1. Elaine Smith – Pennine Education Jonathan Howells – Pennine Education
Introductions
Elaine Smith – Pennine Education
Jonathan Howells – Pennine Education

2. Housekeeping
Toilets
Fire Alarm
Non Smoking Building

3. AGENDA Statutory Returns Statutory Assessments SIMS End of Year
GDPR Update
SIMS Software Update
Performance Summary

4. Statutory Returns 2019
Jonathan Howells

5. SIMS Version
Before you can start the Summer Census you will need to have upgraded to the SIMS Spring release Version 7.186
If you are not sure if SIMS has been upgraded - in SIMS Select Help\About SIMS.Net

6. Changes to the Summer Census
There are NO new data items in the Summer Census for 2019 There is one changed data:- SEN Need Type of 'Visual Impairment' becomes 'Vision Impairment'

7. Collection Dates Summer 2019
School Census
Collection Dates Summer 2019

8. Collection Dates
The Census Reference Date is set to 16/05/2019

9. Attendance Data – Primary \ Special \PRU
Attendance is collected for the previous term for all Schools

10. Exclusions Data
Exclusions are collected for two Terms previous

11. Free School Meal Data
Eligibility for FSM is collected for the day after the previous Census up to and including the day of the current Census

12. DfE Validation Files
A “base” XSL file, used for validation and the creation of the Census Summary files, has been included in the Spring release.
An updated fileset will be provided and we will advise when this becomes available. This will need to be imported manually into SIMS.

13. DfE Validation Files
The latest Fileset is This is now available to download from our website
under the Documentation\Files tab OR
From the Pennine Portal on First Class for Oldham Schools

14. Dry Run
We would like to encourage all schools to complete a Dry Run as soon as possible, so that any Issues or Errors can be resolved in advance of the Census.
Fileset 1202 will be made available to download from our website with instructions on how to import into SIMS.
Census Notes will be available to download from our website tomorrow.
Password to download files from the website is: Summer2019

15. Pupil Premium Calculated from January 2019 Spring Census
REMINDER Files are produced by the DfE that can be imported into SIMS to update this information. Files are made available in June\July from the Key To success Website. We will monitor this and advise when they are available We would highly recommend that everyone does this. Your SIMS system will then accurately reflect who you are receiving Pupil Premium for in the Financial Year 2019/20

16. Statutory Assessments

17. Statutory Assessments
EYFS
Phonics Year 1
Phonics Year 2
Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2

18. Statutory Assessments
EYFS - No changes
Year 1 Phonics – No changes – Date Threshold mark Released 24th June
Year 2 Phonics – No change

19. Statutory Returns Key Stage 1
There are changes to Key Stage 1 this year. These changes are as follows:
Introduction of new Key Stage Standards
There are additional grades available to select this year in English reading, writing and Maths
• Standard 4
• Standard 3
• Standard 2
• Standard 1

20. Statutory Returns Key Stage 1 P Scales
The P scales have also changed from last year and you can select P1 to P4. Different P scale options are available for different subjects.

21. Statutory Assessment Key Stage 2
There are changes to Key Stage 2 this year. These changes are as follows:
Introduction of new Key Stage Standards
Schools are no longer required to make statutory Teacher Assessments judgements in English Reading and Maths

22. Statutory Assessments
Key Stage 2
Grades available for selection in this year are :
• Standard 6 (working at the KS expected standard)
• Standard 5 (working towards the KS expected standard)
• Standard 4
• Standard 3
• Standard 2
• Standard 1

23. Statutory Assessments
Key Stage 2 P Scales
The P scales have also changed from last year and you can select P1 to P4. Different P scale options are available for different subjects.

