1. Sarah Elliott Professional Services Consultant
SIMS Autumn Release (7.166)
Sarah Elliott
Professional Services Consultant

2. Admissions
Version 12.0 ATF Files can now be imported into SIMS

3. Assessment Provision of Additional Aspects for Key Stage 4
The KS4 Resources are available after importing the following files
Assessment Mapping Tool Secondary.xml
KS4 Mapping Tool Aspect.xml
KS4 Assessment Mapping Tool Resultsets.xml
Secondary only
Capita have now provided additional resources for KS4. These will only be available if imported from the AMPA folder. If you are not hosted will be on C:\programe files\sims\sims.net\ampa
Hosted G:\sims.net\ampa
Must import all three then resources available.
This is a mapping tool to map any like aspects to capita’s to be able to use the new resources’

4. Assessment
The Assessment Mapping Tool has been updated to include all newly reformed subjects for 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Includes the new Gradesets for the reformed GCSE’s to include the new 9:1 grades
Secondary

5. Assessment
Amendments to the Estimated Attainment 8 values used in the SIMS School Report
To help to ensure that the calculations in the School Report correctly mirror current examinations values, the source data on which the Estimated Attainment 8 and therefore Progress 8 values are based has been updated to reflect the new values used in the 2014 Summer Exam Results table for the 2014/2015 academic year. If you are running the School Report for a date in the 2013/2014 academic
Secondary

6. Assessment
Key Stage 2 Average Points and Fine Levels Increase in Maximum Allowed Value
The affected aspects are:
KS2: Average Fine Points (values )
KS2: Average Fine Level (values 1–6.99).
Secondary only
The Maximum value has been increased to accommodate schools that want to record
pupil/students who have achieved Level 6 at Key Stage 2.

7. Assessment
Improvements to the Programme of Study Tracking Data Entry Selection Parameters
It is now possible to select Houses, Courses and Classes from the Programme of Study Tracking Group Chooser dialog when selecting a group for inclusion in the Selection Parameters panel.
Secondary

8. Assessment
Improvements to the Reporting Selection Parameters (England)
To correspond with the significant changes made to the layout of the Selection Parameters panel on the Programme of Study Tracking page, the same changes have also been made to the Selection Parameters panel when running any of the Programme of Study reports
Secondary

9. Assessment Access to KS3 Subject Strands and Statements
Secondary schools in England with a National Curriculum Year of 7, 8 or 9 can now use the Programmes of Study Tracking functionality provided with SIMS Assessment.
Secondary
Some schools may have already applied Patch during the Summer holidays,
enabling them to commence planning for the recording of Programmes of Study
Tracking assessments.
Patch is included in the autumn release

10. Assessment Access to the Programme of Study Reports
The reports supplied for use with the Programmes of Study Tracking Entry functionality can now be accessed from the Reports button adjacent to the Export button, as well as via Focus | Assessment | Programme of Study Analysis.
Secondary and Primary Button has moved
Might get asked if you can tailor the strands or if they want to change assessment criteria from Emerging, Developing, Secure and Mastered this will come in Spring upgrade

11. Assessment
Additional Features Available on the Programme of Study Tracking Entry
Page (England)
It is now possible to Show School Expectations Only or Show Statutory Statements Only from the Show/Hide function when viewing a populated Programme of Study. Additionally, the column width can now be narrowed by clicking the Narrow button.
Explain improvement is you can now show the items separately. Before you could only see both
Can now narrow columns so you can see more on screen

12. Course Manager
Description in the QAN Codeset has changed from Qualification Accreditation Number to Qualification Number/Discount code
The Retake field has now been added to the Reporting Dictionary
For Post 16 you can now see the following displayed on the Student Courses page
Status
Status and Withdrawal Reason (if withdrawn)
Retake
This appears when you are creating a new classification
Access via the courses links

13. CTF
Enhancements made to support introduction of start and end dates of SEN Need Ranking
Programme of Study (PoS) Assessments are now included if the relevant tick box has been selected
Enhancements to import of Reason for Leaving – the reason will be imported even if the school has made this tag inactive

