SIMS End of Year Procedures: Pastoral Processes IN17-E039

Transcription

1 SIMS End of Year Procedures: Pastoral Processes IN17-E039 Action Level: Severity Level: Deadline: Required High 31/08/2017 Audience: Attention of: Region: Primary / Secondary / Special / All-through / PRUs Applies to: SIMS System Manager, Headteacher Kent / Medway / Bromley / Bexley / East Sussex / Suffolk Article Type: Hosted Schools Yes Non-Hosted Schools Yes Tools & Resources Summary EIS have produced documentation to assist schools with completing the End of Year Procedures, required by all schools. IMPORTANT It is essential that ALL schools take regular backups throughout these procedures. This applies to hosted and non-hosted schools. It is recommended to take a System Manager backup before starting each new section in the notes; otherwise if databases are restored to the previous day (from the overnight backup), all work completed across all SIMS modules since the last backup was taken, will be lost. The EOYP must be completed before the start of the new Academic Year. Failure to complete this on time can cause multiple complications in your SIMS database once the new Academic Year has started. It is good practice to start these processes as soon possible and can be completed in stages if preferred schools do not need to try to complete the entire procedure in one step. Document Control: Created on: 22/12/2016 Expiry date: 30/09/2017 Updated on: 24/05/2017 Any amendments to this document are outlined below: Page Paragraph Detail 12 End Note Additional note 43 Note Additional note and screenshot Important Note Author: SIMS-EA/JW/AC Additional notes on defining an individual Promotion Path for pupils being taught out of year Shepway Centre Oxford Road Maidstone Kent ME15 8AW Service Desk: Sales & Enquiries: Fax:

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Support Videos... 4 Checklists... 5 Defining the New Academic Year... 6 Identify the Dates for the New Academic Year... 6 Academic Year/Term 1 Start Date... 6 Define the School Working Week... 7 Define the School Terms... 8 Define Half Term Holidays... 9 Define Teacher Training Days Define Public Holidays Create the New Academic Year Administer Staff Changes Add New Staff to Personnel Define the Pastoral Structure Pastoral Structure Types Adding New Year Groups (Optional) Setting Up Additional Registration Groups Defining Different Registration Group Names Changing from a Vertical to a Horizontal Structure Changing from a Horizontal to a Vertical Structure Changing Registration Tutors assigned to Classes Administer Existing Pupils Add End Dates for Part-time Pupils Preparing Leavers for Census Record Leavers Define the Promotion Mapping Routine Setting the Promotion Path Setting Individual Promotion Paths Managing Intake Groups Making Historic Intake Groups Inactive Set Admission Defaults to Multiple/Single Admission Groups Create an Intake Group Creating Single or Multiple Admission Groups Import/Export ATFs and CTFs Importing ATFs Defaults for the CTF Import/Export Screen Importing Common Transfer Files (CTFs) Export Common Transfer Files (CTFs) Other CTF Information (April/2017) EIS

3 Administer Applicants Creating an Applicant Record Manually Editing Existing Applicant Records Accept Applicants Allocate Applicants to Registration Groups Printing Registration Group Lists Printing Registration Group Lists for the New Academic Year Administer Attendance Printing Registers for the First Week of Term Enter Reasons for Absence for the Current Year Other SIMS Module Processes Dinner Money SIMS Partnership Xchange SIMS Learning Gateway Routines after the New Academic Year has Started Admit Applicants and Issue UPNs Readmitting Pupils The Official Register for the Previous Academic Year General SIMS Housekeeping Updating the Pupil Premium Indicator Selected Academic Year in SIMS APPENDIX A Creating Backups of SIMS & FMS Manual Backup of the SIMS Database Manual Backup of the FMS Database APPENDIX B Defining different House Names in SIMS (April/2017) EIS

4 Introduction This document outlines the steps that should be followed to enable a successful transition from one Academic Year to another. It is applicable to schools with or without a timetable, and deals specifically with Pastoral Processes; this includes defining the new Academic Year, making changes to the Pastoral Structure, promoting pupils to their new Year and Registration Groups, assigning different teachers to Registration Groups for the registers, and entering applicants into SIMS. Schools with a timetable should also refer to Information Notice 17-E041 - SIMS End of Year Procedures: Curriculum Processes. WARNING: You must complete these procedures before the start of the new Academic Year. It is critical that the new Academic Year is created and promotion routines run before the old year ends. These processes determine the Year Groups and Registration Groups into which pupils/students are placed in the new Academic Year. We therefore suggest that these processes are started as early as possible, allowing sufficient time to complete before the start of the new Academic Year. Do not leave this until the start of term in September as the promotion process which happens automatically at the beginning of the new Academic Year, will not take place if these processes have not been followed. (Pupils/students will not even move up a year if the above steps have not been completed.) Note: Where Pupil is referenced in these notes (in Menu Routes or general instructions), schools with a secondary database will see the term Student instead. Also where there is reference to EOYP this stands for End of Year Procedures. Important Stages Schools can complete the EOYP at their own pace and various stages can be completed at different times, and in the order most appropriate for them. However, certain steps must be completed in the right order for the other sections to function correctly Define the Academic Year Decide on your class names (EIS recommend that they are not named after staff members) and complete the Pastoral Structure, before carrying out the Promotion Mapping. Personnel records must be created for new staff members in SIMS before trying to add them to their new Registration Groups (and make them appear in the registers for September.) Intake groups need to be set up before entering applicants into SIMS applicants can be added before the new Academic Year is defined, as early as convenient for each school. (April/2017) EIS

5 Permissions required Users who are members of the School Administrator and Admissions Officer permissions groups in System Manager can carry out all the functions in this document. To carry out the functions for Administering Staff Changes, users will need to have the Personnel Assistant permission group assigned this section may need to be actioned by the member of staff responsible for Personnel if users are unable to have this group assigned. Please consult your SIMS System Administrator if you are unsure whether you have the required permissions. If System Administrators are concerned about elevating members of staff s SIMS rights, it is possible to assign an end date when allocating groups, so they would only have access to these other areas for a limited time. Creation of SIMS and FMS Backups It is essential that ALL schools take regular backups throughout these procedures. This applies to hosted and non-hosted schools. It is recommended to take a System Manager backup before starting each new section in the notes; otherwise if databases are restored to the previous day (from the overnight backup), all work completed across all SIMS modules since the last backup was taken will be lost. Refer to Appendix A: Create Backups of SIMS/FMS for information on how to create backups. Where to find more Information You can find other support materials on the EIS Support Portal, and from the Handbooks available in the SIMS Documentation Centre (accessible from the SIMS Home Page.) To access the SIMS Documentation Centre: 1. Navigate to Focus Home Page. 2. Click the Documentation button near the top-right corner. 3. From the menu bar, click on Handbooks. Here you will find a list of Handbooks produced by Capita for a variety of SIMS modules. These are referred to later on in this Documentation, within the Other SIMS Modules section. Support Videos Where appropriate, reference is made to support videos which demonstrate how to carry out the process in SIMS. These videos can only be accessed via an electronic copy of this Information Notice. (April/2017) EIS

6 Checklists Complete Routines to be carried out BEFORE the new Academic Year has started Define new Academic Year Administer Staff Changes Pastoral Structure Changes Administer Existing Pupils Promotion Mapping Routine Manage Intake and Admission Groups Import and Export ATF/CTF Files Administer Applications Print Registration Group Lists Administer Attendance Other SIMS Module Processes Complete Routines to be carried out AFTER the new Academic Year has started Admit Applicants / Issue UPNs Readmit Pupils Print the Official Register Add 'Not Required' codes - Non-statutory aged pupils only General SIMS Housekeeping (April/2017) EIS

7 Defining the New Academic Year This process defines the dates for each of the school terms and holidays, together with dates for public holidays and staff training days. SIMS Attendance will use this information to determine the dates that pupils are required to attend. IMPORTANT NOTES: Due to the amount of processing required to create an Academic Year, it is strongly recommended not to run this procedure during school hours, unless all users can be logged out of SIMS. The process can take a long time to complete, and it will slow down the functionality of SIMS for other users. Once started, this procedure should not be stopped. You may see the Windows not responding warning whilst this is being carried out this is expected and does not mean that SIMS has stopped working. Identify the Dates for the New Academic Year The number of days that a school should be open to pupils in 2017/2018 is 190 days with an additional 5 days being dedicated to teacher training. Maintained schools are advised to check dates with the relevant local authority website. Senior Leadership should agree teacher training dates where possible in advance of this process, however, additional dates can be added once the year has commenced. Schools will need to identify the following dates before starting this process: 1. Start and end dates for each term 2. Start and end dates for any half term holidays (only if a three term year is being used) 3. Dates for public holidays that fall within any term 4. Dates for teacher training days Note: The dates shown in the commencing screenshots are for illustrative purposes only. These may not necessarily reflect the actual dates for your school. Please check with the Headteacher or your Local Authority if you are unsure. Academic Year/Term 1 Start Date When creating an Academic Year, the start date for Term 1 is the first day of term. Even if the first day of term is a Staff Development day and pupils are not expected to return until after this date, the first day of term remains the same. Eg: 1st September is the first day of term, but there are inset days until the 5th Academic Year start date is still the 1st September so this should be the date set as the beginning of Term 1 in SIMS. WARNING: Once the Term 1 start date has been defined and the new Academic Year has been created, the start date should not be changed. Click here to watch a Support Video on Defining the New Academic Year (April/2017) EIS

8 SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A For instructions. 1. Routines School Academic Year. This will open the Define an Academic Year Wizard: 2. Press Next to continue. Define the School Working Week Although the majority of schools do not need to update the information in this screen, as it rarely changes, confirm that the correct weekdays and sessions are ticked before proceeding. If no changes are required, press Next to continue to the next step. 3. Press Yes to the warning prompt to continue. (April/2017) EIS

9 Define the School Terms When entering term dates, the start date should always be the date the term starts, even if pupils are not in school on these days. The last date of the final term should be the date the final term ends, even if pupils are not in school on those days. 1. Enter the term dates for the new Academic Year by clicking the appropriate Term Start Date and Term End Date fields, and entering the dates in dd/mm/yyyy format, or by selecting the date from the calendar: Note: The dates shown in the above screenshot are for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect the actual dates for your school. Please confirm with your Headteacher or Local Authority if you are unsure. 2. If the term or holiday names are incorrect, you can click into each field and type over the existing entry. 3. Repeat this process for all of the terms currently displayed. Any errors are displayed in the lower section and must be resolved before you can continue to the next step. 4. From this point onwards you can tick the Preview box to display a panel on the righthand side of the wizard: 5. Press Next to continue. (April/2017) EIS

10 Define Half Term Holidays Schools do not need to define the Half Term Holidays if a six term year is in place. Note: If you have a six term year in place, move onto the Define Teacher Training Days section. Holidays are automatically created based on the dates in between the term dates, with the descriptions assigned when the dates were entered. If you have a three term year in place, complete these steps: 1. From the Define half term holiday page, click the Add Holiday button: 2. Select Half-Term from the Category drop-down list. 3. Enter the Start and End Date for the half term holiday in dd/mm/yyy format, or use the calendar to select the dates. 4. Enter a Description for the half term holiday if required, such as Autumn Half Term. The description will then appear in the School Diary (once the wizard has been completed.) 5. Click the OK button to add the half term holiday. 6. Repeat steps 1-5 to define the Spring and Summer half term holidays. 7. Click Next to continue. (April/2017) EIS

11 Define Teacher Training Days This screen is used to enter any training days that are taking place during term time where pupils are not required to attend. If these days have not yet been confirmed, they can be entered into SIMS at a later date by repeating this process. Please remember that this is a very resource-hungry process so should be carried out at the end of a school day. 1. From the Define Teacher training days page, click the Add button: 2. Select Staff Training Day from the Category drop-down list. If the required category does not exist, you can type this manually. 3. Enter the Date of the training day in dd/mm/yyyy format, or select this from the calendar. 4. Enter a relevant Description if required eg: INSET 1. This description will appear in the School Diary. 5. Click the OK button to add the training day. Repeat these steps for any remaining teacher training days. 6. Click Next to continue. (April/2017) EIS

