Summer 2024 Upgrade to SIMS (v7.218) and FMS (v6.218)
The Summer 2024 SIMS Upgrade (V7.218) & FMS (V6.218) is planned to be rolled out on the evening of Friday 12th July 2024 (Scomis Hosted users please log off by 5pm)
Non Hosted users: The new release will be authorised in Solus on Friday 12th July 2024
Schools with SchoolComms
IMPORTANT: Please be aware due to statutory changes to the attendance codes in the SIMS Summer 2024 release, a new version of Schoolcomms Desktop (9.6P) is required.
Hosted schools have had Schoolcomms updated already. Non hosted schools please click here to download the latest version. Please ensure you have uninstalled your previous version of Schoolcomms before proceeding with the new download.
Please see the latest information on the Summer release below:
What’s New in SIMS
ATTENDANCE
Attendance Code DfE Changes – Please see our FAQ HERE for more information
Applicable to English schools
The attendance codes for schools in England have been updated to the new DfE selection of 2-character attendance codes.
Attendance Reporting Dictionary
Applicable to all schools
The session attendance section of the reporting dictionary has been updated with a new mandatory Statutory Explanation for B, K and Y7 lesson and session attendance codes.
SCHOOL CENSUS – AUTUMN RETURN
Key Dates
Census Date: 03/10/2024
Attendance collected from 01/04/2024 to 31/07/2024
Exclusions collected from 01/01/2024 to 31/07/2024
Alternative Provision Placements collected from 16/05/2024 to 03/10/2024
Funding and Monitoring collected from 01/08/2024 to 03/10/2024
Learning Aims collected from 01/08/2023 to 03/10/2024
Free School Meals collected from 17/05/2024 to 03/10/2024
Attendance Detail Report
Applicable to English schools
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census | Detail Report
A new column titled Age 5-15 is now visible in the report. Additionally, a Total column is now visible on the right-hand side of the report which calculates all the attendance sessions where the student has been recorded as present.
Funding and Monitoring
Applicable to English schools
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
Tutor hours for 16-19 tuition fund is no longer collected.
Early Years
Applicable to English schools
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
The following updates and changes have been made to the Early Years reports:
- The 30 Hour Code is now Eligibility Code for all terms
- The Expanded Hours column has been added to the Early Years grid
- The 2 Year Old Basis for Funding grid has been added to the Autumn census
- The EYPPR grid has been added and includes children from 9 months old(9 mth,1, 2,3,4)
- DAF is now collected for children from 9 months old (9 mth,1, 2,3,4)
Employer ID
Applicable to English schools
Routines | Statutory Returns | School Census
Employer ID is no longer collected for the Post-16 work placements.
Post-16 Programme of Study
Applicable to English schools
Tools | Academic Management | Course Manager | Post-16 Programme of Study
The Programme Type ‘T Level Transition’ has been changed to ‘T Level Foundation Year’.
Tools | Academic Management | Course Manager | Maintain Course
The level of ‘T Level Transition’ has been changed to ‘T Level Foundation/Transition’.
SEN Need
Applicable to schools in England
Tools | Maintains | Lookups
Focus | Student | Special Educational Needs
The SEN Need Type lookup has been updated with a new value, the code DS and description Down Syndrome is now active by default.
SCHOOL WORKFORCE CENSUS
Census Date: 07/11/2024
Absence Start Date: 01/09/2023
Absence End Date: 31/08/2024
Continuous Contract Start Date: 01/09/2023
Continuous Contract End Date: 07/11/2024
Staff details Update
Applicable to schools in Wales
Focus | Person | Staff | Professional Details
Focus | Person | Staff | Employment Details
Two new tick boxes have been added for School Business Professionals (SBP) and Leadership Non-Teacher (LNT). These can be included in the Report Designer under the Professional Area options.
EXAMS
Seating Plan reports
Applicable to all schools
Tools | Examinations | Seating Plans Report
A new Seating Plans report is now available on SIMS.Net. When run in Invigilator mode an asterisk* appears before the name of any candidate who has any Access Arrangements recorded and square brackets around the End Time for any candidate who has been allocated Extra Time for that exam. These flags can also be used to apply conditional formatting when the report is exported into Excel. Additionally, the Invigilator mode generates a table, as the final page which contains a list of candidates in the report who have any Access Arrangements, Extra Time and/or Comments recorded against them in the Candidate Details screen. The Display mode of this report does not provide these flags or the End Time or the Access Arrangements table at the end of the report.