A code for attendance at the free breakfast club, for pupils from Reception to Year 6 in participating schools.
SCHOOL DATA / ENGLAND · 29 AUGUST 2026
For parents, schools and readers who want to see the route taken by a new data field.
A breakfast code. Retained until retirement?
From autumn 2026, participating schools in England will record codes for attendance at the free breakfast club. The DfE privacy notice says a child’s information in the school-attendance collection is kept until state retirement age plus three years.
What the documents showThere is a field called “free breakfast club attendance code”, eight FBC codes, and a retention rule for the attendance collection. What they do not yet show: whether a daily breakfast history enters the same route and receives exactly the same retention.
DfE · 4 official documents archived · checked 29 August 2026 · review recommended by 31 July 2027
ROUTE RECEIPT / 01
One field
two documents
NEW FIELDFBC0–FBC7
forReception–Year 6
ROUTE A / DAILYMIS → Wonde → DfEschool-attendance collection
?the FBC link is not written explicitly
ROUTE B / CENSUSFBC0–FBC7 → spring 2027first period: 1 August–31 December 2026
RETENTION MENTIONEDretirement + 3 years
for the attendance collection; not proof for every FBC record
01 / THE FINDING
The documents meet on the subject, not the route
The privacy notice names the field. The census guide defines the codes. The retention rule belongs to the attendance collection. None of the four documents draws the complete arrow between them.
DfE says a child’s information in the school-attendance collection is kept until state retirement age plus three years, with annual review.
These documents do not show whether each daily FBC code travels through Wonde and remains as an individual history until that term.
02 / THE FIELD
Eight codes, not a score about a family
The census guide treats FBC as an attendance or club-closure code. The categories do not say whether a family is poor, and they are not free-school-meals codes.
| Code | Meaning | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| FBC0 | Did not attend | The default code for a pupil who did not attend |
| FBC1 | Attended | Attendance before the compulsory school day |
| FBC2 | Full closure | Because of staffing |
| FBC3 | Full closure | Because of premises |
| FBC4 | Full closure | For another reason |
| FBC5 | Partial closure | Because of staffing |
| FBC6 | Partial closure | Because of premises |
| FBC7 | Partial closure | For another reason |
Reproducible count: FBC0 through FBC7 inclusive means 8 codes. The sources used here contain no calculation that turns these codes into a child profile.
03 / THE ROUTE
Two public routes, one unwritten link
One document describes pupil-level daily attendance collection. Another gives schools the breakfast codes and their census return. The fact that both begin in autumn 2026 does not prove that they are the same upload.
A
DAILY COLLECTION
Attendance through MIS and Wonde
The privacy notice says DfE receives pupil-level attendance information from the school system each day through Wonde. The sharing guide also describes a weekly manual route for schools without a compatible MIS.
The breakfast code is not explicitly listed in the sharing guide.
B
CENSUS MODULE
FBC in the school return
The 2026–2027 guide asks participating schools to record attendance daily from autumn 2026. The first stated return, in spring 2027, covers 1 August–31 December 2026.
This is where FBC0–FBC7 and the programme boundary are defined.
?
The route question
Which document says the new FBC code enters the daily Wonde payload and receives exactly the same retention rule? The four archived sources do not contain it.
04 / TIME
“Retirement + 3 years” describes the collection, not each breakfast
The wording is long, but its scope matters more than the number. This page keeps the DfE limit intact and does not turn it into a promise about an FBC history.
NOTICE WORDINGuntil state retirement age + 3 yearsthe child’s information as part of the school-attendance collection
WHAT WE CAN SAY
DfE states this term for the attendance collection, with annual review and secure destruction when information is no longer needed.
WHAT WE CANNOT SAYWe cannot say that every FBC attendance has its own retention period, that it is kept as a daily diary, or that the older DPIA already approved the field.
05 / THE MISSING DOCUMENT
The public DPIA predates the field
The impact assessment linked from the DfE notice is dated September 2024. It helps describe the wider attendance collection, but it does not list the breakfast code.
SEP 2024Public DPIA
Describes daily collection for approximately 9 million eligible pupils and lists an attendance code, not “free breakfast club attendance code”.
AUG 2026DfE notice + FBC codes
The notice names the new field. The census guide defines its values and first return period.
2027First return
The spring return should show how the autumn period is submitted. It is not, by itself, proof of long-term retention.
The careful reading: an older DPIA is not proof that the new field is assessed or unassessed. It is proof that the public document linked here predates the field and does not enumerate it. The rest is a question for DfE.
06 / THE BOUNDARIES
What a code can and cannot tell you
A small label can become more sensitive when placed beside identifiers, attendance and other fields. That is why this page shows both the exact population and the things it leaves out.
FBC codes describe attendance or club closure in the schools and periods covered by the guide.
The codes are not presented as an income, free-school-meals or family-welfare indicator.
The sharing guide says information identifying a child is not shared publicly, and individual school figures are not published publicly.
England, participating programme schools, pupils from Reception to Year 6. Paid or non-programme clubs are outside this definition.
07 / THE NEXT DOCUMENT
Four questions would close the gap
A reader does not need invented certainty. They need to know which document would turn today’s comparison into a demonstrated route.
- 01Does the FBC code enter the daily Wonde payload?
The privacy notice names it; the sharing guide does not list it.
- 02Which document sets retention at field level?
The public rule is written for the attendance collection, not a list of breakfast visits.
- 03What happens to corrections and periods after the census return?
The guide shows codes and a period, not a public history of data versions.
- 04Is there an updated DPIA for the 2026 field?
The public document archived here is from September 2024 and does not list it.
08 / PROVENANCE
Four documents, one page that can be updated
The links go to the current official sources. The copies used for the build are archived locally and hash-checked. Review this page when the DfE notice changes, a new DPIA appears, or by 31 July 2027 at the latest.
Decisive sources
- Privacy notice: school attendance data collectionDfE · published 28 August 2026 · field, purpose, retention
- Complete the school census: data items 2026 to 2027DfE · updated 6 August 2026 · codes and periods
- School attendance data collection DPIAUK Government · September 2024 · older public assessment
- Share your daily school attendance dataDfE · updated 19 December 2025 · Wonde and public limits
Editorial receipt
- Geography
- England
- Checked
- 29 August 2026
- Calculation
- FBC0–FBC7 = 8 codes
- Limit
- Not legal advice and no child data
- Next review
- 31 July 2027 or on a public change
The honest answer today
Public documents show that a new field is coded and that the attendance collection has a retention rule. They do not yet show the complete route or field-specific retention for FBC history. That difference is the conclusion.