12 Define Public Holidays In addition to other dates during term time, you will also need to specify any public holidays (such as Bank Holidays) that occur during term time. 1. From the Define public holidays page, click the Add Holiday button: 2. Select Bank Holiday from the Category drop-down list. 3. Enter the Date in dd/mm/yyyy format, or use the calendar to select this. 4. Enter a relevant Description such as May Bank Holiday, which will appear in the School Diary. 5. Click the OK button to add the holiday. Repeat these steps for any remaining public holidays that fall during term time. 6. Click Next to continue. (April/2017) EIS

13 Create the New Academic Year Before completing the wizard, confirm that all of the dates displayed on screen are correct. Once you start this, the process must not be stopped. If you cancel the wizard then none of the changes will be saved. It is not advisable to run this process during school hours, because it can take a long time to complete. Other staff do not have to be logged out of SIMS once this has been started although SIMS may slow down considerably whilst this is in progress. Note: Whilst it is running, you may see the not responding message this is expected and does not mean that SIMS has stopped working. Leave the wizard to run through until it has completed. 1. Each term will be listed along with its corresponding half term holiday. If Staff Training days and Public Holidays have also been defined, these can be viewed by clicking the + buttons, which would be visible next to each term name: 2. Carefully check each of the listed dates to make sure they are correct. The Term 1 start date must not be changed once this wizard has been completed. 3. If you are certain the dates are correct, press Create to continue. When the warning prompt appears, press Yes to continue: 4. It s progress is displayed via an indicator at the bottom of the wizard: 5. Once it has finished, the final page of the wizard is displayed and you can Close the wizard. 6. At this stage it is recommend to validate group memberships by selecting Tools Validate Memberships, and pressing OK. NOTE: Once the Academic Year has been defined, close and log back into SIMS to apply the changes. Completed (April/2017) EIS

14 Administer Staff Changes The details for new staff should be recorded as soon as the information is available. For staff members who are leaving at the end of the current Academic Year, employment end dates need to be assigned and any open contracts or service agreements must be terminated correctly. This should be carried out by the Personnel Officer. These procedures are not covered in these notes as they are not vital for the EOYP. For advice and support on administering Personnel changes in SIMS please contact EIS. For Schools using Academic Management/Primary Curriculum changes also need to be made to the Manage Classroom Staff area. This is covered as part of the SIMS - EOYP: Curriculum Procedures documentation, available on the Support Portal. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Add New Staff to Personnel Important Note: This section focuses on the addition of Basic Details and some Employment Details in order to support the End of Year Procedures process. Further information will be required to be entered into staff records for the School Workforce Census; this can be entered at a later stage by the Personnel Officer and is not covered in these notes. 1. Select Focus Person Staff to display the Find Employee browser. Click the New button to display the Add Employee page: 2. Enter the Surname, Forename and then select the Gender from the drop-down list. 3. Enter the Date of Birth in dd/mm/yyyy, or alternatively use the calendar to select this: (April/2017) EIS

15 4. Click the Continue button SIMS checks to see if the member of staff already exists in SIMS (for example if they were previously employed by the school and left, and are now returning.) If a match is found, the following screen is displayed: a. If this is the same member of staff press Open b. If this is not the same member of staff, press New If no matches were found, after pressing Continue SIMS will take you straight to the Employee Details screen. 5. Click the Employment Details tab to display the Employment Details screen: 6. In the Employment Details panel, create or edit a record and enter the Employment Start Date, or use the Calendar to select this. 7. Click the Save button to add the member of staff. Completed (April/2017) EIS

16 Define the Pastoral Structure Overview: This is where the Year Groups, National Curriculum Year Groups, Registration Groups and Houses are held within SIMS. Note: Our EOYP notes have to cover each aspect of the Pastoral Structure. But, not every sub-section will be applicable to every school. Each sub-section has an explanation to indicate to schools whether or not they will need to carry out the procedure explained. If unsure, log a call with the EIS Service Desk. This section deals with: Overview of the different Pastoral Structure Types page 16 Setting up additional Year Groups and National Curriculum Years page 18 Changing from a Vertical to a Horizontal Pastoral Structure page 25 Changing from a Horizontal to a Vertical Pastoral Structure page 27 Setting up additional Registration Groups page 20 Defining different Registration Group names page 23 Changing Registration Tutors assigned to Classes page 29 Important Notes: If an additional Year Group is required, this should be added before Admission Groups are created to ensure the Year Group is available for selection. Registration Groups should not be renamed. If a class is changing its name from September, a new class should be set up to reflect the change and the existing classes removed. It is strongly advised against using teacher initials as your naming convention for Registration Groups. It is best practice to use generic names so that if the staff member assigned to the class changes mid-year, the name of the Registration Group is still suitable. If your Class or Year Group structure is changing from September, these amendments need to be made first before carrying out the Promotion Mapping routine. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A instructions. (April/2017) EIS

17 Pastoral Structure Types Structures can be either: Fully Vertical Fully Horizontal Mixed (partially vertical/horizontal) In these notes, the following terms will be referenced - Vertical = Combined Year Groups Horizontal = Separate Year Groups 1. Fully Vertical structure these are used in schools where pupils from any Year Group could be allocated to any Registration Group ie: classes are mixed and not associated with a single Year Group. Primary example: Secondary example: How can I tell if this is my school s current Pastoral Structure type? At the top of the Pastoral Structure, all Year Groups are combined and separated by a /. All Registration Groups are held within one folder at the bottom of the structure. 2. Fully Horizontal structure these are used by schools where each Registration Group is allocated to a single Year Group only eg: only pupils in Year 1 can be assigned to the classes Pine or Oak Primary example: Secondary example: How can I tell if this is my school s current Pastoral Structure type? Each Year Group is separate in this list, with its own Registration Group folder, containing the classes for that Year Group only. (April/2017) EIS

18 3. Mixed structure mixed structures are a combination of vertical and horizontal Year Groups, where only certain years are mixed and the others are separate. This is common in Primary schools with a nursery, where years N1 and N2 are linked for example, and also in Secondary schools where the sixth form is combined, with Year 12 and 13 groups together. Primary example: Secondary example: How can I tell if this is my school s current Pastoral Structure type? Some Year Groups are linked with a / between them, whilst others are separate in the list. Combined (vertical) Years have a single Registration Group folder attached with the shared classes. Separate (horizontal) Vertical Year Groups have individual Registration Group folders attached. For notes on how to change the names of Houses in SIMS, refer to Appendix B: Defining Different House Names. (April/2017) EIS

19 Adding New Year Groups (Optional) If an additional Year Group is required, this can be set up in the Pastoral Structure. If you are adding a Year Group because you are extending the range of years, you will also need to set up a National Curriculum Year. Note: If you will not need additional Year Groups set up for September, move onto the Setting Up Additional Registration Groups section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure: Important Note: When making changes for the new Academic Year, always ensure it says Next Academic Year at the top of the page. The Effective Date displayed is the date that was set as the Term 1 start date when defining the new Academic Year. This means any changes made to the structure will only affect SIMS from this date onwards, leaving the current Pastoral Structure unchanged. 2. Press Go and expand +Pastoral Structure, to see a list of the existing Year Groups. 3. Expand +National Curriculum Years to see a list of the existing Curriculum Years. 4. Right-click on National Curriculum Years and select Setup Curriculum Years: 5. Tick the required National Curriculum Year and press OK: The additional year should now appear in the list on screen, along with an Error message (see screen shot above) this is expected, but will be resolved after the next step. (April/2017) EIS

20 6. Right-click on Pastoral Structure and select New Year Group: 7. Select the National Curriculum Year from the drop-down list, which is associated with this new Year Group. 8. Enter a Short Name and a Full Name for the Year Group, then press OK: Note: It is best to use the existing naming convention for the additional Year Group, so the data in SIMS is consistent. If you are unsure how the existing groups have been named, you can cancel this window, rightclick onto an existing Year Group and select Properties to view its information. 4. Once finished, repeat these steps for any remaining additional Year Groups required. Note: You will not be able to save the changes until Registration Groups have been attached if new classes will be required, move onto the next section, Setting up Additional Registration Groups section. If this new Year Group needs to be combined with another Year Group, eg: N1 needs to be shared with N2, move onto the Changing from a Horizontal to Vertical Pastoral Structure section. (April/2017) EIS

21 Setting Up Additional Registration Groups If pupil numbers have increased and additional Registration Groups are required for the next Academic Year, these can be created within the Pastoral Structure. Note: If your school does not require additional Registration Groups in September, move onto the Defining Different Registration Group Names section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Important Notes: We recommend against using teachers initials as the naming convention for your Registration Groups. Instead, it is advisable to use generic names such as plants, animals or colours, so if a member of staff associated to a class changes mid-year, the class names are still suitable. Before creating a new class, it is recommended to check first if the name has been used before in a previous Academic Year. This process is outlined in this section, and demonstrated in a Support Video also accessible in this notice. Click here to watch a Support Video on creating additional Reg Groups 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Pastoral Structure, and press Go: Important Note: When making changes for the new Academic Year, always ensure it says Next Academic Year at the top of the page. The Effective Date displayed is the date that was set as the Term 1 start date when defining the new Academic Year. This means any changes made to the structure will only affect SIMS from this date onwards, leaving the current Pastoral Structure unchanged. 2. Expand the Year Group where the Registration Group needs to be added by clicking the adjacent + button: Note: The screenshot demonstrates a Primary database, but the same process can be applied to Secondary Schools. (April/2017) EIS

22 3. Right-click on the Registration Group folder and select Reuse old Registration Group: 4. Check to see if the new class name has been used in a Previous Academic Year: 5. If no such name exists already in SIMS, press Cancel. Note: If the class name does already exist, select it from the list and press OK and skip to step Right-click again on the Registration Group folder and select New Registration Group: 7. Enter a Short Name and a Full Name for the new class. These can be the same, or the Short Name can be abbreviated if its name is longer than 10 characters: Example - Short Name: BF Full Name: Butterflies Note: The Full Name will be displayed in the majority of SIMS.net reports and in the registers. (April/2017) EIS

23 8. At this stage you can assign the Registration Tutor and any Supervisors for the new class. Press the icon to open the People Browse screen. Note: The staff members need to have a Personnel record set up in SIMS first. If has not yet been done, or the teacher list has not been finalised for September, skip to the last step. Teachers can be added to their classes at a later stage, but should be completed before registers are taken for the first time in the new Academic Year. 9. Enter the Surname and Forename (or partially enter the name) and press Search: 10. Select the name from the list and press OK. 11. If there are two teachers for a class (ie. Job Share) the second teacher needs to be added as a supervisor via the icon and selecting a role of Joint Main Supervisor. 12. Press the icon, use the boxes to search for the staff member, select the name and press OK: 13. Press OK again to return to the Pastoral Structure and see the new class listed: 14. Repeat these steps for any remaining classes that need to be added to the Pastoral Structure. (April/2017) EIS

24 Defining Different Registration Group Names Where class names will be different in September, a similar process is required. New classes should be created to reflect the name changes and the existing class names removed from next year s Pastoral Structure. Important Note: It is essential that Registration Groups within the Pastoral Structure are not renamed. Regardless of the Effective Date showing at the top of the screen, where people rename classes by going into the Properties of a Registration Group, all of its history will be removed. Note: If none of your classes are changing names from September, you can move onto the Changing from a Vertical to a Horizontal Structure section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Click here to watch a Support Video on defining different Reg Group names Example: A Registration Group is currently called 3Red. At the end of the current Academic Year, this class will become a year 4 class instead ie; 4Red. If the class is renamed 3Red to 4Red in next year s pastoral structure, then all the pupils in 3Red will be recorded as always having been in 4Red because the history is also amended. In this circumstance, all you need to do is to create a new Registration Group, called 4Red in the pastoral structure for the new Academic Year. If class names are changing in September, follow this process Open the Pastoral Structure for the next Academic Year Create new Registration Groups to reflect the name changes Remove the existing classes (old names) from next year s Pastoral Structure * This can be revisited at a later point (if this has not yet been decided, or if new members of staff have not yet had a personnel record created in SIMS.) At this point it is possible to assign the new Registration Tutors for each class * (April/2017) EIS