14. Discover
Early Years Discover Graphs have been updated to reflect the changes made to the EYFS EY TT Ages and stages grade set.
EY TT Stacked Bar Progress Year
EY TT Stacked Bar Attainment Year
EY TT Progress Year

15. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Resources have been added for Rising 2s for Nursery Schools. These include
EY TT DataEntry Nursery YE1
EY TT DataEntry Nursery YE2
To compliment the marksheets the following result sets have also been provided
Year E1 BL, Year E1 Aut, Year E1 Spr, Year E1 Sum
Year E2 BL, Year E2 Aut, Year E2 Spr, Year E2 Sum

16. In Touch
When sending a message that includes body text as part of its associated message template, the Send button is now immediately enabled, meaning you no longer need to enter additional characters before sending a message.
It is now possible to identify which User and School messages have been forwarded automatically. For all auto-forwarded messages that are sent following the upgrade to the SIMS 2015 Autumn Release, the User and House icons now incorporate a blue arrow. Auto-forwarded messages sent before the upgrade to the SIMS 2015 Autumn Release remain unaffected by this change.

17. In Touch
It is now possible to navigate to the previous (Earlier) or next (Later) messages in your inbox via the Review a Message page.
It is now possible to apply flags to any sent messages. This improves message tracking
Replies from parents to Unexplained Absence messages can now be added to the log from the Unexplained Absence Management page. This enables the content of the reply to be viewed from the pupil/student record.

18. School Census Spring 2016
Census Date
21 January 2016

19. Spring Census – Child Care Enhancements
The childcare items previously recorded in the School Census Summer Return (via the Routines menu) have been moved to the School Details page (via the Focus menu). Items can be added, edited and deleted.
The School Census Childcare panel (originally introduced in the School Census Summer 2015 return) is now read-only and is available in the Spring return only. An Edit button links directly to the School Details page, where an editable Childcare panel is displayed
Childcare Provisions have been added to the General detail report.

20. Spring Census – Early Years Pupil Premium
The menu route previously named Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Hours for Early Years has changed to Tools | Statutory Return Tools | Update Early Years.
A new report, entitled Early Years Report, is available from the Detail Report drop-down list in the School Census area of SIMS.
The existing Hours for Early Years panel has been renamed Early Years.
Columns named Basis for EYPPE Eligibility and In Care have been added to the Early Years panel. The In Care column is read-only.
The following new lookups are available when specifying the basis for EYPPE eligibility: Not Eligible, Economic, Other, Economic and Other and Unknown

21. Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Enhancements to SEN Recording
Enhancements to the Needs Table in the Basic SEN Details Panel
Addition of SEN Needs Report to display all current and historic needs for a pupil
Enhancements to the Deletion of a Current Need Type
Needs Table renamed to Current Needs
Recorded on column removed and start date column now displays start dates that were previously only available through reporting
Current Needs panel includes a Report button to run the SEN Needs Report

22. SIMS Learning Gateway (SLG)
Enhancements to the My Homework Timeline on the SIMS Homepage
Enhancements to the Publish Reports Routine
Enhancements to SLG and Web Parts
A green progress bar is now displayed at the bottom of each homework task on the My
Homework Timeline panel, where handed in dates for one or more pupil/student have
not yet been recorded. The progress bar indicates the percentage of pupil/students who
have a handed in date recorded against this homework task.
Hovering over homework tasks on the My Homework Timeline panel displays the name
of the task, the number of tasks Assigned, the number of tasks recorded as Handed in
and the number of extensions granted (Extended).
Enhancements to the Publish Reports Routine
Efficiencies relating to the SLG report timer job and permissions job have been
introduced to the Publish Reports routine.
Enhancements to SLG and Web Parts

23. SIMS Teacher App Delivery Priorities
Autumn Term 2015
Programme of Study assessment
7-day timetables
User interface updates
Spring Term 2016
Dinner Money Registers integration
Attendance comments
Evidence recording (record image)