SEMS, GEMS and MYEE explained: what schools and trusts need to do before September 2026

School estate teams have three DfE acronyms to get to grips with before autumn 2026: GEMS, SEMS and MYEE. Each one has a separate job, but they form one approach to estate management across schools and responsible bodies in England.

The shortest explanation is:

• GEMS is the guidance. It explains the policies, records and routines behind good estate management.
• SEMS is the standard. It sets four levels, from baseline practice to advanced estate management.
• MYEE is the service. It brings DfE estate guidance, data and funding information into one place and hosts the SEMS annual return.

The first return opens in the third week of September 2026. Responsible bodies need to submit it by late November, so trusts, local authorities and dioceses have a short window to confirm where they stand.

GEMS: the practical guidance

Good estate management for schools (GEMS) is the DfE manual for people who oversee school buildings, grounds and infrastructure. It covers the work that sits behind a safe, sustainable estate, including:

• estate vision, strategy and asset management planning
• governance, budgets and procurement
• property records and condition data
• maintenance, health and safety
• sustainability and digital technology
• estate projects

GEMS does not use a four-level maturity model. It gives you the guidance, tools and checklists you need to put sound estate management into practice.

For example, GEMS says your organisation should hold an estate vision, an estate strategy and an asset management plan. Your board should agree those documents, and the plans should connect the premises you manage with your education strategy. GEMS also explains the records you should keep for property condition, statutory compliance, asbestos, running costs and land interests.

SEMS: the four-level standard

The DfE published the School estate management standards (SEMS) in 2025. SEMS turns the broad practice described in GEMS into a progression model.

The DfE expects schools to meet Level 1 and progress towards Level 3 Fully effective. Level 4 is optional. This makes Level 3 the useful target for most estate plans, while Level 1 provides the immediate baseline.

The levels build on each other. An organisation cannot treat a Level 3 activity as a substitute for missing Level 1 evidence. If your asset management plan has no board approval, for example, a strong dashboard will not repair that gap.

How GEMS guidance, the four SEMS levels and the MYEE service fit together

MYEE: the DfE service and route to the return

The DfE launched Manage your education estate (MYEE) in February 2026. People responsible for school and college premises can use the service to find guidance, view estate condition data and funding allocations, explore funding opportunities and read policy updates.

MYEE has no separate set of levels. It is the service through which responsible bodies access information and submit the SEMS annual return using DfE Sign-in.

The annual return starts in September 2026

The DfE published its SEMS annual return guidance on 17 July 2026. It confirms that the return:

• opens in the third week of September 2026
• closes in late November 2026
• uses multiple-choice questions
• requires no supporting document uploads
• does not affect the DfE funding your organisation receives

The return helps an organisation understand which SEMS levels it meets. It also gives the DfE a view of how responsible bodies apply the standards and where the sector may need support.

The responsible body submits, not each school

Eligible responsible bodies submit the return. This group includes local authorities, sixth-form colleges, single-academy and multi-academy trusts, and dioceses. Individual schools and nurseries do not submit their own returns.

That distinction creates an evidence task across both levels of an organisation. Each school holds much of the source information, from inspection records and condition findings to local maintenance work. The responsible body needs enough oversight to give one supported answer across its estate.

A trust with twelve schools, for example, needs to know whether each site has a current condition survey, who approved its estate plans and which statutory checks remain open. A folder for each school may hold the evidence, but it will not give the central team a reliable view before the submission window closes.

Keep evidence behind every answer

The multiple-choice format keeps the submission light. Your organisation still needs a sound basis for each answer.

Before the return opens, gather the records that show how your estate works in practice:

• current estate vision, estate strategy and asset management plan
• named estate responsibilities and board approvals
• up-to-date condition surveys with prioritised actions
• statutory inspection and compliance records
• maintenance plans, work records and open defects
• business continuity and estate risk information
• climate action plan and sustainability responsibilities
• dates, owners and review points for each record

Your evidence supports internal assurance even though the DfE does not ask you to upload it. A clear trail lets an estates lead answer with confidence, gives trustees or governors a basis for challenge, and turns gaps into a plan of work after submission.

A practical preparation plan

1. Establish your current SEMS level

Assess each area of SEMS against evidence you hold now. Use four internal statuses: met, partly met, not met and needs review. Record why you chose each status and who confirmed it.

2. Fix Level 1 gaps first

Level 2 and Level 3 build on the baseline. Prioritise missing statutory records, unclear accountability, out-of-date condition information and strategic documents without board approval.

3. Connect school evidence to the responsible-body view

Use the same questions and evidence fields across each school. A central team should be able to see the source record, its review date, the person responsible and any open action without rebuilding the answer in a new spreadsheet.

4. Keep the evidence live

Assign review dates and owners. Link a condition finding to the work that resolves it, then retain the completion record. Update plans when risks, priorities or investment decisions change.

5. Prepare the approver and DfE Sign-in access

Confirm who will review and submit the return. Check that the organisation and MYEE service appear in the right DfE Sign-in account before the third week of September.

The wider move towards structured estate data

The return is one part of the DfE's Education Estates Strategy. The department plans a national rollout of common data and digital approaches from autumn 2027, followed by two-way data sharing through MYEE by 2028.

Estate teams should prepare for that direction now. Structured records for sites, buildings, assets, surveys, risks and approvals will be easier to maintain and share than disconnected documents. The data should still point back to the evidence and the people who reviewed it.

How CalmCompliance can support SEMS preparation

CalmCompliance helps you connect the evidence behind an estate standard with the work taking place across your sites.

You can build SEMS as a custom standard, apply the same requirements across your estate and see status site by site. Requirements can draw on documents and acknowledgements, maintenance schedules, training records, risk assessments and premises information already held in the platform. You can also record a manual attestation where a requirement has no system evidence to draw on.

This gives your responsible body a working assurance view around MYEE. MYEE remains the place where you submit the return. CalmCompliance helps you organise the source evidence, find gaps and keep improvement work connected after the November deadline.

Try it Free or Book Demo to see how CalmCompliance can help you prepare for SEMS across one school or a multi-site estate.

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References

• Department for Education, Good estate management for schools, updated 3 July 2026.
• Department for Education, School estate management standards, updated April 2026.
• Department for Education, Manage your education estate, published 26 February 2026.
• Department for Education, School estate management standards annual return, published 17 July 2026.
• Department for Education, Education Estates Strategy: a decade of national renewal, published 11 February 2026.