25 1. Follow the steps in the Setting Up Additional Registration Groups section to create the new classes, and assign Registration Tutors. 2. Once the new classes have been created, the old classes (with the names currently being used) will need to be removed. Right-click on one of the old classes and press Remove: 3. Then press Yes when the warning prompt appears. Once the class has been removed, only the correct names will appear in the Pastoral Structure for next year. Repeat this for any remaining classes that will no longer be used from September. Please note that removing a class in next year s pastoral structure will not affect the current year s pastoral structure. 4. Save the changes once you have finished please note that if several amendments have been made that this routine can take a while to complete and save: Did you know? If the Registration Groups are not appearing in the correct order within your Pastoral Structure, you can use the Up and Down buttons to re-order the classes: (April/2017) EIS

26 Changing from a Vertical to a Horizontal Structure This is only necessary where a school has mixed Year Groups in place (known as a vertical structure), but would like to separate some of these for the New Academic Year. For example: A primary school has recently had an increase in the number of Year R applicants for September. As a result, the Reception class no longer needs to be mixed with the Year 1 class. Note: If this does not apply to your school, you can move onto the Changing from a Horizontal to a Vertical Structure section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to the Appendix. For instructions. 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure. 2. Press Go. 3. Expand +Pastoral Structure to see a list of Year Groups currently available. 4. Right-click on the vertical Year Group (it will show with a / separating the two Year Groups eg: Year R/Year 1) and select Organise Year Group Horizontally: 5. You can now assign the Registration Groups to the correct Year Group, which will separate the two Year Groups. Highlight a class from the Class list on the left, then select its Year Group from the Year Group list on the right, and use the right Arrow button to assign it to its correct Year Group: (April/2017) EIS

27 6. Repeat this for the remaining classes, until all Registration Groups have been assigned to a Year Group: 7. If you make a mistake, select the Registration Group again from the right-hand Year Group panel, then use the left Arrow button to move it back to the Class list. 8. Once finished press OK to return to the Pastoral Structure. The Year Groups will now be separated, each with their own assigned Registration Groups: 9. Repeat these steps for any remaining vertical Year Groups that need to be separated. 10. Save the changes once finished this process can take a while to complete if lots of amendments have been made. (April/2017) EIS

28 Changing from a Horizontal to a Vertical Structure This is only necessary where a school has separate Year Groups in place (known as a horizontal structure), but would like to combine some of these next year, so pupils in different Year Groups can be in the same Registration Group For example: A primary school will be taking on N1 children from September. The new Year Group has already been created, but this needs to be combined with the N2 Year Group, so the pupils in the nursey can be registered together and be in the same class. Note: If this does not apply to your school, you can move onto the Changing Registration Tutors assigned to Classes section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure and press Go. 2. Expand +Pastoral Structure to see a list of the current Year Groups. 3. Right-click on Pastoral Structure and select Organise Year Groups Vertically: 4. Tick the Year Groups you would like to combine: (April/2017) EIS

29 5. Press OK to return to the Pastoral Structure, and see your changes: The Year Groups are now combined (vertical) and show with a / between them. This means that in September, pupils in both of the N1 and N2 Year Groups can be assigned to the same Registration Groups, meaning the classes will be mixed. 6. Repeat these steps for any other Year Groups that need to be mixed. 7. Save the changes once finished this process can take a while to complete if several amendments have been made. Note: Multiple Year Groups can be joined (made vertical) and there is no limit as to how many can be grouped together. To create a fully vertical structure, you would tick each Year Group when the Organise Vertically window appears. (April/2017) EIS

30 Changing Registration Tutors assigned to Classes This is only necessary where the teachers assigned to Registration Groups are changing from September. This could be due to new staff joining the school and existing staff members leaving, or where teachers are being moved around the school to teach different Year Groups. Note: If this does not apply to your school, you can move onto the Administer Existing Pupils section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before making any changes in the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Click here to watch a Support Video on changing Reg Tutors Assigned to Classes 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure, and press Go. 2. Expand +Pastoral Structure, then the required Year Group, and then the Registration Group folder: 3. Expand the Registration Group by using the + button next to its name to see its properties: 4. Right-click on the Registration Tutor and select Remove: (April/2017) EIS

31 5. Right-click again on Registration Tutor and select New: 6. Click the button to open the People Browse screen. 7. Use the boxes to search for the member of staff who will be responsible for this class from September. You can type the full name, or just the first few letters this search is not case sensitive. Press Search to find them: 8. Select the name and press OK, then OK again to return to the Pastoral Structure: Note: At this stage, sometimes the following message appears in SIMS: If this member of staff will no longer be associated with the class showing in the message from September, press Yes to the prompt and remember to remove them from the existing class afterwards. 9. At this stage you can also add/change any Supervisors. If there is an existing Supervisor assigned to the class that needs to be changed, expand the Supervisors folder right-click on the member of staff s name and select Remove: (April/2017) EIS

32 10. Right-click on the Supervisors folder and select New Supervisor: 11. Select the Role from the drop-down: Note: For staff members who will be sharing the responsibility of the class eg Job Sharing and also responsible for taking registers, they can be added as the Joint Main Supervisor. This means their name will appear when printing registers from SIMS (or when using the Registration Groups (Dated) report.) Additionally, if teachers have access to SIMS in the classroom to take registers, when the member of staff is logged into SIMS, they should also have access to take the class register. For a general supervisor, assign them the Supervisor role instead. 12. Use the icon to search for and select the member of staff from the People Browse screen. Press OK twice to return to the Pastoral Structure: If the member of staff was assigned a role of Joint Main Supervisor, their name will appear next to the Main Registration Tutor within the Pastoral Structure. If the member of staff was assigned a role of Supervisor, their name will appear within the Supervisor folder when viewing the Pastoral Structure. 13. Repeat these steps for any other Registration Tutors or Supervisors that are changing in September. 14. Once finished, press Save this can take a while to complete if several amendments have been made. Completed (April/2017) EIS

33 Administer Existing Pupils This section deals with checking for missing data, preparing leavers for Census, assigning end dates to leaving pupils, and the export of CTFs for leaving pupils. Add End Dates for Part-time Pupils To ensure that pupils who will no longer be part-time from September are showing correctly in SIMS Attendance, and in Census returns, it is necessary to enter an end date in the part-time details in SIMS. Part time details should only be entered for non-statutory aged pupils. 1. Navigate to Focus Pupil Pupil Details then use the Find Student browser to search for the required pupil: 2. Double click on the required pupil to open the record. 3. Within the Registration panel, check if they have an End Date showing for the Parttime Details: 4. If there is an End Date present which is correct, move onto the next record. If there is an End Date but it is incorrect, or this is missing, press Open and correct this by either overtyping or using the calendar to select the right date: 5. Press OK to return to the record, and use the Save button to apply the changes. 6. Repeat these steps for any remaining pupils who were part-time during the current Academic Year. (April/2017) EIS

34 Preparing Leavers for Census Before entering leaving dates in SIMS for leaving pupils, it is important to check for any missing information that can have an impact on the School Census. This will ensure the records have at least the minimum statutory information recorded before making them a leaver eg: Attendance Marks, Ethnicity, and First Language. Missing Ethnic/Cultural Information The Bulk Update routine can be used to check pupils record and make amendments where necessary. 1. Navigate to Routines Pupil Bulk Update. 2. Select Year Group from the Group Type drop-down list. 3. Select an appropriate Year Group from the Group drop-down list eg: Year 6 for a primary, or Year 11 for a secondary school. 4. Select First Language from the Data Item drop-down list. 5. Ensure the Effective Date for both panels is today s date, unless today is Census Day, in which case set both dates to yesterday s date: Note: The dates shown in the above screenshot are for illustrative purposes only. When using the Bulk Update routine, the Effective Dates will always default to the date it is being used. 6. Press Search to see a list of pupils: 7. If you click the Assigned column header once, those without a First Language will show at the top of the list: (April/2017) EIS

35 8. Use the scrollbar to move along in the list of possible First Languages and tick the appropriate language for each pupil showing as Unassigned: 9. Use the Save button to apply the changes. 10. Press Browse and repeat these steps to find pupils with a missing Ethnicity by choosing Ethnicity from the Data Item drop-down, and pressing Search again. 11. Press Browse and repeat these steps to find pupils with a missing Country of Birth by choosing Country of Birth from the Data Item drop-down, and pressing Search. 12. Press Browse and repeat these steps to find pupils with a missing Nationality by choosing Pupil Nationality from the Data Item drop-down, and pressing Search. (April/2017) EIS

36 Missing Attendance Marks Before marking pupils with a leaving date in SIMS it is important to check they have no missing session (am/pm) marks within SIMS Attendance. 1. Navigate to Focus Attendance/Lesson Monitor Deal with Missing Marks. 2. Set the From and To dates to the beginning and end of the current Academic Year, either by typing this information in or using the calendar to select them. 3. Change the Group Type to Year Group. 4. For schools using the Lesson Monitor module, change the View radio button to Sessions: 5. Press Search to see a list of Year Groups. 6. Select the Year Group that contains pupils who are leaving at the end of the current Academic Year, and then press Open. 7. Any missing marks will be identified and listed for pupils in date order: 8. All missing marks must be entered into this screen. It is essential that this is carried out before the pupils are assigned leaving dates, in preparation for the Autumn Census. 9. Once finished press the Save button. If lots of missing marks are identified, it may take a few minutes for this to complete. Repeat these steps for any other Year Groups where pupils are leaving. (April/2017) EIS

37 Record Leavers The facility to record leavers enables accurate records to be kept of pupils after they have left the school. During the Summer term you will need to mark most, or all of the affected pupils as leaving on the same day. Refer to the previous section (if not already completed) to confirm there is no missing information for pupils before they have leaving dates assigned. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before assigning leaving dates to on-roll pupils, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Important Notes: You should only mark pupils as leavers if you are sure they are leaving the school. Leaving Dates must not be set as a date that falls in a school holiday. Instead, this should reflect the last day of Term 6 (before the start of the holidays.) Otherwise, errors will be triggered in the School Census for these pupils. Due to the amount of processing required, this routine may take a long time to run. Secondary schools may find it beneficial to deal with one Registration Group at a time. Secondary Schools only If you are unsure whether or not a student is returning to the sixth form, leave them onroll. Only mark them as a leaver if they do not return after the start of the new Academic Year. To allow the automatic procedures to help with course completion information for Post- 16 students, it is necessary to make use of the Leavers routine in advance of the students actually leaving. The end date for the course will be set in line with this expected leaving date, and when the School Census is run, the courses will be interpreted as having been completed. To update Course Memberships, please refer to Information Notice 17-E041- SIMS EOYP: Curriculum Processes Click here to watch a Support Video on marking pupils as leavers in SIMS (April/2017) EIS

38 Year 11 Students only Attendance for Year 11 students for the second half of the Summer Term/Term 6 is as follows: The official leaving date is the last Friday in June in the school year in which the student reaches age 16. Where a Year 11 student has applied and been accepted into the school sixth form, they should remain on-roll and not be assigned a leaving date. The X code can be used for the period after the last Friday in June until the end of term. A Weekly Attendance Pattern can be entered for affected students. Where a Year 11 has not applied or has not been accepted into the sixth form, they must remain on roll until the last Friday in June. If the school decides to give leave of absence after the students complete examinations, the C code can be used to record the authorised absence. A Weekly Attendance Pattern can be entered for affected students. Secondary schools are reminded that the Autumn School Census will collect attendance data for the entire Summer Term / Terms 5 and Navigate to Routines Pupil Leavers. 2. Set the filters in the search boxes for the required pupils (by Year or Reg Group for example) and press Search: 3. To assign leaving dates to multiple pupil at once, use one of the following methods: To select all of the pupils in the browser, press All from the Select drop-down menu: To select individual pupils hold down the CTRL key and click each pupil to be selected. Then choose Selected from the Select drop-down list: To highlight sequentially listed pupils, click the first required name in the list, hold down the SHIFT key and then scroll down and select the last name required in the list. Then choose Selected from the Select drop-down list: (April/2017) EIS

