June 2024 MIS Newsletter Blog Post

Arbor Admin Access.  

What benefit does this functionality bring to you?

With your permission School ICT / turn IT on can carry out Arbor Admin functionality for your school on your Arbor MIS.

This would mean that we would be able to diagnose and resolve a selection of common issues and perform common data refreshes for example, refreshing course calendar entries, populating missing payment accounts and access audit logs.

This ability would negate the need to escalate these tasks to Arbor Support and result in quicker support resolutions.

If you haven’t had the email and feel you should have, please call School ICT on 0845 222 6802 or email helpdesk@schooolicts.co.uk for turn IT on customers call 01865 597620 (opt.2) or email mis.support@turniton.co.uk 

• Enhanced reporting for observations: expanded data fields added to the analysis page which now allows users to view additional details
• including lesson name, date/time of observation, and observer name. We’ve also added a new base report for observations into the Custom
• Report Writer module, allowing you to pull your observation data out of Arbor for further analysis.
• Set staff ID to be added to downloadable table live feeds, this means you no longer need to use Custom Report Writer for everything.
• New setting added to prevent students and guardians from seeing next year’s calendar. A new setting named “Show next academic year calendar” has been added under Parent Portal settings.
• Schools can now enable the Student Portal themselves, previously this could only be done by Arbor, you now can manage this at your school. Go to Students > Student Portal > Student Portal Settings.

Full details of the updates above and all other Abor updates can be view in the: Arbor Change Log

Arbor have added four new Custom Report Writer fields to help make this easier:

• Roll Call Attendance (Present) by Day of the Week
• Roll Call Attendance (Auth Absent) by Day of the Week
• Roll Call Attendance (Unauth Absent) by Day of the Week
• Roll Call Attendance (Absent) by Day of the Week

These fields will filter down students’ attendance to the day of the week, and as with other attendance fields can display the results as a percentage, numerator, or denominator.

A member of our team has created a report that’s ready to download and import into your system.  you can access it through the portal via this link:  https://halo.transforming-learning.co.uk/portal/kb?id=802

Important: DfE Statutory Assessment from 23/24 onwards 

In line with DfE guidance, End of Key Stage 1 (KS1) Teacher Assessments are no longer required to be collected or reported.

There are no changes in the DfE Assessment area in Arbor. If you won’t be administering KS1 assessments, do not set them up.

All other assessments (KS2, Phonics, MTS and EYFSP) continue to be statutory and required.

Where are DfE assessments in Arbor? 

Arbor have developed a specialised area where you can input and analyse your DfE Assessment data, which is a statutory requirement (excluding End of KS1 Assessment) for schools in England.

Setting up and adding marks 

Set up all the relevant standardised assessments for your school. To see how to set up and mark different standardised assessments, follow these guides:

• End of Key Stage 1 or 2 standardised assessments
• Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP)
• The Phonics Screening Check

If you want to print your marksheets to check your marks, follow these instructions: Can we download the DfE statutory assessment marksheet to check the data?

Please note that you do not set up the Multiplication Tables Check: How do we set up the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) template?

Sending off your results to the DfE or the Primary Assessment Gateway 

On or before the deadline, you’ll need to submit your teacher assessment data for KS2 to the Primary Assessment Gateway. To see how to generate your CTFs to submit, click here.

Remember when exporting your CTF, leave the Year group field blank if you want all the students that took the test are chosen. If you want to, for example, export your year 1 and year 2 Phonics Screening Check data separately, you will select Year 1 in this field.

Importing and analysing results 

For all of the assessments, you can see the marks input by going to DfE Assessments > View Marks.

However, some analysis isn’t available in the Students > Assessments > DfE Assessments > Analysis pages until the results have been released by the DfE.

Take a look at how and where to analyse your assessments here: How can I analyse my DfE statutory assessments in Arbor?

