Autumn 2016 User Group SIMS Updates Craig Allen Scomis Consultant - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Autumn 2016 User Group SIMS Updates Craig Allen – Scomis Consultant craig.allen@devon.gov.uk

Admissions - 1 Updated ATF Version Routines | Admission | Import ATF File • It is now possible to import version 12.0 or 13.0 ATF files. • Additional Information Included in an ATF Import Routines | Admission | Import ATF File • Country of Birth, Proficiency in English and Nationality information is now included in an ATF import.

Admissions - 1 Additional Information Included in Applicant Details Focus | Admission | Application • It is now possible to view and edit the Country of Birth of an applicant. • Schools in England can now view and edit Proficiency in English information of an applicant. 3

AMPARKA Enhancements for the SIMS 2016 Autumn Release • The Assessment Manager and Performance Analysis Resource Kit (AMPARK) provides a set of resources for use with SIMS Assessment. • This kit has been updated for the SIMS 2016 Autumn Release. 4

Assessment - 1 Customising the Programme of Study Gradeset to Correspond with School Policies • Focus | Assessment | Programme of Study Management | Managing Grades • It is now possible to amend the Programme of Study gradesets so that the colours, grades and grade descriptions displayed correspond with your school's internal Assessment policies. 5

Assessment - 2 Selecting Years 10 and 11 in Programme of Study Tracking Entry Focus | Assessment | Programme of Study Tracking Entry • It is now possible to select years 10 and 11 from the Selection Parameters panel, enabling the recording of achievements against user-defined statements for these years and the tracking of a student's assessment results at Key Stage 4. 6

Attendance - 1 Additional Persistent Absence Report Reports | Attendance | Whole Group Pupil (or Student) Reports • The new Persistent Absence Report – Student Threshold report enables schools to understand persistent absence, so that their figures can be compared with national figures and benchmarks. • The report provides a list of pupil/students who are persistently absent (based on a chosen percentage, e.g. 10%), as well as overall figures about the number of pupil/students absent in school, and that figure as a percentage of the school population, in line with current DfE guidance. 7

Attendance - 2 • The calculations that the DfE use to analyse persistent absence have changed and this report reflects those calculations. Persistent absence is now based on a possible number of sessions for each pupil/student, rather than being based on a standardised number of sessions within school. • This helps to identify pupil/students who are not due in school full-time, such as dual registered pupil/student. The original report is still available, to enable schools to compare their figures from previous years with national calculations. • These changes in calculation do not affect school report, which will remain as it has been 8

CTF - 1 Additional CTF Security Message Routines | Data In | CTF | Import CTF Routines | Data Out | CTF | Export CTF • A security message has been added to the Import and Export Exception Logs because they may contain confidential pupil/student information. Enhancement to Exam Results CTF Import Routines | Data In | CTF | Import CTF • When importing exam results via CTF from a school that has not been recorded in SIMS, an indirect feeder school record is created in Tools | Other Schools. 9

CTF – 2 Enhancement to Import of Contact Titles • Routines | Data In | CTF | Import CTF • If a contact title does not exist in the Title lookup, the title is no longer imported in a • CTF. Instead, an entry is created in the Exception Log. 10

FMS - 1 Automatic Posting of Consolidated Journal after a Failed BACS Run • Where the link between Agora and FMS has been configured, any failed BACS settlement transactions will now post a consolidated journal automatically. FMS will now receive both the settlement and failed settlement transactions. 11

FMS - 2 New Detailed Cost Centre Transaction Report Reports | New Reports | General Ledger | Transactions | Detailed Cost Centre Transaction Report • A new report has been provided based on the original Cost Centre Transaction report. • Additional enhancements have been made, enabling the report to be focussed on a selected fund and the associated summary information. The summary information accurately reflects the fund choice and the nature of the columns has also been improved. • The default layout selection has been set to Print Layout, and an Expand/Collapse Layout is also available, if required. 12

Home Page Viewing and Changing the Current Academic Year Focus | Home Page • The current academic year is now displayed adjacent to the Quick Search field on the SIMS Home Page. • The current academic year can be changed by clicking this label to display the Select Academic Year dialog. This mirrors the functionality provided via Tools | Academic Management | Set Academic Year. 13

Reporting Additional Checks Included in the OFSTED SCR Report Reports | Run Report • Prohibition from Teaching and DBS check information are now included in the OFSTED SCR (Single Central Register) pre-defined report (via Focus | Staff in the reporting dictionary). The values are also presented when running a report that includes the Checks field. Enhancements to the Reporting Dictionary for Applicants Reports | Design Report • It is now possible to include the Country of Birth field when designing an applicant report. • For Maintained schools in England, it is now possible to include the Proficiency in English field when designing an applicant report. 14

School Census Spring 2017 Return Key Dates for the School Census Spring 2017 Return Routines | Statutory Return | School Census • Census date is 19/01/2017 • Attendance collected from the start of the Autumn term (e.g. 01/09/2016) to • 31/12/2016 • Exclusions collected from 28/03/2016 to 31/08/2016 • Free School Meals collected from 07/10/2016 to 19/01/2017 • Learner Support collected from 01/08/2016 to 19/01/2017. 15

Data Items New to the Spring Return Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student) Details • The following new data items (recorded in the Ethnic/Cultural panel) are collected in the School Census Spring 2017 Return: • Nationality • Country of Birth • Proficiency in English. • The UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number), which is displayed below the address details in the Addresses panel once the address has been selected and validated, is also collected in the Spring return. • The following data items are collected for the first time for Nursery schools: • First Language • Ethnicity. 16

Data Items Removed from the Census Focus | School | School Details - Address panel Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student) Details - Welfare panel • The following data items are no longer collected for the return: • School Address • In Care for exclusions. School Address Details Routines | Statutory Return | School Census • The school address is no longer collected for the return and has been removed from the School Information panel. 17

Childcare Information Routines | Statutory Return | School Census Focus | School | School Details • One record for each of the four childcare types is required by the DfE, even if that childcare type is not provided. Therefore, the way in which childcare is recorded has been updated. • The Childcare panel now displays a separate row for each of the four childcare types. • The Update Childcare Details dialog now includes the following changes: • Site has been renamed On Site, with a choice of Yes and No available for selection from the drop-down list. • A new field is available for Notes, if required. 18

Please note that the information recorded in School Details for School Census Spring 2016 is incompatible with the requirement for School Census Spring 2017, so the details default to blank for all schools. Therefore, all schools must enter the information ready for School Census Spring 2017. This means that even schools completely uninvolved with childcare will need to fill in eight items of information to indicate this position 19

Early Years Pupil Premium Eligibility (EYPPE) Routines | Statutory Return | School Census • The Early Years Pupil Premium Eligibility (EYPPE) has been separated from Hours at Setting and Funded Hours information, so that the correct cohorts are displayed for each of the data items collected in the return (three and four year olds only are considered for EYYPE, whereas funded hours also includes two year olds). • The Early Years panel now includes a second grid that deals with Early Years Pupil Premium Eligibility. 20

Adopted from Care Renamed Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Post Looked After Arrangements Routines | Statutory Return | School Census • Adopted from Care is now known as Post Looked After Arrangements; the user interface has been updated accordingly. Related column headers (e.g. in reports) are displayed as PLAA. 21

Admission Appeals Routines | Statutory Return | School Census • The original Admissions Appeals panel has been split into three separate panels: • Infant Admissions Appeals • Primary Admissions Appeals • Secondary Admissions Appeals. • The panels displayed depend on your school phase. 22