39 4. In the Leaving Information panel, enter the Date of Leaving or click the Calendar button and select the required date. 5. Select the Reason for Leaving from the drop-down list, such as End of phase transfer Maintained school. 6. Then from the Students panel, select the pupils who need this leaving date and reason for leaving assigned either press Assign to All if they are all the same, or use the CTRL/SHIFT key to make your selection and then press Assign to Selected. 7. If different pupils have different destinations or reasons for leaving, you can amend the information in the boxes within the Leaving Information panel, then make the selection of the pupils in the Students panel, and use the Assign to Selected button again until each pupil has all three columns filled: Note: The above screenshot is for illustrative purposes only, and may not reflect the actual dates for your school. Confirm with your Headteacher or Local Authority if you are unsure what leaving date should be assigned to pupils. 8. If you make a mistake, select the pupil s name from the list and use the Clear button to start again, or type the correct information into the top boxes, select the name and use the Assign to Selected button. 9. Once finished, press Save. The selected pupils will be automatically taken off roll from the specified leaving dates. Note: It is recommended to run the Validate Memberships after the Leavers Routine has been completed, to ensure the Year and Registration Group memberships have ended correctly in the background of SIMS. This can take a while to complete, particularly in secondary schools, so this can be left until a later point when it is more convenient for the user. To do this, within SIMS navigate to: Tools Validate Memberships, and press OK to the prompt. Once it has finished, the window will close automatically. Completed (April/2017) EIS

40 Define the Promotion Mapping Routine Definition: Promotion Mapping is the term used to describe the process of moving current pupils to their new Year and Registration Groups, for the next Academic Year. This is achieved by setting rules, defining which Year and Registration Groups the pupils will be members of in September. Did you know? Once saved, the Promotion Mapping routine will be automatically carried out by the system at midnight on the last day of the current Academic Year. So you do not have to wait until the last day of term (or the end of the Summer Holidays) to define the Promotion Mapping in SIMS. Important Notes: It is essential that this is completed before the end of the current Academic Year if this routine is not carried out before September, this can cause problems across various areas in SIMS. None of the pupils will be in the correct Year Groups in September and the registers will be incorrect. If any pupils are admitted into SIMS after the routine has been completed, and before the end of Term 6/Summer Term, it will be necessary to carry out the procedure again. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before carrying out the Promotion Mapping routine, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A For instructions. Click here to watch a Support Video on carrying out the Promotion Mapping routine (April/2017) EIS

41 Setting the Promotion Path 1. Navigate to Routines School Promotion to display the Promotion Data Check dialog. A message informs you that some data checking is required first: 2. Press OK and SIMS will carry out the Validate Memberships process this can take several minutes in schools with a large database. SIMS should not be closed whilst this is running, and it may slow down SIMS for other users whilst in progress: 3. Ensure the current Academic Year is selected in the drop-down list. If the correct year is not already showing, select this from the list and press Load: WARNING: It is essential that the correct year is selected, otherwise any changes made will affect the wrong year and can have serious implications in SIMS. 4. The Year Group panel is populated with a default set of Promotion Paths (where one Year is promoted to the next, ie: Year R is promoted to Year 1 and so on.) This is the same for both vertically and horizontally structured schools: Note: Although this information is rarely changed, it is important to check first that the data is correct before moving onto the next panel. Confirm that each Year Group has the correct Promotion Path next to it. For leaving Year Groups, such as Year 6 in a Primary School, there is no Promotion Path so this is left blank. The above screenshot demonstrates this procedure being carried out for a primary school, but the same process applies for secondary schools. (April/2017) EIS

42 5. The Class panel displays a list of the Registration Groups for the current Academic Year. Review the Promotion Path for each Registration Group this means the Registration Group the pupils in that class will belong to from September: Note: If you have amended next year s Pastoral Structure and changed the Registration Tutors assigned to these classes, you will not see these changes here it does not mean that your changes were not saved. The Registration Tutor column displays the current teacher assigned to the class for this current Academic Year. If new classes for next year have been created these will be available from the Promotion Path drop-down list next to each class. Schools should never tick the options to Promote Registration Tutor or Promote Other Supervisors all staff changes should be made within the Pastoral Structure for the next Academic Year. 6. Where new classes have been created for next year, and existing class names have been removed from the Pastoral Structure, the Promotion Path will be blank. Click the drop-down list and choose the correct Promotion Path for each class (if all pupils in the current class are moving up and staying together next year): (April/2017) EIS

43 7. For mixed/vertical Registration Groups, it is best to leave the Promotion Path blank and set an Individual Path for pupils in the next screen. This is because there are pupils from different Year Groups in one class not every pupil will move up to a new class next year, so it would not be correct to assign one path for each pupil in the shared class: 8. Leaving Year Groups will also have no Promotion Path, as these pupils will no longer be on-roll from September, so this is also left blank: 9. Check all of the information before proceeding. When ready, tick both the Override Memberships boxes: 10. Press Finish to complete this stage. IMPORTANT NOTE: The Override Membership boxes must only be ticked once during the EOYP. If you need to return to the Promotion Mapping at a later stage to make further amendments, ensure these boxes are not ticked again as this will overwrite any entries already made. (April/2017) EIS

44 Setting Individual Promotion Paths SIMS now takes you to the Promote Pastoral Groups page, which allows schools to enter an Individual Promotion Path for pupils. This screen also allows you to check the data again before saving. Setting an Individual Promotion Path is required for vertical Year Groups (where there is more than one Year Group assigned to a Registration Group), where pupils are being moved up or held back in the next Academic Year, or where pupils are being split up in the new Academic Year and will not be moving up together to the same classes. It is possible in this screen to assign the same Promotion Path for multiple pupils if required. NOTE: If you have already assigned Leaving Dates for pupils, eg: Year 6s, they will not appear in the Individual Promotion Path screen. Although at a glance it may appear that a Year Group is missing from SIMS, if all of the pupils have been marked as leavers then this is expected - There is no Year 6 group displayed as these pupils have previously had Leaving Dates assigned. 1. You can customise the view on this screen, such as ordering pupils by their current Registration Group, by selecting an option from the Customize drop-down list: Select Sort to display the Sort dialog, which enables you to sort the order of the contents of the columns Select Group By to display the Group By dialog, which enables you to change the groupings Select Columns to display the Customise Columns to choose the columns you wish to include in the display (April/2017) EIS

45 2. Click the + next to the Current Year Group option for which you wish to view or set Individual Promotion Paths. The Next Year Group column should already be updated: 3. You can change the Registration Group for individual pupils by clicking in the appropriate column and selecting a different value from the drop-down list: Important Note: If a pupil is being taught out of year, it is the National Curriculum Year that must reflect this their Year Group is age-dependant and should not be changed from the default promotion. Example: Abjit Abhra is currently in Year 2 but in September he is going to be held back for another year - Next Year Group = Year 3 Next Registration Group = [a group in Year 2, eg: Jigglypuff] Next National Curriculum Year = 2 a. Take off the Filter by clicking the button once to expand the selection to all available groups - b. Select the required Registration Group from the drop-down list: (April/2017) EIS

46 c. Then go to Customise and select Columns from the drop-down list: c. Tick the columns for Current and Next National Curriculum Year and press OK: d. Choose their Next National Curriculum Year from the drop-down list: Note: Any changes that appear in red and have a tick in the Unusual column indicates that change falls outside of the normal promotion mapping set previously using the Setup Promotion Mapping dialog: (April/2017) EIS

47 Note: This usually occurs where a school has a vertical (mixed) structure in place. If this is the case, as the Year Groups are not linked to specific Registration Groups, SIMS is unsure where to place the pupils. Therefore it sees any value for these mixed years as unusual. In this circumstance it is expected behaviour and does not indicate a problem with the data. This can also occur where a pupil will be joining a different class next year than the pupils they currently share a class with, or they are being held back or moved up a year from September: In this example, Amie Whitemore has been flagged as having an Unusual value. This is because the rest of the pupils currently in Registration Group 2JB are being promoted to Horsea in September. But Amie will be moving to a different class, which is indicated by her having an Individual Path set manually in this screen. Therefore SIMS sees this as unusual as it doesn t follow the existing pattern. As the path is correct in this example, the unusual flag can be ignored. 4. Multiple pupils can be highlighted by either using the CTRL key, or to select a sequential list of pupils, highlight the first pupil, hold down SHIFT, scroll down and select the last person in the list. Now when assigning the Next Registration Group, the same entry will be applied to each of the selected pupils: 5. Make sure each pupil has a Registration Group assigned for next year by expanding each year individually, scrolling down, and looking at each name. Check this data before pressing Save to apply the changes this can take a while to complete, particularly in large schools where there are lots of on-roll pupils. 6. If there are any unusual values, an additional prompt will appear press Yes to let this run through and complete. Completed (April/2017) EIS

48 Managing Intake Groups Intake Groups are used in SIMS to maintain lists of applicants who have registered an interest in being taught at your school. An Intake Group is created for each Year Group for who you wish to admit applicants into. This defines the National Curriculum Year of entry as well as the number of places available. An Admission Group defines the date the applicants will be admitted; this can be manually changed within individual application records once they have been entered into SIMS (for example: if their date differs from the default for the majority of new arrivals as they are nonstatutory aged). Important Notes: Please ensure that the Date of Admission assigned to applicants falls within the new Academic Year: For statutory aged pupils, this must be the first day of Term 1 (even if pupils are not expected to attend on this date). For non-statutory aged pupils, this can be a date later than the first day of the new Academic Year if they are not expected to attend on this date. If the Intake/Admission Group has already been created and the Date of Admission assigned incorrectly, this date can be changed to update each applicant s record (so you don t have to open each record and change this date manually). It is also recommended to make historic Intake Groups inactive at this stage, to keep the list tidy and make it easier when running reports for Applicants in SIMS. For detailed guidance on maintaining Intake Groups in SIMS, schools can refer to the appropriate Admissions Handbook, found in the Documentation Centre accessible from the SIMS Home Page: (April/2017) EIS

49 Making Historic Intake Groups Inactive It is recommended to make previously used Intake Groups inactive when they are no longer needed, to tidy up the admissions area and make it easier when running reports on applicants in SIMS. 1. Navigate to Routines Admission Admission Groups Setup 2. Press Search to see a full list of Intake Groups 3. It is recommended to keep active only the group currently being used (named after the current Academic Year.) Double-click on the first old group to be removed: 4. Remove the tick from the Active box: 5. Press Save to apply the changes. 6. Then press Browse to see the list of Intake Groups again, and Search to update the list: 7. Repeat these steps until all previously used Intake Groups have been made inactive, leaving only the current ones: (April/2017) EIS

50 Set Admission Defaults to Multiple/Single Admission Groups For schools with lots of applicants starting each year, where their start dates are staggered (eg: Reception Intake), it is possible to create multiple Admission Groups for applicants within one Intake Group. Where schools only have a small number of pupils starting in the new Year Group, it may be easier to use the Single Admission Group setup instead. The default setting in SIMS is to allow multiple Admission Groups to be defined. This setting can be edited at Tools Admissions Defaults by adding/removing the tick in Multiple Admission Group: Note: Schools that wish to move from multiple Admission Groups to single Admission Groups will need to ensure that all existing Intake Groups have been deleted from SIMS. It is not necessary to remove the setting for multiple admissions even if only one group is in existence. Please seek advice from EIS if required. Having multiple Admission Groups associated with an Intake Group allows the applicants to be grouped and managed: Primary Schools an Intake Group may consist of separate Admission Groups for pupils with staggered starts who are nursery-aged. Different Admission Dates could be set for each Admission Group, instead of changing individual pupil s start date manually. Secondary Schools an Intake Group could be created for Year 7 with Admission Groups for either Feeder Schools or Registration Groups. The same Admission Date would be applied to each student as they would be statutory aged. The following illustrates how the Admission Group Setup screen will appear if the Multiple Admission Group setting is enabled or disabled: Multiple Admission Groups enabled Multiple Admission Groups disabled (Single Admission Group setup) (April/2017) EIS

