Permission to Track = Yes
• They are attached to an Outreach/Partnership activity delivered in 2023/24 or 2024/25 (while in Years 12 and 13 or equivalent)

You can view the Student records that currently fit the Student data criteria above via the filter search link for your KS5 Students (members only). Please note that the search link uses the Date of Birth criterion only, but filters can be changed to Expected HE Entry Year of 2025 if required. To check which Students meet the Activity criteria, we recommend you run a Student Export including Activities and filter for Outreach/Partnership activities delivered in the relevant Academic Years for possible post-16 outreach.

The image below shows the timeline for the KS5 2025 Exam Year Cohort:

Information Information to Check: 

• Please make sure that you are happy with the Student records that we will be sending to the DfE on your behalf
• Please ensure that the ‘Descriptor’ and ‘Programme Title’ fields on relevant Activity records are populated in line with your organisation’s typology and evaluation objectives
• Please ensure that the records for any Comparison and Control groups have also been added to relevant Activity via the ‘Evaluation Group’ field

Tracking and Retention

Please note that we will not be sending Students for tracking which are classified as ‘Expired’ and who have moved into the database Retention Tool. Please see our recent Data Update regarding the Important Upcoming Student Retention Deadline for further information and guidance on the Student Retention Tool.