Key dates 

You can find other important dates and deadlines in the DfE’s guidance:

• 2024 optional key stage 1 tests guidance
• 2024 key stage 2: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)
• Multiplication tables check
• Key stage 1: phonics screening check administration guidance
• Early years foundation stage profile handbook

Wednesday 1st – Friday 31st May

If running these assessments (they are optional), this is the testing period for KS1 assessments.

There is no obligation to report these to your LA or the DfE.

Monday 13th – Thursday 16th May

This is the testing period for KS2 assessments.

Monday 3rd – Friday 14th June

This is the testing period for the KS2 Multiplication tables check.

Monday 10th – Friday 14th June

This is the testing period for the KS1 Phonics screening check.

Monday 24th June

The threshold mark for the Phonics Screening Check will be available from the DfE. In Arbor, student outcomes will automatically appear on the marksheet based on the raw scores you’ve already put in, and you’ll be able to analyse your data.

The Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) results become available from the Primary Assessment Gateway. To import your results into Arbor:

1.        Generate a CTF file from the Primary Assessment Gateway to your computer

2.        Import the file – click here to find out how

3.        You’ll then be able to see MTC results on the analysis pages.

Friday 28th June

This is the deadline to submit KS2 results on the Primary Assessment Gateway.

Tuesday 9th July

The KS2 results become available from the Primary Assessment Gateway. To import your results into Arbor:

1.        Generate a CTF file from the Primary Assessment Gateway to your computer

2.        Import the file – click here to find out how

3.        You’ll then be able to analyse your school results on the Analysis pages.

Sharing results 

You can export your results as End of Year Reports or Report Cards if you need to send them parents or guardians. To see how, click here.

View this article in full online here.

Upcoming Webinars: 

• Report Cards – Monday 10^th June –Click here to register
• New School Year Setup 1-5 – Monday 10^th June – Click here to register
• New School Year Setup for Secondaries steps 6 – 9 – Friday 21^st June – Click here to register
• New School Year Setup for Primaries steps 6 – 9 – Monday 24^th June – Click here to register
• Exam Results – Tuesday 9^th July – Click here to Register

Previous Webinars:

• DfE Assessments 2024 – Click Watch here.

You can now start working of your New School Year set up in Arbor. Guidance can be found here:

·        Managing Applicants and Admissions

·        New School Year Setup guide

Whilst you can use school shop for students, staff can’t be linked to school shop items but you can still charge staff for items purchased by creating an ad hoc Customer Account Type.

You can create a customer account type and then raise an invoice to create a debt against the account (in this case for something like a ticket?).

Staff can pay by going to My Items | My Payments. They can pay by card for the tickets. (This method will work for other items as well). Please see the example below. Go to School > Payments > Setup > Customer Account Types.

Staff can then be issued an invoice.

This can be done from their profile. Go to payments and select the account to invoice

Select Invoices | + Add

When staff log in they will be able to see the invoice and make payment via My Items| My payments

As an administrator you will be able to see the overview in School | Payment | Prom Tickets

or school | payments | Invoices.

Please see the link below for guidance on this – NB Please be aware you cannot complete the Year End process until the last day of the summer term and after the PM register, however there are aspects of the Year End that you can start before the last day of the summer term.

There are 6 essential steps (1-6 listed below), which will need to be completed and a 7th step (number 7 listed below) which is optional. The process is a linear function, and the elements should be carried out in the order indicated by the timeline. You cannot go back to a previous step once you have passed it.

To start your Year End procedures, you can use the icon via Admin > Year End.

https://support.scholarpack.com/hc/en-gb/articles/10361013426333-Year-End-Step-1-Introduction-and-Preparing-for-Year-End#read-through-the-documentation-0-1

We also offer consultancy support to work with you to complete the process on your behalf to save valuable time in school. Please drop us an email if you are interested via helpdesk@Schoolicts.co.uk for School ICTS customers or mis.support@turniton.co.uk  for turn IT on customers.

In order to enter phonics statutory assessment data please go to Admin > Students > Statutory Assessment > Phonics.

