The SEMS annual return opens this month. Download the free guide to all 28 questions
The first School Estate Management Standards annual return opens in the third week of September 2026 and closes in late November.
It's 28 multiple-choice questions, nothing gets uploaded, and [this time] it doesn't affect funding. But the information behind the answers — condition surveys, energy data, maintenance plans — takes longer to gather than the form takes to fill in.
This free guide walks through every question: what it's really asking, what evidence to check before you answer, and which level of the standards each one relates to.
Every question decoded — what it is really asking, in plain English
Evidence to check before answering — and where it already lives
Which level of the standards each question relates to