School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary
Schools
Jim Haywood – Version 1.1
School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary
SchoolsHeadlines
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
Date Changes
Census day: 15/05/2008
Attendance date range: 01/01/2008 - 23/03/2008
Exclusions date range: 01/09/2007 – 31/12/2007
Learning Aims date range: 04/10/2007 – 15/05/2008
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
Post-16 Learning Aims
Course Manager and Census Tools have been provided in SIMS .net to allow Learning Aims information to be maintained at a pupil course level.
This information will be collected in the School Census Summer from Secondary Schools, CTCs and Academies, but only from establishments with Post-16 provision.
Learning Aims have already been collected in the School Census Autumn 2007, but this will be the first time they are collected in the School Census Summer Return.
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
Autumn Post 16 Errors
We have also provided functionality within the School Census application for indicating any learning aims information submitted in error in the Autumn Return.
The functionality is only available if the Autumn Return file has been kept to read back into SIMS .net.
We believe that schools should have no reason to make use of this functionality in the vast majority of cases.
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
In Care
Not required for the Summer Return
Mode of Travel
Not required for the Summer Term
Service Children indicator is new for Census 2008
Not required for the Summer Term
SEN
Only SEN Provision is required for the Summer Return
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
Validation Report
Produced from DCSF XML based files
The DCSF has updated this file to take account of issues found for the Spring Return
Summary Report
Produced from DCSF XML based files
Takes account of the reduced data items compared to the Spring Return
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary Schools - Headlines
Detail Reports
Produced from CCS XML based files
Same set of reports as for the Spring Return
Basic Details Exclusions Attendance SEN (fewer columns than for the Spring Return) Learning Aims
Improved User Interface
More informative dates in top panel
Validate button become Create & Validate button to fully describe what takes place
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary
SchoolsDemonstration
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School Census Summer 2008 for Secondary
SchoolsPreparing the Learning Aims Information
Please note that the information in the following slides is also available as a tick sheet
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
A. Taking account of any new classes
Step 1: Ensure that any new post 16 classes defined in Nova have the same subject and level as existing classes delivering the same course.
Step 2: Use Curriculum Matching in Nova to link these new classes to existing Courses
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
B. Maintaining Course Membership information
Step 1: Make sure that the membership of classes reflects reality in terms of who is a member of the class and when their membership begins and ends (or is expected to end)
Step 2: Run Update Course Membership to ensure that course memberships reflects class memberships.
Step 3: Use Maintain Courses to update courses and or course memberships that have been protected from the timetable and class membership.
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
B. Maintaining Course Membership information (continued)
Step 4: Take account of Re-sits by using Maintain Courses to add students and give them End Dates in line with the date of the examination – don’t forget to protect from Update Course Membership.
Step 5: Enter the completion status for any course membership that has finished prematurely – actual and planned end dates should have been calculated automatically be Update Course Membership
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
C. Viewing Students’ Course
Student Courses Focus | Student | Courses
Student Details Focus | Student | Student Details (Courses Link)
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
D. Take account of any records sent in error for the Autumn Return
Step 1: Make sure that the XML Return file for the Autumn Return 2007 is in the folder you have set for the Summer Return 2008
Step 2: Use the functionality with School Census Summer 2008 to mark records as “Submitted in Error” in School Census Autumn 2007 as necessary
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Preparing the Learning Aims information
E. School Census Summer Return Learning Aims Reports
Summary Report
This report has been provided by the DCSF via an XSL file
This report summarises the content of the XML Return file
Detail Reports
This report has been provided by CCS
The report shows the Learning Aims information returned for each pupil
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School Census Summer 2008
Demonstration
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Click to open the latest School Census
application
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Click to select a folder to hold the Census
Return and Report files.
