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Scomis Summer 2019 Newsletter |
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Welcome to the Summer 2019 edition of our Password newsletter. We are delighted to announce that a number of new schools have joined Scomis since the last issue and so we extend a very warm welcome to all of you:
ACE Tiverton Special School
Trinity School (Newbury Academy Trust)
Speenhamland School (Newbury Academy Trust)
Fir Tree Primary School & Nursery (Newbury Academy Trust)
East Harptree Cof E Primary School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
Ubley Church of England Primary School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership
Chew Valley School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
Backwell School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
Gordano School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
Backwell Church of England Junior School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
West Leigh Infant School (Lighthouse Schools Partnership)
St Augustine's Catholic High School (Our Lady Of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy Company)
Ridgeway Academy Trust (Our Lady Of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy Company) |
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Plymouth Primary School named as one of the best with Headteacher winning Silver Pearson 'Headteacher of the Year Award' |
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OFSTED Inspections will take place under the new Education Inspection Framework from September 2019. At our recent User Groups we presented some of the headline changes in the framework document:
- Ofsted grades stay the same: outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate;
- The judgement categories have been revised and will now cover: Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management
- Key themes: reducing workload for teachers, an emphasis on good character and resilience among pupils, tackling off-rolling, and a broad, well-balanced knowledge-rich curriculum
- Inspectors will not consider internal assessment data and will instead consider its purpose and the use to which it is put, specifically how it is used to improve the overall quality of education.
- the extent to which leaders take into account the workload and well-being of their staff, while also developing and strengthening the quality of the workforce
Schools should have: - an inclusive culture that supports arrangements to:
- identify early those pupils who may be disadvantaged or have additional needs or barriers to learning
- meet the needs of those pupils, drawing, when necessary, on more specialist support, and help those pupils to engage positively with the curriculum
- ensure pupils have a positive experience of learning and achieve positive outcomes.
- How does the curriculum extend beyond the academic, vocational or technical and provide for pupils' broader development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development?
- How does the curriculum and the school's wider work support pupils to develop resilience, confidence and independence and lead a healthy and active lifestyle, helping them to know how to keep physically and mentally healthy?
We have produced a checklist which links key areas of the framework document with modules in SIMS which might help a school provide evidence of best practice. Intent, Implementation and Impact How will you evidence that your curriculum will meet Ofsted's new terms of 'Intent, Implementation and Impact' as described in the Inspection Framework? Kristien Carrington, Head Teacher from Sir James Smith's Community School discusses in our case study how all staff can provide evidence quickly to the Senior Leadership Team, Governors and Ofsted that is aligned to the new Framework.
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Congratulations to Westclyst on their Outstanding Ofsted |
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Congratulations to Jonathan Bishop and all the staff at the Westclyst Primary School (part of the Cornerstone Academy) for achieving the grade of Outstanding for all 5 areas within their Ofsted Inspection, namely Leadership & Management, Quality of Teaching, Personal Development, Outcomes for Pupils and Early Years Provision. This is has been achieved in only 3 years of existence and under the new Ofsted Framework guidelines, which makes it a very significant achievement. Well done to all involved. Should you wish to read the full report please follow this link. http://wcps.education/news/our-outstanding-school |
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SIMS Assessment provides flexibility with assessment and reporting in a way that supports your school and the way you work. With SIMS you can be sure that each pupil's progress is tracked and recorded, helping to raise attainment right across your school. Teachers can record and monitor the progress of pupils throughout their learning journey. For more information please read our flyer. Register for our free webinars below: Thursday September 12th 11amThursday September 12th 2pm |
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Scomis have been working with a large number of schools to move tracking and assessment systems from third-party products such as School Pupil Tracker Online, Target Tracker or even Excel spreadsheets into SIMS. There are a number of benefits of bringing assessment data into SIMS: - No additional licence costs
- Teachers already log on to register pupils
- Contextual Data is already in SIMS and is readily available
- One system for Input, Analysis, Discussion Reporting and Presentation
- Key Stage Data is accessible for cross-referencing
- Formative, Summative or both 'out of the box'
- SIMS allows recording of Grades, Marks, Ages, Comments
- SIMS allows recording 3, 6 or any other times per year
- SIMS allows any range of Grades
- Can generate Analysis Grids, tracking Grids and Reports
- Can Report to Parents
Scomis can work in partnership with a school or Multi Academy Trust Training Courses – we can run a day course on the Programmes of Study and SIMs Primary Assessment On-site Consultancy – we can come out to school and train all staff on the Programmes of Study Grids, or train staff on how to use Primary Assessment Commissioned Consultancy – we can build a system in SIMS to reflect your assessment needs. SIMS and KS2 Analysis Capita have developed a series of reports to assist primary school leaders, governors and any other relevant stake holders to analyse statutory Key Stage data in line with the DfE Primary Accountability Measures 2018 updated September 2018 and Provisional 2018 National Figures from Statistics at DfE – Department for Education. These resources consist of some assessment templates for EYFS, KS1 and KS2; a series of reports which pull data from SIMS and allow key analysis; and a series of Discover graphs which interpret the information in a more intuitive manner for governors. For full details visit our Knowledge Base Article on https://faq.scomis.org/kb22602/ |
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Scomis will be releasing the Summer 2019 SIMS Upgrade to schools on July 26th. There are a number of changes and improvements which will be listed in our bulletin https://www.scomis.org/sims-and-fms-summer-2019-upgrade/
Capita have produced a series of short videos which explain how the new functionality works – these are 2-3 minutes long and are available on YouTube.
