The CensusAtSchool Project is an online survey that the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) established in 2000 in conjunction with the Office for National Statistics and was linked to the UK population census of 2001.  Since then, a new phase of questionnaire has been launched each year and the RSSCSE now has databases comprising over a million lines of data responses from learners in the UK and overseas. Samples from these databases can be downloaded and you can use them in your classroom.

For more details please view ‘What is CensusAtSchool?’ or read on for more information on the 2011 Census and the 2011 CensusAtSchool project.

The 2011 CensusAtSchool Project

The next National Census is on 27 March 2011.  The RSSCSE is again teaming up with the ONS to run a CensusAtSchool Project in England and Wales and to celebrate this we have launched our new look website. The aims of the 2011 CensusAtSchool project are to:

• help improve the statistical literacy of school aged learners;
• provide teachers with real data and free resources that use statistics across the curriculum;
• raise awareness about the need for and importance of population censuses.

Getting involved

There are three ways in which your school can get involved in the 2011 Census AtSchool Project:

• register your school and take part;
• enter the 2011 CensusAtSchool national competition;
• become a Champion School and lead the project in several schools in your area.

Prizes for 2011 CensusAtSchool National Competition include:

• Netbooks;
• one-year subscriptions to the journal Teaching Statistics;
• mathematics and statistics software;
• travel and subsistence to attend CensusAtSchool workshops;
• opportunities for continuing professional development by working with the RSSCSE;
• possible Royal Statistical Society recognition in its 10-year statistical literacy campaign;
• 10% off the course fee for the Certificate inTeaching Statistics up to Pre-university Level.

Read more, go straight to registration or find the champion school nearest you.

Q1 What do I get if I register for the 2011 CensusAtSchool Project?

All schools who register on the 2011 CensusAtSchool website will receive:

• the right  to take part in the 2011 CensusAtSchool National Competition;
• the right to apply to be a champion school.

Q2 What are the benefits for my school when we register and take part?

• Receive a free Starter Pack with instant lessons
• Take part in a project accessible to all learners
• See opportunities for attaining all 6 strands of Key Skills
• Improve data handling skills of school aged learners
• Ideas for investigations - for example, for the new Project, Extended Project or GCE
• Download free cross-curricular teaching resources
• Integrate ICT into lessons with online questionnaires
• Involve learners in collecting real data
• Have the opportunity to involve parents/carers/guardians in their children’s learning
• Access real data for use in your classroom
• Compare your own school’s data with others nationally and internationally
• Receive a monthly 2011 CensusAtSchool newsletter
• Activities with ideas for taking part in the BBC News School Report project.
• Have the opportunity of becoming a Champion School for 2011 CensusAtSchool

Q3 What is the 2011 CensusAtSchool National Competition? 

Schools that take part in the project and who wish to enter the competition are asked to:

1. get as many learners in their school as possible to complete the Phase 10 CensusAtSchool online questionnaire;
2. encourage their learners to ask a parent, guardian or carer to answer 6 very short questions that will also be entered into the online questionnaire;
3. produce an electronic poster (A1 size) on how the CensusAtSchool project was organised in their school, on some CensusAtSchool results or their school's results or on some aspect of censuses (eg the history of the census; family trees).

Q3a How can a school win the competition? 

At the end of February 2011 for each school that enters the competition, within Wales and each of the 9 Regional Development Agency (RDA) regions in England:

• the number of completed questionnaires will be calculated as a percentage of the total school roll;
• the posters produced will be judged and awarded a score;
• the percentage and the score will be combined.

The winning schools will be those with the highest scores.  Should there be a tie the school with the highest percentage of parents, guardians or carers who have completed the extra six questions will win.