INFO

If you don’t have access to Admin and your school has it set up, please go via Workspace > Statutory Assessment instead. For guidance see: Update Settings so Teachers can enter Statutory Assessment Data

In this area a table will appear with all your Year 1 and Year 2 students. You will need to enter the marks for all students in Year 1.

It is only necessary to enter data here for those Year 2 students who are re-sitting the phonics test this academic year.

To enter the phonics mark click into the dropdown, select the mark you require (from 0-40) and you will see a green tick flash up to show that the mark is saved in the Saved column.

Please Note

The threshold mark will be made available to schools after the end of the test window on GOV.UK. Schools do not need to wait for the threshold mark to be published before submitting their data to the local authority.

Schools are only required to submit the mark (or outcome where the pupil has not taken the test) to local authorities, and local authorities will be required to submit this to the DfE.

The DfE will apply the threshold after the data has been submitted to local authorities.

The ‘Phonics Outcome’ field is to be populated with the following values only where a  pupil has not taken the test:
A – Absent
Q – Maladministration
D – Disapplied
L – Left

Outcomes Wa and Wt are not required. However, if these are included in a file returned to the department the file will be accepted and the Phonics Outcome field removed.

If a pupil is absent during the check week, you can administer the check to them later. Any pupil who is absent from school for this entire period should be recorded as absent in the results data.

MTC is an on-screen assessment developed to determine whether students are able to fluently recall their multiplication tables up to 12 through a set of timed questions. The check consists of 25 questions, and students have 6 seconds to answer each question with a 3 second pause between questions. There will be three practice questions before the check begins.

The MTC results (a total score for each student) is available in the ‘View Pupil Results’ section of the MTC Service

How to import the MTC results into ScholarPack

You will download a partial CTF with student MTC results from the DfE online portal.

In ScholarPack, go to Admin > Students > Partial CTF Importer and select Assessments.

Click Choose File to locate the file in your computer, then click Upload

View the Imported Data

The data can be viewed on each Year 4 student profile by clicking on the Assessment tab.

Under Statutory Assessments and Simple Assessment.

Within Statutory Assessments you can view the marks under Key Stage 2 Results, in the Mathematics area.

Report on the MTC Results

In Reporting > Assessment > Statutory Assessment you will find the School MTC Report and the MTC Reports to Parents.

• In the School MTC Report, select the student’s current year group and the year the test was taken, as well as a particular form or cohort if required. Then click Choose to run the report.

The report will display student names with the  current year group, the year of result, the year group of outcome as well as the student’s outcome

• In the MTC Report to Parents, this report will download to produce one student entry per page, with the student name, their result and what a result means in cases where the student has not taken the test (see Mark Options below).

How to import the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) into ScholarPack

The MTC is an on-screen assessment developed to determine whether students are able to fluently recall their multiplication tables up to 12 through a set of timed questions. The check consists of 25 questions, and students have 6 seconds to answer each question with a 3 second pause between questions. There will be three practice questions before the check begins.

The MTC results (a total score for each student) is available in the ‘View Pupil Results’ section of the MTC Service

How to import the MTC results into ScholarPack

You will download a partial CTF with student MTC results from the DfE online portal.

In ScholarPack, go to Admin > Students > Partial CTF Importer and select Assessments.

Click Choose File to locate the file in your computer, then click Upload

View the Imported Data

The data can be viewed on each Year 4 student profile by clicking on the Assessment tab.

Under Statutory Assessments and Simple Assessment.

Within Statutory Assessments you can view the marks under Key Stage 2 Results, in the Mathematics area.

Report on the MTC Results

In Reporting > Assessment > Statutory Assessment you will find the School MTC Report and the MTC Reports to Parents.

• In the School MTC Report, select the student’s current year group and the year the test was taken, as well as a particular form or cohort if required. Then click Choose to run the report.

