Overview

The Common Transfer File (CTF) module is used to import and export pupil data. The data content of the CTF file is set by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Welsh Government (WG) respectively.

The CTF module is required as part of the statutory requirements, as specified by the DfE and the WG.

The Common Transfer File module provides different focuses to allow the user to process the data received from schools in XML format. These are:

• Student
• Bases
• Data Store
• Upload
• Import
• Export

The CTF functionality is ONLY used to transfer student information between Schools and Local Authorities and Local Authority to Local Authority.

XML Structure

The XML structure is accessible as a PDF and in some cases, a Microsoft Excel spread sheet via the following link to the DfE website:

            Common Transfer File

Details of Welsh only data items are available on the DEWi website:

            DEWi website

The structure of the filename follows the form as shown below, when exported:

            820LLLL_CTF_8201234_001.xml

Where:

• 820 is the number of the sending LA.
• LLLL indicates that the sender is the Local Authority and not a school.
• 820 is the LA Number of the receiving school.
• 1234 is the DfE number of the receiving school.

The last 3 digits are incremental. Therefore, if a second or third file is created for the same destination, it would end in _002.xml or _003.xml respectively.