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It is very important to select a folder that is available to
all users who will be involved with the Return,
… but that folder must be secure as it will hold
children’s details.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the sensitive nature of some of the data stored in SIMS .net, careful consideration should be given when specifying the
location of any folder into which you save sensitive data, e.g. census returns, imported and exported CTFs, etc. You should be mindful of your school's responsibilities with respect to information security. Consider which users have access to the chosen folder, especially if the folder is shared on a
Server. The DCSF recommends ISO27001 as the standard for information security, a copy of which can be found at
http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/bs7799.aspx. If you are in any doubt, you should consult with your IT Security Officer before proceeding.
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If you are sure you have selected a suitable folder
you click Yes
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Click to add a New School Census
Summer Return.
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This is a dry run so you change the description
to indicate this
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It a good idea to save the file with this
revised description.
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The Age at Date cannot be changed and is used for several important tasks, including which student’s
information to include and for DCSF validation and reports.
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The Census Date can be edited for dry runs, but it is important that it is set to the official date for producing the
authorised return.
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The date span for the collection of attendance
information is shown, but cannot be edited
The date span for the collection of attendance
information is shown, but cannot be edited
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The date span for the collection of exclusion
information is shown, but cannot be edited
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Click if any of the school
details need to be edited
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Don’t forget to save any changes you make.
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Calculate details will look at the Attendance information and decide if it
is suitable for use at the create stage. If it isn’t suitable the attendance panel will allow basic attendance information to be
entered manually.
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There is a lot of Attendance information to
investigate so only proceed if you have
sufficient time.
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A blank Pupil Attendance panel is a good thing as it indicates that attendance
information has been found and conforms to DCSF guidance/regulations.
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The functionality in the Mark Autumn Post-16
Errors panel will be irrelevant in the vast
majority of cases. It should only be used in the unusual case where a
Learning Aims record was include for a pupil even though they have not
followed that Learning Aim at any point.
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If you have an error of the said type to report than click
Open to select the Authorised Return that was
sent to the DCSF.
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If you sent more than one Return to the DCSF then select the last Return that
was sent.
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Click to make use of the selected Return file.
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Click to tick each record you want to indicate as an error,
but remember that this is completely unnecessary if the Learning Aim still exists for the
pupil in Course Manager.
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Click to create the XML Return file and to run DCSF
validation across the file.
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This is a very early dry run so lots of problems have
been found
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The validation report can be printed or you can use the
screen functionality
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If you use the screen functionality you can drag
the divider upwards to show more of the problems.
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This solution is preceded with a # character so we can
double click to jump to the relevant section of SIMS .net
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If you solve this problem by entering the UPN you shouldn’t forget to save so Census can
make use of this information when Create and Validate is next run.
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The DCSF Summary Report can be run as soon as Create &
Validate has taken place. There is no need to correct all problems before running this report as the report may help in identifying the
problem.
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This is a Secondary School so there are fifteen sections
in the report (A to O).
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Detail Reports indicate the content of the XML Return
file. Click for a choice of Detail Reports.
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Click to produce a Pupil Basic Details
Report.
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Click to produce a Pupil Exclusions
Report.
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There haven’t been any exclusions.
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Click to produce a Pupil Attendance
Report.
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Click to produce a Pupil Learning Aims
Report.
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You might find it helpful to copy this
report to a spreadsheet
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A spreadsheet may interpret a numerical code as a number and strip the leading zeros.
However, some spreadsheets will allow the display to be
adjusted.
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Select the column with the display problem.
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Click to format the cells.
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Select custom
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Enter four zeros
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Click OK
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The codes are now shown with their zero
padding.
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It doesn’t take long to create a display for analysing learning
aims.
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To maintain security you can save this spreadsheet in the
same folder as the Return file.
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Click to produce a Pupil SEN Report.
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Click to authorise the return ready for
sending to the DCSF.
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This is a dry run so you should click No.
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Click to see a list of all the returns.
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The Copy functionality has been provided, but it will only be helpful if you have entered attendance
information manually.
End of Demonstration
Thank you for your time
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