24. SIMS End of Year
Jonathan Howells

25. SIMS End of Year
You MUST complete the creation of the New Academic Year and Pupil Promotion Routines BEFORE 01/09/2019

26. End of Year
Capita Advice As many of you know, giving pupils dates of admissions and/or dates of leaving during school holidays is very likely to trigger validation failures within the School Census. I have asked the DfE about this and they have confirmed that both dates of admissions and dates of leaving should be dates when the pupil could attend. With the above, we recommend that dates of admission and dates of leaving should not be during school holidays or on staff INSET days. Perhaps the most important implication is that setting the leaving date for pupils to the 31st August is very inadvisable and will almost certainly trigger validation failures.

27. End of Year Oldham Councils Dates:-
Year 6 Leaving Dates - Last day of Term
Other Year Leavers - Last Day of Term
Academic Year Start Date – First Day School is Open including INSET Days
Admission Date - The first day the pupils are expected in school

28. End of Year
Example: Pupils start back to school on Wednesday 4th September Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd are INSET Days so the Academic year would start on Monday 2nd September Admission date for your New Intake, and any new starters would be Wednesday 4th September, as that is the first day pupils could attend school

29. End of Year – National Curriculum Years
National Curriculum Years – Nursery Pupils
N1 and N2 – Some schools have the Nursery set up with one Nursery Year Group in SIMS with both N1 and N2 Pupils in the one group. Although this does not cause any issues e.g. The Census, as it uses DOB for Nursery Pupils, we would highly recommend that you create N1 and N2 Year groups as it will make analysis and Academic Promotion easier. If you would like to discuss this, or need any assistance please log a call with the Helpdesk.

30. End of Year – National Curriculum Years
National Curriculum Years – Nursery Pupils E1 and E2 – Last year some schools needed the E1 and E2 set up on their SIMS system as they were taking “Early Years” Nursey E1 - 01/09/2018 – 31/08/2019 E2 - 01/09/2017 – 31/08/ N1 - 01/09/2016 – 31/08/2017 N2 - 01/09/2015 – 31/08/ R - 01/09/2014 – 31/08/2015 If you would like to discuss this, or need any assistance please log a call with the Helpdesk

31. End of Year Training
We will be running two ½ Day Courses on 26th & 27th of June covering the End of Year for £ Or
If you wish to purchase this as a Managed Service we will assist with the End of Year procedures, on-site, for £150.00

32. GDPR UPDATE

33. GDPR
New functionality within SIMS to Support GDPR:- Delete Unlinked Person records Delete All Student Data Improvements to the Staff Deletion

34. GDPR
Delete Unlinked Person Records Unlinked persons can now be deleted from SIMS. These may be applicants, agents, pupils or other individuals whose historical personal data should no longer be retained in line with GDPR guidelines

35. GDPR
Delete All Student Data The Delete All Pupil Data option has been added to the Bulk Delete Pupil data routine. This gives two options:-
You no longer need to select all the data areas you wish to delete individually
Gives the ability to totally remove pupil records from the SIMS in bulk
These options should only be used to delete data in line with your own schools data retention policy and can only be applied to Pupils who have left the school a minimum of four Academic Years ago

36. GDPR
Remember it is possible to prevent specific students’ data being deleted via the bulk routine:-
A protect from Bulk Data Deletion check box located on the student record
Protect from Bulk Data deletion located in the Bulk Update area

37. GDPR SIMS System Manager
Please note that unused user logins in SIMS System Manager can be deleted via Focus | System Manager | Manage Users.
If a member of staff has data recorded about them in any other area(s) of SIMS, it will continue to be impossible to delete the member of staff.

38. GDPR
Enhancement to Delete Staff Records Routine The delete staff routine was originally intended as a means of deleting a member of staff from SIMS who had been recorded in error and therefore had no links to other areas of SIMS
To assist schools in being GDPR compliant, the rules to determine whether a member of staff can be deleted have been relaxed

39. GDPR
To assist with GDPR requirements you are now able to Anonymise staff leavers records which are exported into FMS.
This is only relevant for schools which use the Personnel links integrating contracts from Sims into FMS
Under Tools/Setups/School Options/GDPR panel

40. GDPR Data Deletion
IMPORTANT REMINDER With the removal of the following data items from the school Census:
Nationality
Country of Birth
Proficiency in English
Schools must no longer request this information from parents, or retain the data within their system, for purpose of transmitting to the DfE via the school census

41. GDPR
A Significant number of schools have yet to request the patches to delete the data or advise that it is being retained by school
Nationality – Patch 24433
Country of Birth – Patch 24372
Proficiency in English – Patch 24423

42. GDPR
Some schools who requested the patches have not yet applied them. If you have applied latest SIMS upgrade V7.186 and not applied the patches then you will need to request them again as they will not run after the SIMS Upgrade
We will send a reminder for schools which will include a link to submit a form on the website requesting these patches.