51 Create an Intake Group Click here to watch a Support Video on creating Intake Groups 1. Navigate to Routines Admission Admission Group Setup: 2. Carry out a search to ensure the Intake Group does not already exist select the new Academic Year from the Admission Year drop-down and press Search. 3. To create a new Intake Group press New: Note: Mandatory fields are highlighted in red: Single Admission Group Setup Multiple Admission Group Setup (April/2017) EIS

52 4. Within the Intake Group panel, select the Admission Year (the Academic Year in which the applicants will be admitted into) from the drop-down list this defaults to the current Academic Year, so ensure the correct one is selected. 5. Select the required Admission Season from the drop-down list. 6. Select the required Year Group from the drop-down list: Note: There can only be one Year Group assigned per Intake Group. If schools have applicants joining from multiple Year Groups, eg: Nursery Intake and a separate Reception Intake, one Intake Group for each Year Group will need to be created in SIMS. 7. Enter the number of places available in the Planned Admission box. It does not matter if this number is exceeded later on: 8. If you press the Tab key to move to the Name field or click into the box, a default name should be generated by SIMS for you (based on the Admission Year and Year Group) eg: 2017/2018 Autumn Year R. The default name can be changed if required (EIS would advise against changing the name of the group to keep the data consistent) : 9. The Active box is ticked by default and indicates that the Intake Group will be available for use once saved. Deselect this check box only if you wish to create an Intake Group that will be used in the future at some point (if this box is unticked, the group will not be immediately visible when searching in the Find Intake Group browser.) Intake Groups can only be saved once Admission Groups have been assigned to them. This is achieved in the second panel when viewing the Intake Group Details: New screen. Move onto the next section for notes on how to set up Admission Groups. (April/2017) EIS

53 Creating Single or Multiple Admission Groups Single Admission Groups 1. When creating single Admission Groups, the Name will populate for you once the field is clicked: Note: The system will assign a letter in brackets at the end of the name, as each entry needs to be unique. 2. Enter the Date of Admission for the group, either by manually typing this in or selecting the required date from the calendar: Important Reminder: Please ensure that the Date of Admission assigned to applicants falls within the new Academic Year: For statutory aged pupils, this must be the first day of Term 1(even if pupils are not expected to attend on this date) For non-statutory aged pupils, this can be a date later than the first day of the new Academic Year, if they are not expected to attend on this date. 3. Click on the Save button once finished to complete the setup: (April/2017) EIS

54 Multiple Admission Groups 1. If you would like to assign the default name to the Admission Group, click into the Intake Group Name field, drag over the text, right-click and select Copy: 2. From the Admission Groups panel, click the New button to display the Add Admission Group dialog: 3. Enter a Name for the Admission Group, either by: a. Right-clicking into the box and selecting Paste, then adding something to the end of the name such as (1): b. Or manually entering a suitable name by clicking into the box and typing in a value. 4. Then enter the Date of Admission either by typing this in manually or using the Calendar icon to select the requited date. 5. If any further Admission Groups are required, click the New button and repeat these steps until all groups are set up. 6. Press Save once finished to complete the set up. Completed (April/2017) EIS

55 Import/Export ATFs and CTFs Importing ATFs Some primary schools have the opportunity to import ATFs which are provided by their Local Authority, to enter information about their Reception Intake into SIMS. For advice on how to import these files, refer to Information Notice 16-E027. Note: If you do not have primary-aged pupils or do not use ATFs, you can move onto the next section, Defaults for the CTF Import/Export Screen. Important Note: EIS recommend against using ATFs to import Applicant data. This is because it can cause complications with your SIMS data, including overwriting contact information, duplicating contact records and addresses, as well as removing existing Family Links. If schools would like to continue using these files, we strongly advise to take a backup first (in case we need to restore your database at a later point.) SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before carrying out the Promotion Mapping routine, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. (April/2017) EIS

56 Defaults for the CTF Import/Export Screen Before importing or exporting any CTFs from SIMS, it is recommended to review the default settings for the CTF routines, to ensure correct information is included when importing or exporting these files. 1. Navigate to Tools Setups CTF to display the Configure CTF Defaults screen: 2. The import/export directories in Panel 1 should be set to the folder for your shared SIMS drive held on the server; this is likely to be S:\ (or W:\ if you are an EIS Hosted school.) eg: S:\SIMS\STAR\CTFIN this should not be set to a local folder on a staff member s individual workstation, as this will prevent all other SIMS users from being able to export CTFs. 3. Review the check boxes in the Data to be Imported by Default and Date to be Exported by Default panels. Ensure all of the relevant boxes are ticked it is recommended that all boxes be ticked to support the End of Year Procedures. 4. If you record Attendance Marks within SIMS, the Collect Attendance Data From field should have the SIMS Attendance Module option selected. 5. If the Unknown UK School or Abroad or UK Independent options are not already available within the Alternative Destinations panel, these can be added by pressing New: Code: XXX XXXX MMM MMMM Description: Unknown UK School Abroad or UK Independent 6. Click on Save to apply any changes, or Close if no changes were made. (April/2017) EIS

57 Importing Common Transfer Files (CTFs) This section provides a summary of the steps required to import a CTF (provided by another school or Local Authority) in order to create applicant records either individually or in bulk. Pupils included within CTFs can be imported into an Admission Group (recommended) or placed straight on-roll. Note: It is not expected that any applicants for a new Academic Year would be imported directly on-roll. If any of the pupils within the CTF already exist in the system, any blank fields in their record are updated with the data held in the CTF. Any existing data is not overwritten, as it is deemed that SIMS will contain the most up-to-date information. Any such information is highlighted in the Exception Log once the import has finished. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before carrying out the Promotion Mapping routine, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A or instructions. 1. Navigate to Routines Data In CTF Import CTF to display the Select CTF Import Type dialog: Primary database: Secondary database: 2. Highlight the required CTF Import Type (which should be General when importing applicant data). 3. When the following prompt appears, if the selected matching scale appears as 2, press No to continue: (April/2017) EIS

58 4. If this appears as something other than 2, press Yes, then select 2 and press Set Scale: 5. In the Data to be imported panel, the check boxes that were ticked in the Configure CTF Defaults screen will already be ticked. It is also possible to indicate the data items you wish to import from the CTF by ticking and unticking the appropriate boxes at this point. 6. Within the Import Selection panel, browse to the location of the CTF by licking the Open button adjacent to the CTF File field, to display the Select Import File dialog: 7. Find the required file, select it and press Open: (April/2017) EIS

59 8. Select Pre-Admission from the Place new pupils in drop-down list, to import the new pupils into the Admission Group previously set up. The On-roll option is also available, but this option should not be used for September admissions: 9. In the panel below, select the required Admission Group: 10. Click the Proceed for Match Import button to start the import: 11. At this point, if any of the preadmissions already have a record in SIMS, a green bubble should be displayed next to their name. If so, SIMS will update their existing admission record with the data held in the CTF where appropriate. But if these are all brand new pupils, it is expected to see a solid blue bubble next to their name: 12. To prevent a pupil from being imported into SIMS (if for example they have withdrawn their application), right-click on their name and select Do not import this pupil: 13. Press Import CTF then Yes when the prompt appears and SIMS will begin the import process: (April/2017) EIS

60 14. Once imported, a report displays on screen advising if the pupils were successfully imported, with the basic details displayed underneath the report summary: When closed, an exception log will be displayed in SIMS. Typically errors are displayed where information is missing from the file, such as an incorrect address or missing attendance marks, which can be ignored. If you are unsure about anything displayed in the message, log a call with the EIS Service Desk. The applicant records will now be visible from the Find Application screen, accessible from Focus Admission Application. Completed Export Common Transfer Files (CTFs) CTFs should be created and sent to other schools or Local Authorities, to submit information about pupils who will be leaving your school at the end of term. Click here to watch a Support Video on exporting CTFs Each CTF must only contain one destination, so if a group of pupils are moving to the same school in September, export one CTF for all of these pupils. Primary schools should note that it is useful for secondary schools to receive CTFs for the new students as soon as possible and EIS recommend that this is completed at the start of Term 4. Although the destination school will not receive all the attendance data for the current year, or the KS2 statutory assessment results at this time, the destination school can contact the feeder school after the last day of term for the attendance figures if they require them and they can get the KS2 results from the DfE. Please note that if schools send CTFs to the destinations schools before the Statutory KS2 assessment is completed they will still need to submit them to the DfE. Important Notes: Before exporting CTFs, you must have previously added any required destination schools through Tools Other Schools (refer to the section Other CTF Information) and specified the directory in which the exported CTFs will be saved to, through Tools Setups CTFs. It is not necessary to assign leaving dates to pupils before exporting a CTF. Exporting a CTF does not mark a pupil as a leaver. Any leaving pupils will need to have end dates assigned so they are correctly taken off-roll in SIMS (refer to the Record Leavers section.) (April/2017) EIS

61 1. Navigate to Routines Data Out CTF Export CTF to display the Select CTF Export Type dialog: Primary database: Secondary database: 2. Select the Export Type required, in this case, General. 3. Within the Data to be Exported panel, ensure the check boxes relating to the data items you wish to export are ticked. 4. Select the status of the pupils you wish to exclude in the CTF from the View drop-down list (eg: Current Pupils for pupils still on-roll now) in the Student Options panel: 5. If you have already created a CTF for some of these pupils earlier on in the year, make sure there is a tick in the Include students already exported box. 6. Click the Refresh Students button to update the list based on the selection made. You can change the display order by clicking any of the column headings. 7. In most circumstances, a single Year Group will be selected, such as Year 6 for primary schools and Year 11 for secondary schools. This is achieved by selecting the required option from the Year Grp drop-down box: There are two Destination Columns you can only select one destination for each pupil: Destination LA/Other Destination School Used if the CTF needs to be sent to an LA Example Destination: Kent Used if the CTF needs to be sent to a school Example Destination: Waters Edge Primary School 8. Select the required destination for a pupil by clicking in the appropriate column next to their name, and choosing the option from the drop-down list this can be done individually for each pupil, or in bulk. (April/2017) EIS

62 Note: If multiple pupils need to be included in the same CTF, they should all have the same destination assigned. If this is a big group of pupils, it may be easier to select these pupils in bulk and then set the destination, instead of having to select this manually for each individual pupil in the list. To do this in bulk, hold down the CTRL key and select each of the required pupils. Then choose a destination for the last pupil highlighted, and this should assign the same destination to all of the selected pupils: Note: You can select a destination either by scrolling through the list, or start typing its name. 9. Once the destination has been assigned to all of the pupils and you are finished, press Export CTF, and then Yes when the prompt appears - this may take a few minutes if there is a large selection of pupils in the export: 10. A message will be displayed once it has completed showing the name of the CTF - it is useful to make a note of these if several CTFs will be exported for various destination schools: 11. Any errors will be displayed in the Exception Log report once the prompt is closed: The CTF will now be available in the specified CTF Export location (found in Tools Setups CTF.) 12. Repeat these steps for any remaining Destinations. (April/2017) EIS

63 Other CTF Information CTF Showing Incorrect Leavers This usually only occurs if left until the start of the new Academic Year. When selecting the View Leavers Previous Academic Year in the second section, Student Options, the wrong leavers are being displayed. The only way to find them is to change the view to All Leavers and find them manually in the list. Solution: Please ensure that you have the right Academic Year selected in SIMS for your login. You can check this by going to Focus Home Page: If the selected Academic Year is incorrect, click the one showing on the Home Page, then when the screen loads, select and double-click the correct one: A message should be displayed once this is finished. You can then return to the CTF Export screen (by using the Window menu option at the top of the page) and press Refresh Students to update the list. (April/2017) EIS