The report will display student names with the  current year group, the year of result, the year group of outcome as well as the student’s outcome

• In the MTC Report to Parents, this report will download to produce one student entry per page, with the student name, their result and what a result means in cases where the student has not taken the test (see Mark Options below).

Mark Options for MTC

Mark Options: A score of 0-25 (out of 25 questions), or:

• A = Absent
• B = Working below expectation
• J = Just arrived in the school
• L = Left
• Q = Annulled
• U = Unable to access test
• X = Not Received/missing data
• Z = Incorrect registration for the MTC assessment

Don’t forget to check out Web Wednesdays for top tips on a variety of topics.

Please go to the Bromcom Community website and sign in.

Live Primary Data Collections Webinar training sessions are now.  To book or view guidance please click on the link below:

• Primary Data Collections 2024 Guidance

DfE Phonics testing should be completed in the week commencing 10th June 2024

The deadline for submitting Phonics Data to the DfE is Friday 19th July 2024

The 2024 phonics screening check threshold will be released Monday 24^th June.

Section A must be completed before starting Section B (method 1 or 2)

Section A – Setting up Integris for the Phonics data:

1. From the Modules menu choose Administration and then Speed Edit, to display the speed edit screen
2. From the Area drop-down menu, select Phonics Check Year
3. Select Find
4. In the Year Group field, select 1 from the drop-down menu
5. Click Find, and the pupils are displayed
6. Click Select and then choose Yes
7. Click Select All to highlight all students
8. From the New Value drop-down menu, select 2024
9. Click the Apply Changes button
10. Click Save and click Yes to any warning messages

11. From the Area drop-down menu, select Phonics Check Taken at Another School. In the New Value column, any pupils that have taken the test at another school should have a value of Yes against them.

12. Highlight the remaining pupils either by clicking Select All and deselecting the pupils with the Yes value (Ctrl + click to deselect) or cherry picking.

13. Leave the New Value box blank

14. Click Apply Changes – No will appear in the Value column.

15. Click Save and click Yes to any warning messages.

Notes: For any year 1 students who start at your school after the tests were taken but before the results are sent off should either be marked as ‘Assessed at another school’ on the KS1 Keystage tab in the Phonics area, if they were assessed before they came to your school, or they should be marked as A (absent) and tested in the following year when they are in year 2

Section B – Entering the Phonics test scores

There are currently two methods of inputting Phonics data into Integris. The quickest way (method 1) is to input directly into the Phonics template in Assessment and the other option (method 2) is to enter the test scores directly into the Student Details area (Key Stage tab, Phonics area).

Method 1 – Input using Phonics templates (information filters through to individual pupil records in Student Details). (click to show/hide details)

To copy the template, follow the steps below:

1. In Modules, select Assessment, Assessment Planning. The Assessment Plans window opens.

2. Expand the Templates folder by clicking the + symbol.

3. Expand the Key Stage folder by clicking the + symbol.

4. Expand the 2024 folder by clicking the + symbol.

5. Highlight the NC Phonics Check 2024 template.

6. On the right-hand side, click Deploy in the top right of screen and then No to the prompt which appears.

7. The plan will now have been copied to your My Assessment Plans folder, and can be found under Key Stage > 2024 folder

To assign groups and markbook users, follow the steps below:

1. Expand My Assessment Plans > Key Stage > 2024 by clicking the + symbol.

2. Highlight the NC Phonics Check 2024 plan and click the icon.

3. Select the Enrolled Groups tab.

4. Click the Add an Enrolled Group icon.

5. From the Enrolled Group Type drop-down menu, select Year Group.

6. Highlight Year Group 1 and click the Add button.

7. Click Close.

8. Highlight the Year 1 enrolled group and click the icon as shown below.

9. Select a single user by clicking to highlight their name or select several users by holding the Ctrl key down and left-clicking with the mouse.

10. Click OK

11. Click Save. The template is now ready to use.

To enter the scores into the markbook

There are two options for entering the scores into the Markbook. You can use Option 1 to enter the results directly to the Markbook or use Option 2 to import the results into a CSV file and then import the file to the Markbook.