43. Sims Software Update

44. Sims Technical Update
We have been advised by Capita that support for Server R2 will terminate when the Spring 2020 upgrade is released in March We are waiting for further confirmation of this information to come out in the next week or so from Capita.
We wanted to inform schools as they will have to consider the budget implications of replacing the server. I would recommend that schools speak to their Technical and Finance Team in this connection.
Once confirmation of this has been received we will out to all schools.

45. Sims Spring Upgrade CTF Issue
An was sent out with regard to the CTF issue.
To clarify:
SIMS Spring 2019 Database Patch has been made available via Solus and addresses a CTF issue identified with the SIMS 7 Spring 2019 Release which has been raised by one school. 
Once the SIMS Spring 2019 Release is applied please also apply Patch to prevent this potential CTF issue.  
For schools that have upgraded to Sims Spring Release you must apply patch before any ctf’s are imported or exported. 
For schools that have not upgraded to Sims Spring Release please upgrade and apply the patch before any ctf’s are imported or exported. 
For schools that have upgraded and have imported a ctf  before applying this patch please log a call with the helpdesk as we will need to run a diagnostic script on your Sims Data. 
If you have any questions in this connection please do not hesitate to contact us.

46. Software Update
The Assessment Manager and Performance Analysis Resource Kit (AMPARK) provides a set of resources for use with SIMS Assessment. This kit has been updated for the SIMS 2018 Spring Release.

47. Software Update
Amendments to the Service Term - SWR Post Lookup Values
Tools | Lookups | Maintain
To accommodate changes for the School Workforce Census Return, the following codes have been added to the Service Term - SWR Post lookup.
APP - Apprentice Teacher
LNT - Leadership Non Teacher.
This ensures that apprentice teachers and leadership non- teachers can now be assigned separately, rather than being classified as SUP - Support Staff.

48. Software Update Behaviour Management
Linking Notes and Documents to Behaviour Incidents
Focus | Behaviour Management | Maintain Behaviour Incidents
It is now possible to link notes and documents to a behaviour incident via the Behaviour Incident Notes/Documents panel.
Viewing the Status of a Behaviour Incident
It is now possible to review changes made to the status of a behaviour incident by clicking the Change Log button in the Details panel of the Behaviour Incident Details page.
Selecting Multiple Bullying Types in an Individual Behaviour Incident
To enable more in-depth reporting on bullying concerns, it is now possible to select more than one type of bullying in an individual behaviour incident.

49. Software Update Enhancements to Conduct Browsers
Focus | Behaviour Management | Maintain Achievements Focus | Behaviour Management | Maintain Behaviour Incidents Focus | Behaviour Management | Maintain Detentions
It is now possible to view the names of pupils who are associated with an achievement, behaviour incident or a detention via the Students Involved panel on the right-hand side of the browsers

50. Software Update - FMS Consistent Financial Reporting
All the CFR reports have been updated to display the correct financial year.
Expenditure E28 Bought-in professional services – other has been split in 2018/19 as follows:
E28a : Bought-in professional services – other (except PFI)
E28b : Bought-in professional services – other (PFI).
On upgrade, all ledger codes mapped to E28 are mapped to E28a automatically. Where schools have a requirement to record expenditure against E28b, they should seek guidance from their LA support with regards to any additional ledger codes that will be required and the recording of any transactions.
Additionally, all validations have been updated in line with recent DfE specification updates.

