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February 2021
Issue 106
 
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Welcome to the February edition of our Scomis Newsletter.

We'd like to welcome staff at the following new schools who have joined Scomis in the last few months:

  • Pamphill First School (Wimborne Academy Trust)

  • St Michael's C of E Middle School (Wimborne Academy Trust)

  • Paulton Infant School (The Bath & Mendip Partnership Trust)

  • Heyford Park School (Eynsham Partnership Academy?
in addition 11 new schools have moved to our hosted applications service via our partnerships with SIPS Education Ltd, Lourdes IT and Buckinghamshire Council.
 
Now is the time to ensure SIMS7 is available anytime, anywhere, and on any device for all staff
 
We are delighted that Sidmouth College has recently returned to our Hosted Applications Service and are now experiencing all of the benefits the platform brings.  We delivered the implementation very quickly to enable the College to complete their Census in January. 

Peter Bond, IT Systems/Network and E-Learning Manager said "….our key staff are VERY pleased with the speed of reports. We would like to thank Rob (at Scomis) for making the transition so smooth and speedy. He went above and beyond whilst looking at our external services and speedily resolving issues he encountered completing the entire process in a day."

➤ If you'd like access to SIMS 7 anytime, anywhere, you can find more information about our Hosted Applications Service here or book onto one of our forthcoming virtual events here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scomis News
 
SCOMIS Shortlisted for Two Prestigious BETT Awards
 
 
We are delighted to announce that we are through to the finals of the BETT Awards 2021 and have been shortlisted in the following categories:
 
 
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  • Leadership and Management Solutions
  • Service and Support
The BETT Awards showcase world leading education technology services and solutions. We are extremely proud that we have been recognised by the judges in a market sector where we compete with leading commercial providers.
 

The two categories we have been shortlisted for are:

Service and Support - we have succeeded in getting to the finals for this category for several consecutive years and actually won it in 2016! We focused our application on evidence of continuous service improvement and customer service excellence including our consistently outstanding levels of customer satisfaction, collaboration with schools and examples of higher standards achieved.

Leadership and Management Solutions - we entered this category with our new web-based Managed Reporting Service which has been specifically designed to provide Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) and school leaders easy access to key data in order to inform decision making and drive improved outcomes. This service has been designed in response to real challenges that our customers have asked us to help them with.


We find out on the 16th June 2021 whether we have won - please wish us luck!
 
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Scomis receives recommendation for ISO reaccreditation and maintains compliance with the Customer Service Excellence standards
 
 
In making the recommendation, the ISO Assessor commented that  he was "very impressed by Scomis' mature security and compliance regime" which he then went on to say "is significantly better than other much larger companies in the commercial sector and therefore also adds a lot of value to the organisation".
 
 
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The CSE Assessor said that "Scomis has responded well to the COVID pandemic, in some instances making radical changes.  The way in which services responded to this has been magnificent.  Scomis Education was responding to entirely new enquiries arising from the need for schools to meet the ever-changing information demands of the DfE". He was impressed by the effectiveness of staff working from home and how this has not impacted on the efficiency of the organisation in meeting our core standards.
 
Both of these accreditations are important examples of the assessments we undertake as an organisation to learn from best practice and drive ongoing service improvement.
 
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MyScomis
 
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We are making improvements to our systems to further enhance your support experience and we are delighted to let you know that MyScomis, our new world leading, cloud-based Service Management tool, went live on 18th November. Click here to find out more about what this means for you. 

If you use our hosted application service to access SIMS, you will on occasion see a prompt at log-on to validate your email address. We would be grateful if you could take this opportunity to update your contact information and indicate your marketing preferences.
 
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Scomis Service and Product Updates
 
 
SEND in SIMS
 
 
Children with Special Educational Needs make up 15.4% of the school population according to the last data set from the ONS in January 2020. 3.3% of all pupils in schools in England have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, a rise from 3.1% in 2019. A further 12.1% of all pupils have SEN support, without an EHC plan, up from 11.9% in 2019.

In light of these figures it is crucial that schools have accurate records and follow the SEND Code of Practice, which outlines in detail a comprehensive process involving a range of interested parties from parents and guardians to specialists in different educational issues. Such wide-ranging activities require careful record keeping and planning and there is potential for a large volume of documentation. This information is often maintained in a series of files, folders and filing cabinets and circulated as hard copy.

