TL;DR: DepEd's school records run on a standardized set of ten School Forms, SF1 through SF10, that public schools have used since DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014 replaced 16 older, inconsistent forms with a modified set of seven, later expanded to ten by DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 to cover Kindergarten, Senior High School, health and nutrition, and standardized permanent records. Each form has a specific purpose, from the enrollment register (SF1) to the permanent academic record (SF10, formerly Form 137). Parents mainly interact with just two: SF9, the report card, and SF10, the record needed for transfers and college applications.
Ask any Filipino public school teacher or registrar about "school forms" and they'll immediately think in terms of SF1 through SF10, the numbered records DepEd requires every school to keep. Most parents only ever encounter two of them, SF9 and SF10, but understanding the full set makes it easier to know what a school is legally required to have on file and why a registrar asks for a specific number instead of a form's old, informal name. This guide walks through what each of the ten forms actually covers, who's responsible for it, and when it's submitted, based on the DepEd Orders that established and expanded the system. For the two forms that matter most to families, see our dedicated guides to the SF9 report card and Form 137/SF10.
Where Did the SF1-SF10 System Come From?
The modern School Forms system traces to DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014, "Adoption of the Modified School Forms (SFs) for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools," which consolidated 16 older, inconsistent school forms into seven standardized ones, effective the end of School Year 2013-2014. The order's stated goal was to let "teachers and school heads focus on the core business of curriculum delivery" instead of managing overlapping paperwork.
Three years later, DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017, "Adoption of New School Forms for Kindergarten, Senior High School, Alternative Learning System, Health and Nutrition and Standardization of Permanent Records," expanded the set to cover Kindergarten and the newly introduced Senior High School levels, added a dedicated health and nutrition form, and standardized the permanent academic record format, filling out the system to the ten forms schools use today.
Disclaimer: form requirements and DepEd Order references can change; verify the current version of any specific form with your school's registrar or the relevant DepEd Order before relying on it for an official transaction.
The Complete List: What Each School Form Covers
Here's the full SF1-SF10 system in one table, covering what each form records, who typically prepares it, and roughly when.
| Form | Official Name | What It Records | Prepared By |
|---|---|---|---|
| SF1 | School Register | Every enrolled learner in a section, with basic identifying data | Class adviser/registrar, via the Learner Information System (LIS) |
| SF2 | Daily Attendance Report for Learners | Daily attendance per section | Class adviser |
| SF3 | Books Issued and Returned | Textbook distribution and returns | Librarian or subject teacher |
| SF4 | Monthly Learner's Movement and Attendance | Monthly enrollment changes (transfers in/out, dropouts) and attendance summary | Class adviser |
| SF5 | Report on Promotion and Level of Proficiency | End-of-year promotion, retention, and proficiency outcomes | Class adviser |
| SF6 | Summarized Report on Promotion and Level of Proficiency | School-wide summary of SF5 results | School head, after validating SF5 submissions |
| SF7 | School Personnel Assignment List and Basic Profile | Teaching and non-teaching staff assignments | School head/registrar |
| SF8 | Learner's Basic Health and Nutrition Report | Height, weight, BMI, and nutritional classification per learner | Class adviser or MAPEH teacher |
| SF9 | Report Card (formerly Form 138) | Grades per learning area, attendance, and conduct rating | Class adviser, each grading period |
| SF10 | Learner's Permanent Academic Record (formerly Form 137) | Complete academic history across all grade levels attended | Registrar, on enrollment and on request |
Some forms have level-specific versions. SF5, for instance, has separate Kindergarten (SF5-K) and Senior High School (SF5A-SHS, SF5B-SHS) variants, and SF10 comes in Elementary (SF10-ES), Junior High (SF10-JHS), and Senior High (SF10-SHS) formats to match how each level structures its curriculum and grading.
SF1-SF4: Enrollment and Attendance Records
These four forms track who's in school and when. SF1 (School Register) is generated through DepEd's Learner Information System once a learner is officially enrolled and lists every student in a given section with identifying information like their Learner Reference Number (LRN). SF2 (Daily Attendance Report) logs daily presence and is mainly used as a cross-check against SF1, SF4, and SF5 if attendance numbers don't line up. SF3 tracks textbook issuance and return, a purely internal school-resource record. SF4 consolidates monthly movement, meaning new enrollees, transfers, and dropouts, alongside a monthly attendance summary, and feeds into the division-level enrollment statistics DepEd publishes each year.