Update to SEN Screen Label
We have updated Gifted and Talented to More Able
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/7A8ZtaiW0oQ
Full Name tag for Individual Style Reports
In Assessment, Profiles and Attendance Letter style individual reports, the Full Name tag is available
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/XF63olm8yvs
Report Browse shows report statistics
Users can now identify how many times a report has been run and the date and time when it was last run
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/CWq1VW07VzM
Identifying all the people that are linked to the same address
This video demonstrates an update made to the student screen, showing how SIMS now identifies people linked to the same address record and how to resolve situations where people have been linked incorrectly.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/9pXUxjqISPE
Showing the cover note in the personnel absence record
In this update, where an absence is recorded first in the Cover Diary, the note linked to the absence in cover can now be seen in the Personnel absence entry.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/4mUktZiiL10
Exams Entry report update
This video highlights a number of changes made to the exams entry report on SIMS.net, making the reports more user friendly and increasing the functionality when exporting to Excel.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/mcRRlyhxSFw
Medical conditions in group filters
In this video, we review medical conditions in the list reports but also how medical conditions can be filtered on in Group Filters in marksheets.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/hfLDsCh9-3E
NOVA-T6 warning messages
This video demonstrates two new warning messages that have been added to help prevent significant loss of data.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/F2xJrpQ65EM |
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SIMS Primary is Capita's Next Generation of SIMS, and represents the software moving from a Server based solution to the cloud, making it available on any device with an internet connection. (Schools who use Scomis' Hosted Application Service already benefit from 'any time, anywhere, any device' access). Designed to be more intuitive for each type of user, SIMS Primary has now been used in a school for the full academic year, taking the school through all the Statutory Returns, Key Stage Returns, and Census processes. Scomis have 3 schools on the initial pilot and will be working more intensively with these schools over the next few months. The following document shows some of the new functionality available – such as the simple 'Take register' screens for teachers. |
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Capita have continued to add routines to meet school's requirements to remove data which is no longer needed in line with the school's data retention policy. It is now possible to remove Students in bulk, subject to restrictions; to remove a Teacher who has been added to Personnel but no longer required; and to remove unlinked persons. Schools may wish to review their Data Retention Policy in line with the DfE ToolkitThe following videos demonstrate how to use the functionality in SIMS. Delete Unlinked Persons https://youtu.be/BHiefr3-CxM Bulk Student Delete http://youtu.be/fG8QRZ0JDBo Single Staff Delete https://youtu.be/-kR7C6mSBr8 |
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Capita have launched a new bundle of software, namely SIMS Parent, SIMS Pay and SIMS InTouch, which aims to engage and keep your parents informed using the information held within SIMS. Find out more here |
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| Want to reduce the administration time and costs associated with data collection sheets using the free Parent Lite App?
Included within your SIMS annual entitlement fee, the SIMS Parent Lite app delivers school data collection solutions that comply with the new GDPR data requirements, by providing a simple way to collect, manage and handle information by obtaining accurate data securely from parents. | | | | | | | Schools have the ability to send notifications to parents, reminding them to update their details, reducing the time and costs around manual data entry and eliminating paper based data collection. Matt Burrell, Director of Finance & Resources from Honiton Community College, has harnessed the power of technology to reduce administrative overheads whilst ensuring crucial data, such as contact and medical details, are kept up to date in real time.
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Inspired by what Matt has achieved and want to find out more? You can find out more by reading Matt's Case Study – CLICK HERE Read our guide about getting ready for SIMS Parent Lite here | | |
In September we are launching our new digital learning service to enable all of our customers, wherever they are across the country, to access our high-quality training in the effective use of SIMS. Six of our most popular core courses will be available in a digital format and we are developing more all of the time. In the run up to launch we have created a special 'early bird' offer price of £49 per course if booked before the end of September 2019 - and that gives you access to the course for up to a year so you can revisit and refresh whenever you need to.
If you have new administrators starting in September then this could be ideal for them!
To find out more about the service click here.
To register interest prior to the go-live date please contact us. |
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Our Google for Education Partner, Getech, has put together a special offer for class sets of Chromebooks and charging trolleys. The offer is in place on all orders placed before the end of July 2019. For further details, please click here. |
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Did you know that you can access our Hosted Applications Service using Chromebooks?
Many schools are considering Chromebooks as a low -cost device for their teaching staff and have asked us if they can access SIMS in the Hosted Application service. The answer is yes – in fact for several years we have provided support for Chromebook access. For more information please contact your Scomis Account Manager. |
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Microsoft have published that after 14 th January 2020, technical support and automatic updates which protect devices will no longer be available for the above operating systems. Running Windows 7 and Server 2008/2008 R2 after this date runs the risk of your school network being vulnerable. Scomis strongly recommends that customers move to Windows 10 / upgrade legacy servers before January 2020 to continue to benefit from security updates available to fully supported operating systems. Things to consider: - Are you able to upgrade your devices to Windows 10 and your servers to a supported platform?