64 Missing Destination Schools in the Export CTF Screen If the required school does not appear in the Destination Schools column, it will need to be added. 1. Navigate to Tools Other Schools to display the Find School browser. 2. It is recommended to check first of all if the school has been entered previously with a different name spelling. Enter an * into the School Name field and then type part of its name. Example: An entry needs to be created for Endor Academy. If we just search for Endor, it appears that this has not previously been used: But if we add an * and then search for Endor, we see the entry does already exist but the name has been entered slightly differently: 3. If you have searched for the name of the school and it does not appear in the list, press New. 4. Within the Establishment panel, enter the name of the school within the School Name field. 5. To enter the LA Number, click the icon. 6. To find the required LA, you can either type its name (or the beginning of its name) into the LA Name box, or type the first three digits of its DfE number into the La Number box. Press Search: 7. Select and double-click the required LA from the list. (April/2017) EIS

65 8. Then type the remaining four digits into the Establishment Number field: 9. It is important at this stage to remember to tick the Destination box from the School Purpose list, to make sure this is available from the Destination School drop-down list when exporting a CTF: 10. The School Name, DfE Number and School Purpose are the only mandatory fields that need to be entered before saving the changes to enable this to appear as an available destination. So it is acceptable to Save the record once this has been entered, and leave the remaining panels blank if preferred. However, it is advisable to at least add the address and telephone number if known for future reference. 11. To see this option in the CTF screen, make sure any CTF windows are closed and go to Routines Data Out CTF Export CTF to start the export process again. Did you know? A quick way of checking what windows have been left open in SIMS is to use the Window button from the top SIMS toolbar: Select the window that needs to be closed, then use the X Close button from the righthand corner: Completed (April/2017) EIS

66 Administer Applicants Applicants can be entered into SIMS either manually, or through the import of CTFs and ATFs (see the Import/Export ATF and CTFs section). Note: To manually create applicant records, refer to the next section, Creating an Applicant Record Manually. If your applicant records have already been created and you would like to view these or make changes to them, refer to the section Editing Existing Applicant Records. Creating an Applicant Record Manually Click here to watch a Support Video on creating manual Applicant Records 1. Navigate to Focus Admission Application - or use the Application shortcut in the SIMS toolbar: 2. Press New: 3. Enter the Surname, Forename, Gender and DOB: 4. Press Continue. A new application record will be displayed on screen with the Basic Details already filled in based on the information entered in the previous screen: (April/2017) EIS

67 5. Within the Registration Details panel, select the required Intake Group from the dropdown list, which will auto-fill the Admission Group (if a single Admission Group setup is being used), the Admission Date (which can be changed manually if they are nonstatutory aged) the Year Group and the Year Taught In: 6. At this stage it is possible to assign the applicant to the Registration Group for next year by selecting this from the drop-down list, if known. However, this can be done later for all applicants in bulk through the Pastoral Structure if preferred. Note: The mandatory fields which must be entered before saving the record are: Surname, Forename, Gender, DOB, Intake Group, Admission Group, Admission Date, Year Group and Year Taught In. 7. Once these have been entered, you can Save the record. Any other information can be added to the record at this stage (such as the Address, any listed Contacts and Medical Information), or added at a later time if preferred. (April/2017) EIS

68 Editing Existing Applicant Records For applicant records which have already been created, edit the information in SIMS via: 1. Focus Admission Application - or use the Application shortcut in the SIMS toolbar: 2. Use the boxes under the Find Application heading to enter the search criteria select the required Intake/Admission Group from the drop-down list and press Search to see all pupils in that Intake/Admission Group: 3. Select and double-click the name from the list to open the Admission Record. You will now have all of the available panels on screen, for you to view and edit as required: 4. When finished, press Save at the top of the screen to apply the changes. (April/2017) EIS

69 Accept Applicants If applicants are entered into SIMS through the import of an ATF or a CTF file, or created manually, the status is set by default to Applied. In order for them to start appearing in reports and the registers when needed, and to be able to place them into Curriculum Schemes and Academic Classes for the new Academic Year, it is important to remember to change the status to Accepted, once they have accepted the place with your school. This can be achieved either manually, or in bulk. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before changing the status of applicants, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Click here to watch a Support Video on Accepting Applicants Accepting Applicants - Manually 1. Navigate to Focus Admission Application - or use the Application shortcut in the SIMS toolbar: 2. Enter the search criteria to find the required applicants select the Intake Group from the drop-down list and press Search. 3. Find and double-click the applicant s name from the list. 4. Within the Registration Details panel, select Accepted from the Application Status drop-down list: 5. Once finished press Save to apply the changes. 6. Press Browse to return to the list of applicants and work your way through the list until all of the required applicants have a status of Accepted. (April/2017) EIS

70 Accepting Applicants - In Bulk 1. Navigate to Routines Admission Accept Applicants. 2. Select the required Admission Year from the drop-down and press Search: 3. Select and double-click the Intake Group from the list, to see a list of the applicants: 4. Tick the Accepted column for each applicant who has accepted their place: 5. Once finished, press Save and the list will be cleared the Summary totals at the top of the page will be updated to reflect the changes: Completed (April/2017) EIS

71 Allocate Applicants to Registration Groups Applicants can be allocated to the Registration Groups for September either manually within the applicant record, or through the Pastoral Structure for the next Academic Year. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before allocating applicants to Registration Groups, particularly when doing this through the Pastoral Structure, it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. Allocate Applicants to Registration Groups - Manually 1. Navigate to the admission record through Focus Admission Application, or by using the Application shortcut in the SIMS toolbar: 2. Select the required Intake Group from the drop-down list and press Search. 3. Find and double-click on the name in the list to open the record. 4. Within panel 2, Registration Details, select the Class from the drop-down list: 5. Once finished, press Save this will assign the class membership from their Date of Admission. (April/2017) EIS

72 Allocate Applicants to Registration Groups - In Bulk If applicants are non-statutory age, make a note of their Admission Date you can check this either by opening the Intake Group (through Routines Admission Admission Group Setup and searching for the group) or by opening one of the applicant s records and checking the date which shows in the Registration Panel, through Focus Admission Application, and searching by Intake Group.) Click here to watch a Support Video on allocating Applicants to Reg Groups (in bulk) 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure. 2. Ensure it says Next Academic Year at the top of the page: If the applicants are non-statutory age, change the Effective Date to the expected Admission Date and press Go. For statutory aged applicants, their admission date should be the first day of the new Academic Year this date should match the Effective Date showing in this screen. Press Go. 3. If your Effective Date is brought forward, you will see the following message: In this instance, we are only changing Class Memberships (rather than actually changing its structure) so it is ok to press Yes and continue. (April/2017) EIS

73 4. Expand +Pastoral Structure: If your Pastoral Structure for next year is fully vertical, you will need to expand the combined Year Groups, then right-click the Registration Group folder showing at the bottom of the Year Group list then select Members: Fully Horizontal Structure What it looks like: Is this my structure? All Year Groups are combined (vertical), so we expanded the collective Year Groups to find its associated Registration Group folder. If your structure is fully horizontal, or mixed, expand the Year Group which the applicants will be joining in September, then right click the Registration Group folder and select Members: What it looks like: Fully Horizontal Structure What it looks like: Mixed Pastoral Structure Is this my structure? All Year Groups are separated (horizontal), so we expanded the required Year Group to find its associated Registration Group folder. Is this my structure? Some Year Groups are separated (horizontal), and others are combined (vertical). In this example, Years R and 1 are vertical, so we expanded the shared Year Group to find its associated Registration Group folder. Note: It is important to right-click on the actual Registration Group folder, rather than the Year Group or the name of the class itself. (April/2017) EIS

74 This opens the Allocate Students/Applicants dialog, where all applicants or pupils expected to be in this Year Group next Academic Year should be listed at this stage, if the Effective Date for non-statutory aged applicants was not moved forward, they would be missing from this list. 5. Ensure the Accepted Applicants box is ticked: 6. If there is more than one listed Year Group, for example where Year Groups are vertical (combined), right-click on the Year Group column and select Sort By: Note: The list of names should be updated and now sorted by Year Group. Scroll through the list until the required group of applicants appear on the screen. You can also untick the Students box to just see applicants this is important if you have moved the Effective Date forward. 7. To assign an applicant to a Registration Group, tick the column for the class they will be joining from September: 8. Repeat this for all listed applicants, until each applicant has a Registration Group assigned for the new Academic Year. 9. Press OK to close the Members dialog and return to the Pastoral Structure. When changing Memberships, the Save button does not become active. You can close the Pastoral Structure once finished and the changes will be applied from the Effective Date showing previously at the top of the page. Note: You can also use this screen to manually change the Registration Group for other pupils next year. If the remaining pupils who need allocating to a class next year are statutory aged, and are expected on the first day of term, make sure the Effective Date is correct. One way to ensure this is correct would be to close the Pastoral Structure, then reopen this from the Focus menu route so that it refreshes and shows the default Effective Date. Completed (April/2017) EIS

75 Printing Registration Group Lists Printing Registration Group Lists for the New Academic Year Once applicants have been assigned to their Registration Groups, and the Promotion Mapping routine has been carried out, it is possible to produce class lists in SIMS from the pre-defined reports these reports will include any pupils already on roll, and applicants with a status of Accepted only. Note: Use this routine to confirm if the Promotion Mapping has been successful, and to check that your applicants are appearing correctly in their new classes from September. Click here to watch a Support Video on printing Class Lists Use any of the following to produce a Registration Group list: Registration Groups (Dated) Registration Groups (Dated DOB Sort) Registration Groups (Dated Gender Sort) Registration Groups (Dated with Columns) One sheet per class, listing each pupil assigned to that class as of the specified Effective Date at runtime. Pupils listed in alphabetical order. As per the previous pupils listed in Date of Birth order. As per the previous pupils grouped by Gender. To use these reports in SIMS, complete the following steps: 1. Navigate to Reports Run Report. 2. Expand the +Focus menu. 3. Find and double-click on the Student subfolder. As per the Registration Groups Dated report, with five additional blank columns (can be used as tick sheets in class.) 4. Find the required report from the list and double-click to run, where you will see a series of prompts: (April/2017) EIS

76 Note: If these reports are not appearing in your list, you may need to reimport the report definitions. Navigate to Reports Import, press Open and the default report location should open in the Window. From the list select the most recent SIMS version from the list of files: PreDefined_Reports_[Current SIMS version] Press Open or double-click on the file to return to the Import report(s) dialog. Press Import, wait for the ticks to disappear and for the Status to change to Imported, and press Close to return to SIMS. 5. Deselect the Bypass Effective Date check box. 6. Enter the required start date for the new Academic Year if this needs to include nonstatutory aged applicants, set this to their expected Date of Admission. The date can be typed in manually or selected by using the calendar. 7. Select the required Year Groups and Registration Groups For everyone Use the Select All boxes instead of having to tick each Year and Registration Group. For selected Year Groups Tick the required Year Groups, and then press the Select All button for the Registration Groups this stops you from having to go through the list of Reg Groups and having to tick them all individually. Note: Sometimes where a school has a vertical structure in place (where Year Groups are combined), the Accept All boxes need to be ticked instead to include everyone, instead of using the Select All buttons. 8. Press OK to run the report: Note: These reports can be run as many times as necessary throughout the duration of the End of Year Procedures. The data may change if new applicants are being added or set to withdrawn, or pupils may be moved to different classes before September. Each time you run the report it will show the latest information (based on the specified Effective Date.) Completed (April/2017) EIS

