School preference data collections: guide to submitting data
How local authorities should submit data for the annual school preference collections.
Applies to England
Overview
The school preference data collections are statutory collections. You must complete statutory collections by law unless there’s a good reason not to.
These collections take place every year in March and April. They gather information about the total number of primary or secondary school places available in your area.
They also collect the following information about every child in your area:
- their parents’ preferences
- the school place offer they received
- some personal information - for example, their address and date of birth
The collections cover all schools that are part of your co-ordinated admissions process, including:
- academies
- free schools
- community schools (schools controlled by a local authority and not influenced by business or religious groups)
- foundation schools (schools where the governing body is the employer and admissions authority, and where the land and buildings are either owned by the governing body or by a charity)
- voluntary-controlled and voluntary-aided schools (schools established by a religious organisation, and partly or entirely funded by a local authority)
- special schools (schools for children with special educational needs or disabilities)
Important dates
The 2026 to 2027 collection deadlines are:
- secondary school national offer day: Monday 1 March 2027
- deadline for submitting secondary school data: Friday 5 March 2027
- primary school national offer day: Friday 16 April 2027
- deadline for submitting primary school data: Thursday 22 April 2027
You must base collections on the appropriate national offer day, but you have 5 days to make your submission.
Submit your data
You’ll need to:
- register and log in with DfE Sign-in
- use COLLECT to submit your data
Contact your school or local authority approver if:
- you want to request a DfE Sign-in username or password so you can access COLLECT
- ‘school preference data’ is not on the list of collections you can see in COLLECT
Get help using DfE Sign-in
If you do not know who your approver is, use the DfE Sign-in help form.
If you’ve forgotten your password, use DfE Sign-in to reset it. You will need to click ‘Start now’ and then the ‘I’ve forgotten my password’ link.
We’ll only be able to change the status of your data submission to ‘authorised’ once you’ve cleared all errors in the data in COLLECT.
Refer to the collection documents
Our guidance will help you complete the school preference collections:
Resolve questions or offer feedback
You can use the feedback form if you have any questions about your data or wish to make a comment about our data collection service, including about COLLECT and the helpdesk. We aim to respond within 5 working days.