Foundation Stage Profile - Autumn Return

The deadline for the submission of the Autumn return of Foundation Stage Profiles is:

5th November 2010

In eProfile the file is created from the Manage Your Work tab, Create an Assessment csv.

The file should be renamed in the format:

873nnnn_873LLLL_AutA.csv

(where nnnn is your school number)

The file should then be uploaded to the Generic File Upload area of S2S.

Migration to SQL 2008

Attention all non Centrally Hosted schools. Have you migrated your SIMS to SQL 2008? If not and you are NOT Centrally Hosted, please can you contact the Helpline urgently.

This migration MUST be carried out before the next SIMS .net upgrade which is due for release in November and is required to enable schools to generate next January’s School Census.

School Workforce Census

B2B Personnel
All schools that are continuing to import EPM staff contract information will have had a file released to them which will bring in contracts as at the end of April. It will be necessary to Import All Employee Data to bring in these contracts.

The September data is currently being processed and will be released to schools at the beginning of November. Please check and clear B2B Suspense and Review Changes regularly. If these are not clear absence data from your school will not be sent by B2B and this is required for the School Workforce Census.

Staff Absences
Please check that the Working Days Lost box has been completed for all staff absences
Vacancy and Headcount Spreadsheet Your school will receive a spreadsheet from ONEVision requesting Headcount and vacancies as at Census Day, 4th November. Schools MUST submit a return, it may be a nil return but a reply is required.

Secondary Schools
Secondary Schools are responsible for their own School Workforce Return. If this return is being performed by a different user than the School Census, the Validation File 0053 will need to be imported into SIMS .net by that user.

NOVA T4

Capita have very recently softened their stance on when this ceases to be supported as a whole.

We will keep schools informed as this develops. Meanwhile, this will mean that in order to continue to enable schools to use this product we will make Version 1 Central Hosting available to T4 users until such time as Capita cease support or we can find other ways of supporting T4 on Version 2 Central Hosting.

Blank Marksheets in Exams Organiser

The Sims .net Summer release has caused problems with marksheets appearing blank in the September season.

To rectify this, change the effective date to a date after the marksheet was created and or when the students were assigned to the season.

Importing Last Year’s FSP Results into SIMS .net

Importing last year’s Foundation Stage Profile Results into SIMS .net should be a very simple process.

Ensure the FSP Summary Wizard has been imported into SIMS. Create a results file for your MIS from within eProfile, this will create a CTF file which can be imported into SIMS using the normal CTF import routine (this process also generates a csv file but it is the CTF that should be used to bring the results into SIMS).

Fund 25 in FMS for Dinner Money

Many schools will be utilising the new instructions for recording Dinner Money in FMS.

Around three years ago we advised all schools to exclude Fund 25 from the CFR and this may now cause problems. If you do encounter problems use Tools General Ledger Setup, locate FUND 25 and highlight it then click on the pencil to edit it.

If there is a tick in the box entitled 'exclude from CFR' remove it then Save. This should allow you to complete the Dinner Money setup.

Monthly Tasks in SIMS .net

Below is a suggested list of tasks that need carrying out on a weekly/monthly or a periodical task we are suggesting is carried out during the coming month that over time will lead to improvements in your school’s data quality.

Helpline guidance notes for these tasks can be found on the SIMS Home Page of the Portal - the index offers an easy way of identifying the guidance you are looking for. Alternatively why not use the Documentation Link from the Home Page in SIMS .net.

Weekly Check Sheet
[] Record Staff absences
[] Check and clear B2B Suspense Processing
[] Check and clear B2B Review Changes
[] Send out Dinner Money Debtor Letters

This Month’s Checks Tick sheet
[] Return Headcount and Vacancy Spreadsheet for SWC
[] Consider running address tidy & merge in SIMS .net
[] Work on returned Data Collection Sheets to update Student data
[] Schools with Foundation Stage Import last year’s FSP into SIMS
[] Start collecting Modes of Travel data for the Spring Census

Recording Nursery Pupils Hours and Attendance

The Autumn SIMS .net upgrade will bring new functionality into SIMS .net for schools with Nursery age children.

This should make it much easier for schools to record the hours and attendance of Nursery pupils. It will be possible to define the times of sessions as appropriate to your school and therefore make administration of these pupils much easier.

IMPULSE Conference 2010

Cambridgeshire IMPULSE Conference For Heads and Senior Leaders
Dates and Venues 09.30 – 12.30

• 16th November - CPDC (Cambridge Professional Development Centre)
  
• 18th November - Oliver Cromwell Hotel, March
  
• 23rd November - Education ICT Service, Godmanchester
  
• 25th November - Eastern Leadership Centre, Pampisford

Demonstration of Discover including APP (Assessing Pupil Progress) and EYFSP by Natasha Marsh of Capita SIMS.

Other topics covered - Reporting to Parents: Achievements and Behaviour; Adopting the SIMS Learning Gateway.

Two Free Places Per School. Please do reserve your places, as places are limited. Please book your places by: telephone 01480 376670 or by e-mail ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Centrally Hosted MIS Version 2

Following enquiries from schools, we are able to offer the following options to schools:

Office licensing. Schools will only require Office 2007 licenses to cover staff that use Microsoft Office on central hosting. This is particularly helpful for staff whose only use of central hosting is to access a particular SIMS module, e.g. attendance or lesson monitor. So if staff do not use Office to access documents (e.g. on the office share) nor to run reports from SIMS that
require Office, then they do not need an Office licence and the menu items will not be made available to them.

Please contact the Helpline if you believe this applies to your school.

Key Dates Nov 2010 - Jan 2011

To book on a course listed in Key Dates, telephone 01480 376670

• FMS Accounts Receiveable - 9th Nov (WB)
  
• FMS Equipment Register - 3rd Nov (WB)
  
• IMPULSE Conference - 16th, 18th, 23rd, 25th Nov
  
• Budget Adjustments in FMS - 4th Nov
  
• Reporting in SIMS .net for Primary Schools - 1st Dec (WB)
  
• Fees Billing in SIMS .net - 18th Nov, 2nd Dec
  
• School Census Training - 15th Dec, 10th Jan

All courses based at Godmanchester unless otherwise stated. Other venues: (OC) = Oliver Cromwell, March; (ML) = March Library; (CPDC) = Cambridge Professional Development Centre; (WB) = ICT Service Waterbeach; (BMC) = Buckden Millennium Centre; (OV) = Over Community Centre.

eProfile - Getting Started

New notes have been created to guide users through the many processes involved in recording Foundation Stage Profile data.

The notes include chapters on:

• Downloading and installing eProfile
• Importing pupil details
• Entering assessments
• Creating graphs and charts
• Uploading results files for Autumn and EOKS

Click here to read these notes now. The notes are also available in PDF format.

These and other Assessment related notes can be found on the Assessment Planet on the SIMS Home Page.

Census Autumn 2010 - Thursday 6th October

Tomorrow is the big day for the School Autumn Census 2010 - all the notes you need to run this census can be found here:

HELPLINE School Census Autumn 2010 Notes:

• Word Document
• PDF Document

CAPITA School Census Autumn 2010 Preparation Notes:

• Primary/Nursery/Special
• Secondary

CAPITA Producing the School Census Autumn 2010 Notes:

• Primary
• Nursery
• Special
• Secondary

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Census Autumn 2010 Prep Notes:

• Primary
• Secondary
• Middle
• Special
• Nursery

Census Errors & Resolutions:

Errors & Resolutions - Version 5.0 2010

COLLECT Website:

Link to COLLECT website

COLLECT Website Notes

Good luck!