77 Administer Attendance Printing Registers for the First Week of Term It is possible to print registers (also known as Manual Registration Sheets) for the first week of the new term, once applicants have been accepted and allocated to classes, and the Promotion Mapping routine has been carried out. Click here to watch a Support Video on printing Manual Registers 1. Navigate to Reports Attendance/Lesson Monitor Manual Entry Print Registration Sheet to display the Manual Entry Register page: 2. Enter the date range for the first week of the new Academic Year, with a Monday as the start date to include accepted applicants who are non-statutory age, set the week beginning for the week in which their expected Admission Date falls, and ensure Include accepted applicants is ticked: 3. Press Search to update the results. 4. Highlight the required group(s) using either the CTRL or SHIFT key to highlight multiple groups. 5. Click the Print button, and then OK to the prompt to produce the required Registration Sheets in your Web Browser: Note: Where the first day of the new Academic Year falls on a day other than Monday, SIMS may generate the Registration Sheets with both the new and current Academic Year s pupils shown as members. This is because the report is based on the Week Beginning date, as one Academic Year ends and another begins in the same week. In this circumstance, it is recommended for schools to wait until the first full week of the new Academic Year before printing Manual Registration Sheets. Instead, it might be easier to use the Registration Groups (Dated) report to print a list of pupils belonging to each class. (April/2017) EIS

78 Enter Reasons for Absence for the Current Year If you are using Edit Marks through Focus Attendance/Lesson Monitor, check that the reasons for absence have been entered into SIMS. The Deal with Unexplained Absences routine checks for any outstanding N marks, which need to be resolved before the end of the Academic Year. 1. Navigate to Focus Attendance/Lesson Monitor Deal with Unexplained Absences. 2. Enter the dates for the start and end of the current Academic Year and press Search (for secondary schools it may be better to search for a term at a time otherwise the report could take a while to generate.) 3. The Group Type defaults to Year Group if suitable, select the required Year Groups and press Search. Otherwise, select a different Group Type from the list, press Search and select the required groups. 4. Press Print to generate the report on screen: 5. Any N marks need to be changed to the appropriate code before the end of the current Academic Year. Confirm these with your Attendance Officer if you are unsure of what the correct marks should be. The marks can be printed, changed and saved in this screen. Completed Check for Missing Marks Before the end of the current Academic Year, any missing marks need to be identified so they can be corrected before the Autumn Census. This routine was referenced in the Administering Existing Pupils section the same principle applies, but instead, the Group Type can be selected as Whole School, and the date ranges either set for the whole Academic Year, or split into terms to make the report run more quickly for secondary schools. Completed (April/2017) EIS

79 Other SIMS Module Processes Dinner Money EIS have produced a set of guidance notes for the activities which should be carried out before the end of the current Academic Year, which is available from the EIS Support Portal: Note: This section only applies to schools using the Dinner Money module. If your school does not use this, move onto the next section. Completed SIMS Partnership Xchange Partnership Xchange users need to set up their partnership links for the next Academic Year. This is achieved by adding a new Partnership Instance for the new Academic Year linked to the same zone as their current active Partnership Instance. A school can only have one active Partnership Instance per Academic Year. For instructions on creating the Partnership Instance, please refer to the Joining/Managing a Partnership chapter in the Partnership Xchange for School Administrators Handbook. Note: This section only applies to Partnership Xchange users. If your school does not use this, move onto the next section. Completed SIMS Learning Gateway 1. Create and distribute SLG accounts for new staff, pupils and parents. 2. Remove access to SLG from leavers, the parents of leavers (where they have no other children attending your school), and any staff members who have left. For full instructions, please refer to the Removing Provisioned Users chapter in the Active Directory Provisioning for System Administrators Handbook. Note: This section only applies to schools using the SIMS Learning Gateway module. If your school does not use this, move onto the next section. Completed (April/2017) EIS

80 Routines after the New Academic Year has Started The following routines should only be completed once the new Academic Year has started: Admit applicants and issue UPNs Record any readmitted pupils Print the official register for July Add the not required codes for part-time pupils Admit Applicants and Issue UPNs Statutory aged school applicants should be admitted on the first day that you expect them to attend your school and not when they actually arrive at the school. Should an applicant not arrive, schools will need to consider if one of the following actions should be taken: Applicant is statutory school aged Applicant is statutory school aged Applicant is nonstatutory school aged Applicant is nonstatutory school aged Your school has been contacted on or before the expected admission date, by a parent who advises the applicant will not be starting at the school and has been admitted at another school Your school has not been contacted on the expected admission date by a parent. They do not arrive on the expected date of admission, and your school has not been contacted to say they are attending elsewhere. They do not arrive on the expected date of admission, but your school is then notified that they are attending elsewhere. Your school can change the Application Status to Withdrawn. The applicant record must be admitted and the appropriate attendance marks entered for the absence. Do not admit the applicant until they arrive. Your school can change the Application Status to Withdrawn. Notes: If an applicant is admitted before they arrive and then your school is notified that they are attending elsewhere, they will already have been placed on-roll with an Admission Number. In this circumstance the only way to correct this is to delete the entire pupil SIMS record, as they were never on roll with your school. DO NOT ENTER A LEAVING DATE. If you have any questions please contact the EIS Service Desk. Guest pupils will be admitted and a pupil record created. They will not be assigned an Admission Number and will therefore not appear on-roll. They can be selected from the Student Browse area by selecting Guest from the Status drop-down list. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before admitting applicants it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first refer to Appendix A for instructions. (April/2017) EIS

81 Click here to watch a Support Video on admitting applicants 1. Navigate to Routines Admission Admit Applications to display the Find Intake Group browser: 2. Use the search criteria (such as Admission Year) to find and then double-click the required Intake Group to display the Admit Applicant Detail page. The Summary Panel displays read-only statistics about the selected Intake Group as shown in the following screenshot: Total Applicants Planned Admission Applied Offered Accepted The number of applicants who have been entered into SIMS and allocated to the Intake Group. The original number of new applicants intended for this Intake Group. The number of applicants who have applied for their places in this Intake Group. The number of applicants offered places in this Intake Group. The number of applicants who have accepted places in this Intake Group. Withdrawn The number of applicants who have withdrawn their application. Rejected The number of rejected applications in this Intake Group (used by Independent Schools only.) (April/2017) EIS

82 The Applications panel displays by default all applicants with an Application Status of Accepted. The display indicates the Name, Gender, Date of Birth, expected Date of Admission, Enrolment Status, Application Status, Current UPN, and indicates where a UPN will be assigned. A tick grid is provided enabling the Application Status to be changed as required. The order of the display can be changed by clicking any column heading primary schools may find it useful to sort applicants by their Date of Birth: 3. If you need to assign UPNs, click the Assign Permanent UPN button. This will update all of the values in the Assign UPN column to Assign Permanent UPN: Permanent UPNs are assigned to new applicants only when it is believed that they have never previously been allocated a UPN, or to replace a Temporary UPN. Temporary UPNs are not recommended. Schools should check with their Local Authority if they are unsure how to proceed. Note: At this point it does not matter if not every pupil needs a UPN assigned. Your changes will not be saved unless you click the Save button. This applies to the Admit All button as well. UPNs are required by the School Census this is the only stage where is possible to assign Permanent UPNs in bulk. Once applicants have been admitted, if this hasn t already been done, they have to be assigned manually by going into each individual pupil record. (April/2017) EIS

83 4. To edit individual applicants, select the required value from the drop-down list in the Assign UPN column eg: No Change if the applicant already has a UPN: 5. If you intend to admit all of the applicants in the selected Intake Group, click the Admit All button: If the majority of applicants need to be admitted, use the Admit All button to tick the Admitted column for all applicants. You can then manually set the other applicants to Withdrawal if you have confirmed they will be attending elsewhere, or if they are non-statutory aged, you can remove the Admitted tick (by clicking on it) to leave their Application Status as Accepted. 6. Once finished, use the Save button to apply the changes. This may take a while to complete if this is a large Intake Group. The display will then be updated it may look like the applicants have disappeared, but this is because it shows the Accepted applicants only. Check the Summary panel to confirm that the right applicants were admitted/withdrawn: Completed (April/2017) EIS

84 How can I confirm the applicants have been successfully admitted? 9. Navigate to Focus Pupil Pupil Details to open the Find Student screen. 10. Using the search criteria, find the required Year Group/Class the applicants have been admitted to. 11. Press Search and check the names showing in the list, and the total showing in the bottom left-hand corner in SIMS: Note: If you have admitted applicants with a future Admission Date, they will not appear in this screen by default. Instead, change the Status to Future and they should appear. Completed (April/2017) EIS

85 Readmitting Pupils Pupils that were previously on-roll with your school and left, and have subsequently returned should be readmitted in SIMS this is the correct procedure. Before readmitting a pupil, schools should consider the following: Scenario Pupil left and attended another school before they returned to your school. Pupil decided to leave at the end of term, but changed their mind and returned in September. They have not attended another school. Solution Readmit the pupil and complete their Previous School history in their record. Even if they did not come back on the first day of term, if they are statutory aged and did not attend another school before returning, their Date of Leaving should be removed and the appropriate marks entered for their absence. Important Note: It is not recommended to readmit a pupil with a future Admission Date, but to wait instead until they have arrived before placing them back on-roll. It is critical that when a pupil returns to your school after leaving that in the first scenario listed above their record is Readmitted. Schools should NOT do the following: Action: Remove their original Date of Leaving if they attended elsewhere - Implication on SIMS: This will put the pupil back on-roll and cause missing attendance marks for the period where they were a leaver. Action: Change the pupil s original Admission Date - Implication on SIMS: This will wipe out any attendance marks entered into SIMS before the amended Admission Date. Action: Create a new SIMS record for the pupil - Implication on SIMS: This will create a duplicate record and create problems with their UPN and affect their entire history in SIMS. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before readmitting pupils it is strongly recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first as this process is very complex to reverse if the wrong record is readmitted refer to Appendix A for instructions. (April/2017) EIS

86 To readmit a pupil, follow this procedure: 1. Navigate to Focus Pupil Pupil Details. 2. Press New to readmit a pupil, we have to pretend that we are adding them into SIMS as a brand new person. 3. Enter their basic details into the boxes provided and press Continue: Note: Take care to enter their name and DOB correctly in order for the readmission process to work. At this point, the following message should appear: SIMS has found a match for the information entered, which is their existing SIMS record (which is marked as a leaver.) It gives you an overview of their basic information so you can confirm if it is the same record. 4. It is critical that the Open button is used at this stage when SIMS finds a match. 5. When the prompt to readmit the pupil appears, click on Yes: 6. Their record is now active again. You will need to enter their new Admission Date and select a Year Group for them within the Registration Details panel: (April/2017) EIS

87 7. It is recommended at this point to also assign their Registration Group, before saving the record, so their membership for the Academic Year is set correctly: 8. It is also recommended at this point to enter their Previous School history within the School History panel before saving their record, if you know where they attended previously - otherwise a Census error will be triggered for them in the Autumn Return: a. Press New to make a new entry in the Previous Schools box. b. Select the School from the list by using the icon. c. Enter an appropriate Date of Arrival eg: the day after they left your school. d. Enter an appropriate Date of Leaving eg: the day before they returned to your school. e. Enter a suitable Reason for Leaving eg: In-year transfer - maintained school if they left mid-year. f. Enter a suitable Enrolment Mode: g. Once all boxes have been filled in, press OK to return to their SIMS record and Save. Update any other information in their record where appropriate eg: change of address (Move House button) etc. Completed (April/2017) EIS

88 The Official Register for the Previous Academic Year SIMS holds all previous Academic Year s attendance marks; therefore it is not absolutely necessary to print out the Official Register for the previous Academic Year. Schools are required to be able to access electronic copies for at least the previous three years, which SIMS will allow schools to do. Schools may wish to run the report, which generates a web-based (HTML) output and then save the reports. Schools should be advised that these reports will take some time to generate due to the large amount of data extracted, and it is recommended that the largest group chosen is Year Group. For secondary schools in particular, trying to run this report for the whole school may result in SIMS crashing. You should deal with missing marks and reasons for absence prior to printing and saving this report (refer to the Administer Attendance section.) 1. Navigate to Reports Attendance/Lesson Monitor Whole Group Pupil Reports Official Register Report. 2. Set the date range for the previous Academic Year. Press Search. 3. Highlight the required groups by using either the CTRL or the SHIFT key. 4. Press Print, and OK to the prompt, to generate the report in your Internet Browser. 5. To save the report, within your Internet Browser go to File Save As and follow the prompts to choose a suitable name and location for the report. Completed (April/2017) EIS

