Parental Access to Assessment Summary Data AMUG Assessment Manager User Group UPDATE
Assessment Manager and Data Analysis
Included in this edition . . . . .
Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 SIMS Update.
SIMS School Report
Assessment Mapping Tool
Assessment Mapping Tool Training
Tracey’s Top Tips
Date / Venue of next AMUG
A u t u m n H o s t s
Sexey’s School
Produced by the Education MIS Team
Issue No. 22 swoicthelpdesk@somerset.gov.uk 01823 355090
AMUG Update ● December 2014 1
In this Edition . . .
Page
SIMS Autumn Upgrade December 2014 3 School Report
SIMS Autumn Upgrade 10 Assessment Mapping Tool
12 Tracey’s Top Tips
15 Next Meeting of AMUG
16 AMUG Archive
AMUG Update ● December 2014 2
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Overview
The new School Report (Reports | School Report) provides an instant overview of key ar- December 2014 eas within school. These include:
Pupil Numbers Key Pastoral Factors Session Attendance Conduct Summary Exclusions Achievement Details Behaviour Details Assessment (once mappings/links established)
One-click Analysis!
The School Report can be run straight away with just a couple of clicks. The only section that requires further setup is the assessment area, and even this should be a one-off task. The report can be run in two modes - overview (summary details) and Long version, which breaks down the data by key groups.
Example 1: Key Pastoral Factors
AMUG Update ● December 2014 3
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Running the Report
Click Reports | School Report December 2014
Reference Date: Defaults to ‘today’ but can be rolled back. All data displayed in the re- port (other than assessment data) will re- late to ‘start of academic year up to Refer- ence Date’.
Assessment Term: Relates to Assessment Data section of report only. Select period for which assessment data is required (NB: Autumn HT = first half of term, Autumn = second half of term etc...)
Include rows containing only zeros/blanks: Does what it says!
Show Coverage: This relates to assessment data. For some key assessment measures, this column will show numbers of students used / maximum available students when generating the output.
Report Section to be Included: Tick section if required in report output (or use Select All)
Click Generate to produce report
AMUG Update ● December 2014 4
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Viewing the Report (Summary Version)
Page 1: School Details, Pupil Numbers, Key Pastoral Factors December 2014
NB: The following examples were produced using Summary mode, Secondary School Da- ta. The format will vary (particularly the assessment section) when running the report in a Middle or Primary School.
AMUG Update ● December 2014 5
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Viewing the Report (Summary Version)
Pages 2 & 3: Session Attendance, Conduct, Exclusions and Achievement Details December 2014
AMUG Update ● December 2014 6
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Viewing the Report (Summary Version)
Page 4: Behaviour Details December 2014
Page 5: Assessment Details (Secondary School example)
5A*-C Including English and Maths
5 A*-C
5 A*-G
Attainment 8 measure
Progress 8 measure
AMUG Update ● December 2014 7
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Viewing the Report (Long Version) When running in Long version, many of the tables displayed in the summary version are
further broken down by key groups. Below are two examples: December 2014
Session Attendance by Unauthorised Absence
Assessment Measures (Year 11)
AMUG Update ● December 2014 8
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 SIMS School Report
Exporting the Report The report is generated using a built-in preview tool. This allows for easy export as PDF or
XLS format. December 2014
AMUG Update ● December 2014 9
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 Assessment Mapping Tool
Overview With the SIMS Autumn release arrived a new feature known as the 'Assessment Mapping Tool' (Routines | December 2014 Performance | Assessment | Assess- ment Mapping Tool). This new utility lets a school map, or connect, the as- sessment data stored in its own aspects to generic aspects built into SIMS .net. Once this mapping has been defined, the school can use the new School Re- port to monitor key performance indi- cators at the push of a button, and will also have access to a growing library of off-the-shelf analysis reports, tracking grids, marksheets and Discover graphs.
School Aspects Generic Capita Aspects Link
AMUG Update ● December 2014 10
SIMS 2014 Autumn Upgrade Version 7.160 Assessment Mapping Tool
Further Detail Due to the current lack of detailed Capita guidance on use of the Mapping Tool, e-LIM is
currently in the process of producing documentation for schools. We will send out notifi- December 2014 cation when this is available.