- Can your existing servers support devices running the Windows 10 operating system?
- Do you have the resource to upgrade your devices and servers to supported operating systems?
- Do you require new hardware? (Windows 10 has different hardware requirements from Windows 7)
- Have you thought about moving some of your services to the cloud to reduce the requirement for on-premise servers?
For advice and guidance on the above, please refer to our FAQ and contact your account manager to arrange a free consultation. |
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Customer feedback is important to us as it drives our programme of continual service improvement. We have an ambitious target of 95% which we met or exceeded in most areas that we measure. Thank you to those of you that have participated in any of our surveys. For a copy of the report please click here"Scomis provides the single most efficient, effective and timely support I have ever come across. Staff are extremely knowledgeable. I cannot recommend you highly enough". Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey Customer Feedback |
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We are pleased to announce that following a rigorous application process, Scomis has been accepted as a member of The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA).BESA is the trade association for the UK's leading education suppliers covering all areas from books and furniture through to EdTech. membership provides further endorsement of Scomis as a "trusted" and "reliable" supplier as it demonstrates our adherence to the BESA Code of Practice. The ethical standards that need to be met include Quality and Standards; Integrity; Transparency and Openness; Safeguarding and Data Security and finally non-Discriminatory Conduct. For more information go to: https://www.besa.org.uk |
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Following our recognition earlier this year by the Parliamentary Review as an Exemplar of Best Practice, Debbie Foweraker (Head of Scomis) was invited to a special launch event at the Houses of Parliament together with other industry leaders. Debbie was delighted to be there to represent Scomis and our customers. Even more so when a photo opportunity arose with former England footballer, Sir Geoff Hurst!
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Click here to experience the highlights from our showcase event for education, Scomis Live'19. The event was supported by a number of senior leaders from schools who shared their key challenges and how they are addressing them. For further information and resources that can help all of our schools please go to http://www.live.scomis.org/rondavelmain |
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We are pleased to announce Scomis will be running the Examination Officers Conference again for 2019. Capita, OCR, WJEC, Pearson and JCQ have all been invited to deliver topical sessions and updates. We are making this year's conference more interactive and welcome your input on what you would like covered! Please include any information when you make your booking. The conference will take place on Thursday 5th December 2019 at Exeter Racecourse, Kennford, Exeter, EX6 7XS. The cost of the full day conference will be: SLA Schools: £50 Non SLA Schools: £60 This includes lunch and refreshments. To book onto the conference please contact the Scomis Service Desk on 01392 385300 or email scomis@devon.gov.uk using Examination Officers Conference 2019 as the subject title. You will receive confirmation of your booking initially and nearer to the conference we will send you joining instructions to include an agenda and directions. In previous years the conference has been fully booked so booking early is highly recommended! We look forward to seeing you again and welcoming new Examination Officers!
Summer Results Days 2019 – Examinations Bulletin (including Help and Advice) and Service Desk Information
Service Desk Opening Hours
Open from 7am to 5pm on Wednesday 14th August and Wednesday 21st August 2019 Keeping you up to date!Patches have become standard to fix unforeseen problems in the run up to and on Summer Exams Results download days, so PLEASE keep an eye on our bulletin where we will post the latest fixes, news and documentation. To help you find out if there's an update we'll update the bulletin title with the date of the update and highlight the new information. The link for the bulletin is: https://www.scomis.org/category/bulletin/ Did you know you can subscribe to the bulletins?Just go to the bulletin and click on the Subscribe to our blog link on the right-hand. Examinations Organisers – Training Course for New Users (Secondary) This course covers reviewing the setup of the software, importing and structuring basedata, creating and submitting files for entries, coursework marks, managing and seating candidates and creating appropriate basedata for domestic examinations. Full information can be found on the link below: https://www.scomis.org/training/secondary_courses/examinations-organiser-new-users/ |
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These are the events that Scomis will be attending in the Autumn:
Tackling Teacher Workload and Retention Conference
18th September 2019
Annual Early Years Foundation Stage Conference
1st October 2019
DAPH Conference 2019, Braunton
10th October 2019
ISBL National Conference 2019
20th and 21st November 2019
South West Behaviour Conference
21st November 2019 |
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26th November 2019 Cornwall User Group – The Royal Showground 27th November 2019- Devon Combined User Group – Exeter Racecourse 3rd December 2019- North Somerset User Group – Clevedon Hall 4th December 2019- Oxfordshire User Group – The Oxford Witney Hotel 5th December 2019- Portsmouth User Group – The Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth |
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We welcome Brandon Turner and Sam Callard to the Service Desk as Service Desk Analysts. Both started at the beginning of June and have integrated into the team and have excellent customer service and are already taking calls, they are a great addition to our team. |
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Scomis, Great Moor House,
Bittern Road, Sowton,
Exeter, EX2 7NL |
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| This message was sent to austin.m.robison@devon.gov.uk by Scomis. Follow this link to . |
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