89 Add Not Required Codes for Part-time Pupils For non-statutory aged pupils, it is possible to enter X codes in advance through the Attendance module, to indicate the sessions where part-time pupils are not required to attend, so they do not have missing marks in the registers. Note: This section only applies to schools with non-statutory aged pupils. If you do not have any of these pupils, move onto the next section. SIMS AND FMS BACKUP Before entering Weekly Patters it is recommended to take a backup of SIMS and FMS first as this process is very complex to reverse if the wrong record is readmitted refer to Appendix A for instructions. 1. Navigate to Focus Attendance Enter a Weekly Pattern. 2. Specify the date range appropriate to the period for which your chosen pupils will be part-time. The dates must lie within the current Academic Year. 3. Choose an appropriate Group Type: If each pupil has a different weekly pattern, ie: they attend different session on different days, select Individual Pupils. If classes share a pattern, ie: N1 AM class all attend only AM sessions, select Reg Group. 4. Press Search then select the required pupils/classes from the list, using either the CTRL or SHIFT key for multiple options. 5. Using the grid at the bottom of the page, enter an X for any sessions that the selection of pupils are not required to attend: 6. Click the Apply button to save the changes, and the codes will be entered into the registers accordingly. Completed (April/2017) EIS

90 General SIMS Housekeeping The following routines do not need to be run as part of the End of Year Procedures, but it is advisable to carry these out due to the admission of new pupils. Update Parental Salutation & Address Fields For reports and letters sent home to parents it is recommended to update the Parental Salutation and Addressee fields stored within pupil records. This can be achieved in bulk via the following: 1. Navigate to Routines Pupil Update Salutation/Addressee Parental. 2. Find the required selection of pupils using the search criteria, eg: by Year or Reg Group. 3. Press Search then select the required options from the list by using either the CTRL or SHIFT key to select multiple entries. Press the arrow next to the Selected button, and either press All to highlight all pupils, or Selected to just pick up the ones highlighted. 4. In the Options panel, select the relevant check boxes to either update Parental Salutation or Update Parental Addressee. Both options can be performed at the same time if required. 5. If you tick the Overwrite any existing information for the selected students, this will fill in any blank boxes, but also update any existing information in case this has changed eg: if parents have separated. Some schools prefer to leave this box unticked, and manually update the Addressee and Salutation fields in the pupil records where this needs to change, so they don t risk losing any existing data. 6. Press Generate this may take a few minutes to complete. 7. Once finished, the Students panel will have updated the Generated Salutation and Generated Addressee fields if information was changed for the listed pupil s contacts. 8. Finally press Save to apply the changes if you are happy with the amendments. Note: For this routine to work correctly, parental contacts will need to have a House Icon appearing next to their name (so SIMS knows they live at the same address as the pupil) and have a tick in the Parental Responsibility box, within their contact record. (April/2017) EIS

91 Run the Name Format Tidy This routine enables the tidying up of the names of individuals entered into SIMS, so there is consistency with the naming convention used ie: all surnames in UPPERCASE and all forenames in Title Case. Changes can be applied to a combination of pupils, staff members, agents and contacts or globally, as required. 1. Navigate to Tools Housekeeping General to display the Housekeeping page. 2. In the Name Format panel, select the relevant check box adjacent to the type of individual to whom the changes will apply. 3. Select either the UPPERCASE or Title Case radio buttons adjacent to the appropriate part of the name that you wish to change. Any changes that you make will be reflected in the Example section, allowing you to preview how the new selection will look before applying it: 4. Click on Apply to update the name formats and then click on Save to keep the changes. Updating the Mailing Point The normal day to day correspondence intended for parental perusal is usually sent home with one of the pupils in the family. To identify the chosen pupil from each family who is considered to be the mailing point, the Mailing Point checkbox should be ticked within the Family/Home panel in their SIMS record. It is possible to update this in bulk by using the Housekeeping routine: 1. Navigate to Tools Housekeeping General. 2. Within panel 3, Update Mailing Point, the Effective Date can be left as today, or a date in the past or future as preferred. 3. Select either the Oldest or Youngest Child option from the Mailing Point drop-down list as preferred. 4. Click on Apply and then Save to finish the routine. Note: If siblings do not appear with the correct Family Links in SIMS, or if addresses have been duplicated, this routine may not update each record. Also, if you have any twins or triplets on roll, you will need to untick the Mailing Point box manually for the family so only one pupil in each remains as ticked. (April/2017) EIS

92 Updating the Pupil Premium Indicator The Pupil Premium Indicator is a tick box field in SIMS, visible in the Additional Information panel of a pupil/student record: Note: This is an optional field and is not picked up by the Census this will not affect a school s funding if this is left unticked, or ticked for the wrong pupils/students in error. It is used for internal reporting uses only: Note visible when hovering over the tick box/field. Why do the ticks disappear in September? The Pupil Premium Indicator is for internal reporting only. The ticks do not automatically carry forward as pupils/students may no longer be eligible. Next to the Pupil Premium Indicator field in SIMS, the current Academic Year is displayed: At the start of every new Academic Year, a new tick box will appear and its label will be updated to show the new date. This is why it appears that the information has disappeared at the start of term in September. The information/tick for the previous year is moved into the history this is accessible from the magnifier icon, next to the field: This means that at the start of each Academic Year the Pupil Premium Indicator needs to be updated. For further information and guidance on this process, please refer to Information Notice 16- E091: Updating the Pupil Premium Indicator for the 2016/17 Academic Year. This was written for the current Academic Year, but the same process will apply when the next year starts in September. (April/2017) EIS

93 Selected Academic Year in SIMS In SIMS there exists a Selected Academic Year setting. Typically this setting is only changed by staff members who use the Curriculum modules in SIMS, such as the Timetable, where they may need to view a future or previous Academic Year. However, this setting can impact the CTF area as well. Once your new Academic Year has started, you can amend this setting if preferred. But if you do not use CTFs, or the Curriculum modules, it will not harm your SIMS if the Selected Year appearing on your Home Page is not accurate. If you have never changed this setting before, it may be out-of-date. This a user-based setting, so must be changed individually by each user whilst logged into SIMS with their own personal login. 1) Navigate to Focus Home Page. 2) Click on the Selected Academic Year hyperlink: 3) Double-click the correct Academic Year: 4) Press OK when the prompt appears: There is no need to close or log out of SIMS the changes will have been automatically applied. (April/2017) EIS

94 APPENDIX A Creating Backups of SIMS & FMS Important Note: It is important that you are the only user logged into SIMS and FSM. Network Managers are reminded that they should check regularly the amount of space left on the SIMS Server drive where the MS SQL Server is installed, and delete old SIMS and FMS backup files that are too old for a potential restore to be of any use. Capita advise that there should be a minimum of 15GB free space on the server where MS SQL Server and the SIMS Document Management Server are installed. If for any reason either backup is NOT successfully completed (if this is the case you should get an error message telling you this), please DO NOT proceed any further and contact the EIS Service Desk for assistance, on Manual Backup of the SIMS Database 1. Open SIMS.net and login as a user with SIMS System Manager rights. Select Focus System Manager System Manager At the SIMS System Manager Module screen, Close the Welcome box if it appears. 3. Select Tools Create Backup. The Backup Path will be displayed this is not editable. 4. Enter a suitable Backup Description eg: today s date. Press Create and then Yes when the prompt appears to start the backup. A message box is displayed whilst the backup is in progress. Once it has completed, this will automatically close, leaving the main System Manager screen open. 5. Close System Manager. Manual Backup of the FMS Database Due to the fact that SIMS Personnel synchronises with FSM, it is VITAL that you make a backup of the FSM database at the same time as the SIMS backup. This is necessary to ensure synchronous continuity between SIMS and FMS if a restore is required. 1. Open FMS and login as a user with Level 5 Access Rights. Select Tools FMS Transactions Backup. 2. Click Yes to start the backup. You should then see the hourglass while the backup is being made. A message is shown once the backup has finished. 3. Click OK to complete the process and close FMS. (April/2017) EIS

95 APPENDIX B Defining different House Names in SIMS Houses in SIMS are defined within the Pastoral Structure, along with the Year, National Curriculum Year, and Registration Groups. If the names of the current Houses in SIMS will be changing from September, it is necessary within the Pastoral Structure to define new Houses and remove the existing ones. This is the same process as defining different Registration Group names: Open the Pastoral Structure for the next Academic Year Create new Houses to reflect the name changes Remove the existing Houses (old names) Note: For schools who currently have no Houses defined in SIMS, but would like to set these up for September, the same process applies - but you will not have to remove any existing Houses as these will not be present in your SIMS database. Click here to watch a Support Video on Defining different House Names 1. Navigate to Focus School Pastoral Structure Next Academic Year Structure. 2. Press the Go icon which is displayed next to the Effective Date field: Important Note: When making changes for the new Academic Year, always ensure it says Next Academic Year at the top of the page. The Effective Date displayed is the date that was set as the Term 1 start date when defining the new Academic Year. This means any changes made to the structure will only affect SIMS from this date onwards, leaving the current Pastoral Structure unchanged. 3. Right-click on the House icon and select Reuse Old House Note: It is important to check first of all to see if these new names have been used previously, by going into the history: a. If the new names have not been previously used, press Cancel to return to the Pastoral Structure. b. If any of the required names are appearing in this list, select the name and press OK to reinstate the House. (April/2017) EIS

96 4. Right-click again on the House icon and select New House. 5. Enter a Short Name and a Full Name for the new house. These can be the same, or the Short Name can be abbreviated if its name is longer than 10 characters: Example - Short Name: BF Full Name: Butterflies Note: The Full Name will be displayed in the majority of SIMS.net reports and in the Registration Panel in a pupil s record. 6. This step is optional; at this stage you can assign the Head of house and any Supervisors for the new house. Press the 7. Select the name from the list and press OK. icon to open the People Browse screen. 8. If required, use the icon to add any supervisors. 9. Press the icon, use the boxes to search for the staff member, select the name and press OK, select a role of Supervisor from the list and then press OK. 10. Press OK again to return to the Pastoral Structure and see the new house listed: 11. Repeat these steps for any remaining houses that need to be added to the Pastoral Structure. 12. Once the new houses have been created, the old houses (with the names currently being used) will need to be removed. Right-click on one of the old houses and press Remove: 13. The following message may appear: If the existing members of the house you are trying to remove are all being moved together into one of the new houses which has just been created, select the required House from the drop-down list and press OK. Otherwise, select any house from the list and the memberships can be changed at a later point (refer to the Adding House Memberships in Bulk section.). (April/2017) EIS

97 14. Remove any remaining house names that are no longer required from September, assigning the new memberships when the prompt appears. Once the houses have been removed, only the correct names will appear in the Pastoral Structure for next year. Please note that removing a house in next year s pastoral structure will not affect the current year s pastoral structure: 15. Save the changes once you have finished please note that if several amendments have been made that this routine can take a while to save. Assigning House Memberships In Bulk Once the Pastoral Structure has been saved and the new house names can be seen, it is possible to allocate pupils to these new groups: 1. Right-click on the House icon and select Members: 2. Set the Effective Date Range radio button to Over the whole academic year: 3. All of the pupils will be listed in a table by default in alphabetical order. To assign a new membership/change an existing membership, tick the appropriate column next to the required pupil s name. 4. The list can be sorted by Gender, Year Group, or Registration Group as preferred, by right-clicking on the column header and selecting Sort By. 5. Once finished press OK. The changes to the houses will be saved automatically. (April/2017) EIS