51. Software Update - FMS
Provision of the Payment Analysis Report (Prompt Payments)
Reports | Accounts Payable | Supplier Analysis | Payment Analysis
In conjunction with the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, UK companies must submit a report on a half-yearly basis detailing their payment practices, policies and performance for financial years beginning on or after 6 April To enable large Academies and Independent schools to comply with this requirement, the Payment Analysis report has been provided.

52. Software Update - FMS National Insurance 2019/2020
An with instructions has been sent out for the new National Insurance Rates to be added to Sims.
Anonymising Staff Data in FMS
Tools | Setups | School Options in Sims
To assist schools in being GDPR compliant and to retain the integrity of the salary related financial data held in FMS, where Personnel Links are in use and the option to exclude staff leavers from the salary extract has been selected in SIMS, excluded staff data will be substituted for anonymised data in FMS.

53. Software Update- FMS Making Tax Digital
I have sent out s with regard to making tax digital in connection with Vat returns.
The last requires action by Academies, Trusts and Independent Schools.
Local Authority schools that send the Vat Return to the local Authority will be able to send this electronically in XML or Excel output . This functionality will be available from Summer 2019

54. Software Update - FMS Schools that are using BACS
Remittance Advices which are ed through First Class
As you change your password in First Class you will also need to change it in FMS
Instructions on how to change the password for Bacs e advices are on the website and in the Pennine Portal and have ed to schools

55. Accreditation 2019
We are currently going through the process of renewing our SIMS Accreditation.
As customers, you will all be asked to complete a Customer Satisfaction Survey on the Service that you receive from us. As this is a major part of the accreditation process, we would like to ask if you would all take 5 minutes to complete the survey as we need as many schools to respond as possible. We will send you an prior to the survey to warn you that it is imminent.
As we had the best response rate in the country on our last Accreditation we would like to match this response or improve on it but need your help.

56. Training Schedule
The Summer Training Schedule is now available on the website.
To book a place please submit a form on the training page
Please us with any specific requests for training

57. Training Course Introduction to Power BI 3rd July – Half Day
Have you heard of Power BI yet? IT IS FREE!!!!!
Power BI is a powerful analysis tool to easily create graphs and visualisation from your SIMS data. Capita have released some batch files and reports that make the process of exporting from SIMS into Power BI much easier. Even allowing for a degree of automation so reports are updated on a nightly basis.
Demonstration:
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58. Training Course
We have introduced a new course for staff that are new to Key Stage.
Key Stage Entry
We are putting this course on 12th June. It is half a day and costs £ Vat
Assists with the completion and understanding of all the marksheets and individual reports for:
EYFS
Phonics Year 1 and 2
KS1 and Key Stage 2
Will show how to export marksheet for teachers to complete and then how to import them.

59. Training Course Advanced reporting- PRIMARY/SECONDARY
For those people who are proficient in reporting we are going to offer an Advanced Reporting in the Autumn Term which will involve reports in Excel by creating customised templates, using macros and pre-populated formulas etc. and Power BI. It will be a full day course costing £ Vat and will be particularly useful to, not only single schools but Multi Academy Trusts for consolidated reporting.
Please if you would be interested in this course

60. Training Schedule
Cluster Training We are happy to offer cluster training, to any group of schools
Training Pathway on website
Recommended training programme for New starters is available on the website and in the Pennine Portal.

61. Performance Summery Helpdesk Statistics from 1.1.2019 to 31.03.2019
No. of Calls Logged = 840
No. of Calls Logged Resolved within SLA Agreement =100 %
No. of Calls Resolved on First Contact = 98.4%
We hope you are happy with the service you are receiving. If you have any comments, or you think we can do something better please

62. Helpdesk Calls
Did You know? In the E mails you get from Freshdesk, our Helpdesk software, there are links to your call details. By clicking on the link you can see all details of the call, including any updates and comments.

63. CONTACT INFORMATION
Telephone
Office\ General Enquires :
Helpdesk:
Addresses

64. Thank you for your time Any Questions?