If you would like to find out how to place this information at the fingertips of relevant staff, whilst enabling your Special Needs Coordinator to manage all aspects of the SEN process in accordance with the requirements of the code of practise, please subscribe to our Scomis Bite Size YouTube Channel to view a brief video of how this can be achieved with the SEN module of SIMS. If you'd like further help in deploying this module in your school, please contact one of our School Improvement Partners on 01392 385300 or email scomis@devon.gov.uk.
 
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Scomis Hosted Applications Service Update
 
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The Scomis Hosted Applications Connector is getting an update. The latest version introduces some new features as well as bringing back Session Persistence.

  • New Remote App mode – SIMS will appear as a program on your own task bar and doesn't cover over your screen
  • Multi Monitor support – If you have more than one screen, programs correctly size to each screen
  • Session Persistence – Lose connectivity, your session will remain open allowing you to resume working if reconnected within 30 minutes
  • Connection Resilience – Improving a better connection to Scomis 
We are busy testing the new application with a small number of customers and receiving feedback. For more information take a look at our FAQ.
 
Availability and roll out of the new connector is expected to commence in mid-February, with the update available to all customers before the end of April. Customers will be able to download a new Installer, or allow the software to self-update.
 
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Accessing SIMS from Home
 
 
If you subscribe to our Hosted Applications Service this will continue to be operational as normal. In order to support continuity planning for your school, please find below some useful information to circulate to your staff about how to access SIMS and FMS securely from any location with an internet connection and across a range of devices:
Please see below useful FAQs for remote working
 
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Hosted Application Service User Management Tool
 
 
Last year Scomis introduced a replacement User Management Tool and we are aware that 80% of hosted customers are using this successfully. As from 1st April we are retiring the old version. If you don't have access to this tool please contact the Scomis Service Desk on 01392 385300 or email scomis@devon.gov.uk.
 
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One of the key benefits of the updated tool, is that SIMS Administrators can instantly provision a staff member with a Scomis Account. It also brings Password and Scomis Account Management into the same application, providing customers with a method of being able to disable/enable accounts as well as to delete accounts of former staff members. Click on the link below to find out more.

https://faq.scomis.org/kb26558/
 
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Education Sector News
 
 
Remote Learning Update
 
Following the government's recent guidance on Ofsted's expectations for provision of remote learning by schools, pupils who have difficulty engaging in remote education may now be considered to be vulnerable children, and therefore eligible to attend provision in person.
 
 
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You have until the end of March 2021 to register for government funded support for a Microsoft or Google Digital Education Platform which can help schools meet the DfE's expectations (like setting work each day and gauging pupil progress).
 
 
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Ofsted has now published updated advice for leaders and teachers, aimed at helping schools develop their remote education offer. Written by the head of Ofsted's research team, it is designed to help with some of the difficulties and challenges schools currently face.
 
 
Following on from last year's research on Supporting Students to Learn Remotely the Education Endowment Foundation has produced a 2021 Guide to Supporting School Planning aims. This document proposes a tiered model focusing on high quality teaching, targeted academic support and wider strategies to aid school leaders with existing school improvement planning efforts.
 
To complement providing additional laptops and tablets to schools to help children and families in need to access remote education, the DfE is working with mobile network operators to help schools support disadvantaged pupils in years 3 to 11 who rely on a mobile internet connection when their face-to-face education is disrupted. You will be able to request these free mobile data increases for families during the spring and summer 2021 terms where there is disruption to face-to-face education.
 
Our Google partner Getech Education is able to offer schools operational leasing of Chromebooks as well as parental contribution schemes. Allowing schools to acquire 1:1 pupil Chromebooks which can assist with remote learning whilst spreading the cost.  Designed for schools who don't have upfront capital funds to allow them to acquire Chromebooks for every pupil en-masse. More information can be found here and here.
 
More information about the benefits, implementation and use of secure cloud-based  Digital Education Platforms (and ways in which Scomis can help) can be found in our Special Edition Newsletter.
 