None of these four are something a parent typically requests directly; they're internal school and division records used for planning, resource allocation, and compliance reporting rather than documents issued to families.
SF5-SF7: Promotion, Proficiency, and Personnel
SF5 (Report on Promotion and Level of Proficiency) is the form that determines, at the end of the school year, whether each learner is promoted, retained, or requires remedial work, based on final grades under the current grading system. SF6 rolls every section's SF5 results up into a school-wide summary, prepared by the school head after validating each adviser's submission. SF7 is a separate, staffing-focused form listing teaching and non-teaching personnel and their current assignments, used for HR planning rather than anything learner-facing.
These three forms rarely reach parents directly, but SF5's promotion decision is what ultimately determines a child's grade placement for the following school year, the same underlying decision reflected on the year-end SF9 report card.
SF8: The Health and Nutrition Form Parents Rarely See
SF8, the Learner's Basic Health and Nutrition Report, records each student's height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and resulting nutritional classification (such as normal, wasted, or overweight), typically completed at the beginning and end of the school year by the class adviser or a MAPEH teacher. It feeds into DepEd's national nutritional-status monitoring and, at the school level, can flag students who may need a feeding program or referral. It's not a form parents request or receive automatically, unlike SF9 or SF10, though schools may share nutritional-status results with parents informally, particularly for feeding-program enrollment.
SF9 and SF10: The Two Forms Parents Actually Deal With
Of all ten forms, only two routinely land in a parent's hands.
SF9, formerly Form 138, is the report card: it shows a numeric final grade per learning area for the grading period, an attendance summary, and a separate conduct rating. It's issued directly to the learner's parent or guardian at the end of each grading period, and its release schedule follows the school's current calendar structure. See our full SF9 guide for how grades map to descriptors and what a promotion or retention notation means.
SF10, formerly Form 137, is the learner's complete academic record from Kindergarten onward. Unlike SF9, it isn't handed out routinely; it's requested when a student transfers schools, applies to college, or needs proof of educational history for something like a visa application. For public-school transfers, the receiving school requests it directly from the sending school through the Learner Information System rather than the parent hand-carrying it. Our Form 137/SF10 guide covers the request process, typical turnaround times, and when a school can legally withhold release over unpaid fees.
Do Private Schools Use the Same Forms?
DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014 and DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 mandate the modified school forms for public elementary and secondary schools and Alternative Learning System centers specifically. Private schools are encouraged to adopt the same standardized forms but aren't bound by the same mandate in identical terms, since private institutions operate under DepEd's separate Manual of Regulations for Private Schools. In practice, most private schools use equivalent internal recordkeeping and will still issue an SF9-equivalent report card and an SF10-equivalent permanent record on request, since students frequently transfer between public and private schools and need records that a receiving school of either type can read.
Practical Tips for Dealing With School Forms
- Know your child's Learner Reference Number (LRN). It's the identifier tying together SF1, SF4, SF5, SF9, and SF10 for that student across their entire schooling; keep it recorded, not just remembered.
- Ask for SF9 by name if a school uses "report card" loosely. Some schools still say "card" informally; confirming it's the SF9 format ensures you're getting the DepEd-standard version with the correct grade descriptors.
- Start an SF10/Form 137 request early. If you're transferring schools or applying to college, initiate the request well before a deadline, since processing can take anywhere from a few weeks to a full grading period.
- Don't confuse SF5 with SF9. SF5 is the internal promotion report a school files with DepEd; SF9 is the report card a parent actually receives. They reflect related decisions but are different documents.
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Sources
- DepEd — DO 4, s. 2014, Adoption of the Modified School Forms (SFs) for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
- DepEd — DO 58, s. 2017, Adoption of New School Forms for Kindergarten, SHS, ALS, Health and Nutrition, and Standardization of Permanent Records
- TeacherPH — General Reminders on the Preparation and Checking of School Forms
- TeacherPH — School Form 8: Learner's Basic Health and Nutrition Report
- SchoolFinderPH — SF9 Report Card Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — Form 137/SF10 Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Grading System Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — LRN Philippines Guide