Training for Schools
To help schools/academies with initial linking of Aspects, Grade Sets and Result Sets, e-LIM will be running a series of half-day training sessions in three locations. Details are as follows:
Date Time Venue Cost Per Person (exc. VAT) Monday 12th January 9:30am-12:30pm Bridgwater (Churchill House) £50 Monday 12th January 1:00pm-4:00pm Bridgwater (Churchill House) £50 Wednesday 14th January 9:30am-12:30pm Yeovil (Oaklands) £50 Wednesday 14th January 1:00pm-4:00pm Yeovil (Oaklands) £50 Thursday 22nd January 9:30am-12:30pm Wells (The Blue School) £50 Thursday 22nd January 1:00pm-4:00pm Wells (The Blue School) £50
There will be a morning and an afternoon session at each venue. These sessions are iden- tical, so staff need only attend one of the two.
To apply for a place on one of the above training sessions, please send details of attendee name(s) and preferred venue/time to Alistair Gregory [email protected]
AMUG Update ● December 2014 11
Tracey’s Top Tips!
Tracey Burnell You may already know Tracey, without actually realising it! She is one of the friendly voic-
es on the end of the phone who you may have spoken to when contacting the SIMS team December 2014 helpdesk. She works for 2nd Line Support, so has a good level of knowledge within SIMS Core and the module areas. If she can’t resolve the problem herself, she will then esca- late the query to another team member who specialises in that particular module.
At the last AMUG meeting, Tracey shared some of her Assessment Manager knowledge with us in her new Top Tips section. This time it focused on time-saving techniques when creating Assessment Manager Templates.
Top Tip 1 - Moving Template Columns from the Bottom to the Top
For larger templates, the process of moving one or more columns from the bottom of a template (where they automatically appear when inserted) towards toward the middle or top of a template can be time consuming (and boring!). The ‘Up 5’ button has helped a little but may still require multiple clicks. The following can help speed up things further:
1) Open template containing columns to be moved
2) Click on column to which column to be moved is to go above (this is the first ‘non- fixed’ column on the template in this example).
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Tracey’s Top Tips!
Top Tip 1 - Moving Template Columns from the Bottom to the Top
3) Scroll down to column above column to be moved ‘up’. Click on this column while
holding down the SHIFT key (all column in between will be selected) December 2014
Click column just above column(s) to These two ‘RE’ columns are to be be moved while holding down SHIFT moved to the top 4) Click Down arrow once per column to be moved up (2 in this case)
5) Column(s) have now moved above those selected (you may need be patient!). You have actually moved all those selected below those columns not selected, so they must be pushed above the selection - obvious when you think about it!
AMUG Update ● December 2014 13
Tracey’s Top Tips!
Top Tip 2 - Saving Marksheets as a Favourite for easy access
For those marksheets used frequently, users may save a link to those marksheets to their
SIMS Home Page (favourites panel). This will give direct access to the marksheet. December 2014 1) Open the marksheet to be saved as a favourite
2) Click the Favourites button in top right of screen
3) Return to Home Page (Focus | Home Page)
4) Find Favourites panel and click Marksheets tab
5) Link to marksheet now appears in Favourites panel on Home Page. Click to access marksheet.
6) Right-click on favourite marksheet link (then select as necessary) to remove as favourite.
AMUG Update ● December 2014 14
NEXT MEETING OF AMUG
SPRING TERM 2015
Venue: Oaklands Community Primary School, Preston Grove, Yeovil. BA20 2DU
Date: Monday 23rd March 2015 (10:00am-12.30pm) December 2014 To confirm your attendance at the next meeting, or to raise any items that you would like discussing, please e-mail Alistair Gregory ([email protected]) with details.
Oaklands Community Primary School
AMUG Update ● December 2014 15
AMUG ARCHIVE
Previous Editions of AMUG Update Newsletter (click to open)
June 2014: The King Alfred School, Highbridge December 2014
March 2014: Oakfield Academy, Frome
December 2013: Preston School, Yeovil
June 2013: Huish Episcopi Academy, Langport
March 2013: Holyrood Academy, Chard
November 2012: Swanmead Community School, Ilminster
July 2012: Oaklands Primary School, Yeovil
March 2012: The Blue School, Wells
December 2011: Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet
July 2011: Kingsmead School, Wiveliscombe
March 2011: Maiden Beech Middle School, Crewkerne
November 2010: Courtfields Community School, Wellington
July 2010: Crispin School, Street
March 2010: Buckler’s Mead Community School, Yeovil
November 2009: Robert Blake Science College, Bridgwater
June 2009: Heathfield Community School, Taunton
March 2009: King Arthur's Community School, Wincanton
November 2008: Oakfield Middle School, Frome
June 2008: Ladymead Community School, Taunton
February 2008: Westfield Community School, Yeovil
September 2007: East Bridgwater Community School, Bridgwater
AMUG Update ● December 2014 16 16