 
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Recording Covid-19 Related Absence
 
 
We have had a number of calls to the service desk relating to coding Covid related absences.
 
What is the current guidance?
 
If a child falls into the category of 'critical workers and vulnerable children' who should attend school or college then their attendance should be recorded in the normal way. If the parents decide to keep the child at home they should be recorded with a Code 'C' - Leave of absence authorised by the school.
 
Pupils not attending a session who meet the criteria for 'not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus (COVID-19)' should be recorded using code X. Code 'X' is not counted as an absence in the school census. Schools should continue to use code X for non-compulsory school aged pupils who are not expected to attend a session, as they did before the outbreak.
 
Only children of critical workers and vulnerable children and young people should attend school or college. All other pupils and students will receive remote education. The full guidance can be found here
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
 
The government guidance on how to record a Covid related absence: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance/addendum-recording-attendance-in-relation-to-coronavirus-covid-19-during-the-2020-to-2021-academic-year

Find our bulletin here.
 
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Completing the DfE Educational Setting Status Form
 
 
Many schools find completing the Educational Setting Status time consuming. We have released a report definition file and instructions to help schools complete the Educational Setting Status form. It can be found here.

Below is the output from the Scomis Covid report to help with completing the Educational Setting Status form.
 
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Online Safety
 
Don't forget Safer Internet Day is on the 9th February 2021
The focus for Safer Internet Day this year is on how to help young people identify fact from fiction, and work together to create an internet we trust.
The UK Safer Internet Centre has launched top tips and advice pages, tailor made to cover the issue of online reliability and misinformation for Safer Internet Day 2021.
 
 
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These include tips for:Find out more here.
 
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Training and Events
 
 
Sign up to our YouTube Channel for Useful Hints and Tips
 
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Did you know Scomis has a YouTube Channel?
Find out:
  • How to run Housekeeping routines in SIMS
  • How to allocate 'User Shortcuts' in SIMS
  • How to reset User Passwords in the Scomis Hosted Platform
Watch recordings of the virtual events we delivered during the Autumn Term including:
  • SIMS in the Cloud, Anytime, Anywhere
  • Managing Staff Workload in a Time of Change through effective use of MIS
And much more: https://www.youtube.com/user/scomisuk
 
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Sign Up Now to our Spring Term Virtual Events and Training
 
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Given the limitations of running physical events and classroom-based training in the ongoing situation, we are running a series of virtual events and training courses over the coming term. Thanks to the success and positive feedback we received for our series of virtual events in the autumn, we are happy to be able to provide more sessions on a wider range of topics. We are also creating a series of Scomis Bite Size videos to help you get the most out of SIMS, Google for Education and Microsoft Office 365.

Click here for more information on our schedule of Virtual Events and our Scomis Bite Size channel.
 
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Partner News
 
 
Capita Webinar: Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework and the focused reviews of MATs: How SIMS can help
 
 
Since 2019 Ofsted have been carrying out a new approach to inspecting multi-academy trusts. This involves the creation of a summary evaluation letter following a number of section 5 and section 8 inspections of the Trust's schools.

Capita's Steve Long will discuss how SIMS can be used effectively as a self-evaluation tool by MAT leaders for individual schools and for the Trust as a whole. He will focus on the Quality of Education judgement in particular as well as a range of questions that SIMS can help to answer to support leaders and Trustees through the inspection process. Click here to register for the event on Tuesday 2 March at 11-11:30am.
 
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Dear Grace
 
 
When will the next upgrade to SIMS and FMS be released?
 
 
The Spring 2021 Upgrade for SIMS and FMS is due to be rolled out over the weekend starting March 26th 2021 (subject to any changes from Capita). Scomis will carry out the upgrade for Scomis Hosted Schools and it will be released via Solus for non-hosted schools.
By mid-February, schools will be able to find further details on what is included in the upgrade on the Scomis FAQ site https://faq.scomis.org/
  
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Phone: 01392 385300
 
scomis@devon.gov.uk
 
scomis.org
 
Subscribe to future editions
  Scomis, Great Moor House,
Bittern Road, Sowton,
Exeter, EX2 7NL
 
This message was sent to austin.m.robison@devon.gov.uk by Scomis. Follow this link to .