diff --git a/pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-ees/tap_uk_ees/tap.py b/pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-ees/tap_uk_ees/tap.py
index 9f550c2..fa6031f 100644
--- a/pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-ees/tap_uk_ees/tap.py
+++ b/pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-ees/tap_uk_ees/tap.py
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ class EESDatasetStream(Stream):
         with zf.open(target) as f:
             df = pd.read_csv(f, dtype=str, keep_default_na=False, encoding=self._encoding)
 
+        # Strip UTF-8 BOM from column names (some DfE files have a BOM on the first column)
+        df.columns = df.columns.str.lstrip("\ufeff")
+
         # Filter to school-level data if the column exists
         if "geographic_level" in df.columns:
             df = df[df["geographic_level"] == "School"]