New Functions in SIMS Autumn 2022

Please see links for ESS videos for some updates below:

SIMS Interventions: User customisable Interventions areas

SIMS Interventions: Reporting on Session Notes

SIMS Interventions: Recording Intervention Attendance

Pronouns Enhancements in Autumn

Pronouns in Student Reports

Fee’s Billing: Producing Bills in Arabic

Personal Pronouns

Recently, functionality was provided in SIMS that enables the setup and maintenance of personal pronouns. This functionality is accessible (via Tools | Setups | Pronoun Setup) and can be accessed by School Administrators and System Managers.

Personal pronouns can be chosen by pupil/students, applicants, contacts, staff members and agents and applied to their SIMS record. Once applied to an individual in SIMS, a suffix of their specified personal pronoun is displayed in bold text at the top of their record

A number of enhancements have been made to various areas in SIMS to incorporate this functionality. For clarity and consistency, these enhancements have been prefixed in the Release Notes with Personal Pronouns to highlight the impacted areas.

Personal pronouns are not collected in any statutory returns at present, there is no requirement to report this information to the DfE.

Admissions

Updated ATF Version Number

The ATF Version Number has been updated to version 18.0 or 19.0 ATF files only.

Personal Pronouns: Only Use in School Check Box

Focus | Admission | Application
An additional check box for Pronouns: Only Use in School has been provided to indicate whether an applicant’s personal pronoun(s) should be included in external correspondence. When this check box is selected, all personal pronouns included in external correspondence will be masked by asterisks.

Assessment

Personal Pronouns – Only Use in School Check Box

Focus | My Marksheet Entry
Focus | Assessment | Marksheet Entry
Focus | Assessment | Programme of Study Tracking Entry
Focus | Assessment | Template
When this check box is selected, all personal pronouns included in marksheets will be masked by asterisks.

Personal Pronouns – Enhancements to Individual Student Reports

Focus | Assessment | Individual Report
It is now possible to insert a Personal Pronoun(s) tag into Assessment individual reports.

Attendance & Lesson Monitor

Personal Pronouns – Attendance Letters

Tools | Setups | Attendance Setup | Letter Definition
Reports | Attendance (or Lesson Monitor) | Letters
When creating templates for Attendance letters, it is now possible to insert personal Pronoun(s) as an additional merge field. Personal pronouns are drawn from the Basic Details panel (Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student) Details) provided that the Pronouns: Only Use in School check box is selected.

Profiles

Personal Pronouns – Add Pronouns to Comment Bank Dictionary

Focus | Profiles | Comment Banks
The following Personal Pronoun(s) values have been added for inclusion in Profiles reports:

• He/She/They
• he/she/they
• Him/Her/Them
• him/her/them
• his/her/their
• His/Her/Their
• his/hers/theirs
• His/Hers/Theirs
• himself/herself/themselves
• Himself/Herself/Themselves.

Personal Pronouns – Inclusion of Pronouns in Profiles Reports

Focus | Profiles | Session Manager
Focus | Profiles | Student Profiles
Focus | Profiles | Data Entry | List Entry
Focus | Profiles | Data Entry | Grid Entry
The following Personal Pronoun(s) values have been added for inclusion:

• He/She/They
• he/she/they
• Him/Her/Them
• him/her/them
• his/her/their
• His/Her/Their
• his/hers/theirs
• His/Hers/Theirs
• himself/herself/themselves
• Himself/Herself/Themselves.

Reporting

Addition of Personal Pronoun(s) Node

Reports | Design Report | People
Reports | Design Report | People | Student
Reports | Design Report | People | Applicant
Reports | Design Report | People | Staff/Contact
Reports | Design Report | Agencies | Agent
When designing a People or Agencies based report, additional Personal Pronoun(s) fields have been provided

Personal Pronouns – Only Use in School Check Box

Reports | Design Reports
When designing a report based on a Student or Applicant, a new Attribute of Pronouns: Only Use in School can be included with a filter of True or False.

Provision of Additional Data Items

Reports | Design Reports
The following new data items have been provided for use when designing a report based on a Student:
Young Carer:

• Young Carer Identified By.

Alternative Provision Placement:

• Companies House
• AP Postcode.

The following new data items have been provided for use when designing a report based on a School:

• School Time.

SIMS Core

Additional Fields Provided for Child in Need

Focus | Student | Student Details
An additional section has been provided in the Welfare panel, enabling schools to record the details of a Child in Need.

Enhancements to Maintain Detentions

Focus | Behaviour Management | Maintain Detentions
On saving the pupil/students who have been added to a detention, a confirmation message is now displayed indicating that related behaviour incidents will be created for each of the pupil/students if you proceed.

Personal Pronouns – Enhancements to Student Teacher View

Focus | Student | Student Teacher View
A suffix of the pupil/student’s chosen personal pronoun is displayed in bold text at the top of their Student Details page.

Personal Pronouns – Button to Add Pronouns to the SIMS Dictionary

Tools | Setups | Pronoun Setup
An additional button has been provided that enables you to add the saved pronouns to the SIMS Dictionary. This ensures that subsequent use of personal pronouns does not result in the pronouns being highlighted as spelling mistakes or unrecognised words in Assessment and Profiles reports.

Personal Pronouns: Only Use in School Check Box

Focus | Student | Student Details
An additional check box for Pronouns: Only Use in School has been provided to indicate whether a pupil/student’s personal pronoun(s) should be included in external correspondence. When this check box is selected, all personal pronouns included in external correspondence will be masked by asterisks.

GDPR Report for Bulk Delete Audit

Routines | Students | Bulk Delete Student Data
A report has been provided that records an audit log of the bulk deletion process. The following details are displayed:

• Username
• Delete Date
• Data Domains
• Academic Year
• Number of Persons Deleted
• Job Status.

SIMS Interventions

Additional Panel for Intervention Attendance

Focus | Interventions| Run Intervention
An extra panel has been provided for Intervention Attendance which enables you to record the pupil/students who attended and participated in each scheduled Intervention session.

Improvements and Amendments to Interventions

A number of enhancements have been introduced to improve Intervention functionality.
Focus | Interventions | Plan Interventions

• Additional values can now be added to the Intervention Area lookup (via Tools | Lookups | Maintain).

Focus | Interventions | Run Intervention

• Filter by Academic Year in Run Interventions
• Remove Academic Year restriction on Run Interventions.

Reports | Interventions | Student Intervention Report

• Intervention Notes can be included in the Student Intervention Report.