Option 1 – Entering the results directly to the Markbook

1. In Modules, select Assessment, Markbook. The Markbook window opens.

2. Expand My Markbooks and highlight the NC Phonics Check 2024 : Year 1 markbook.

3. Click the Open a Markbook icon

4. Enter the scores in the KS1 Pho Mark column for all pupils listed and then click Save.

5. Once the final student is complete, click Save and then Back to exit.

Option 2 – Importing data to Markbook:

1. In Modules, select Assessment and then Markbook.

2. Navigate to the Markbook and select the Open a Markbook button

3. Click on the Tools menu at the top right hand corner of the screen and select Export Assessment Data

4. Press Next, Next and then Export

5. This file can be emailed to teachers so they can enter result or you can add the results yourself directly in the file. If you are an Assessment Coordinator or Administrator you can also import CSV data into the markbook via the Assessment Import utility under Assessment > Utilities.

Method 2 – Input into individual pupil records in Student Details (scores entered directly into the Key Stage tab) (click to show/hide details)

1. In Modules, select General and then Student Details.

2. Click Find.

3. In the Year Group field, select 1 from the drop-down menu.

4. Click Find and the pupils are displayed.

5. Click Select and then choose Yes.

6. Click the Key Stage tab.

7. Click Edit. 8. For each eligible pupil, confirm the Current Key Stage shows Key Stage 1 and if not select Key Stage 1 from the drop-down menu.

9. In the Phonics Screening Area, enter the Mark into the Mark field and click Save (you will not be able to complete the outcome field at this time). Before clicking save, ensure that the Year shows 2024.

10. Click Save

11. You will now be back on the Student screen and you can move through the year 1 pupils by clicking the Next or Previous arrows.

12. Use Edit to open the Key Stage tab for editing and Save each record.

Section C – Creating the Phonics export file

1. In Modules, select Administration, Import & Export
2. Select Key Stage Exports.
3. Click the Phonics Export (2024) radio button

4. Click Next (The report will automatically export the pupils to ZZZ/LLLL – Home LEA (where ZZZ is the local authority code)).

5. Click the Add Students icon.

6. In the Year Group field, select 1 from the drop-down menu.

7. Click the Find button and the pupils are displayed.

8. Click Select, Yes. All the year 1 pupils will appear in the Export window.

9. Click Next

10. In the Export Summary window, scroll down to check there are no pupils with validation issues. These issues must be reviewed and corrected if necessary, before generating the file for submission.

11. If there are validation issues, click Finish, Yes to the warning message and Close. You will need to return to Section B to look at the individual pupil records and add any missing information. Once this is done, continue with the instructions from Section C.

12. If there are no validation issues, click the Download Now button

13. In the File Download window, click Save

14. Navigate to your desktop or a folder you have created for the Phonics return. In the File Name box, the structure will read: ZZZXXXX_PHO_ZZZLLLL_001.ZIP (where ZZZ is the local authority code and XXXX is the school code).

15. If required, please rename the file at this stage.

16. Click Save and then Close.

17. Click Finish and then Close.

18. Exit or minimise Integris.

You will then need to send this file to the relevant parties.

You may be required to Extract the file from the zip folder before sending it to the Local Authority. To do this, right-click on the downloaded Export file and choose the ‘Extract All’ option, then complete the extraction wizard.

Section D – Running Phonics Key Stage Reports

The Key Stage reports can be found within Reports > Key Stage Reports (Phonics Certificates

Note Students with an Outcome of A – Absent, D – Disapplied or L – Left are not included in the Key Stage Phonics Student Assessment Sheet. This is expected behaviour and no return is required for these students. You can only run the Key Stage Phonics Student Assessment Sheet report for students with a Phonics mark and Outcome. If students don’t appear on the report, then please confirm an outcome has been entered for the student. To include students that were assessed at another school, you need to tick the ‘Include pupils assessed at another school’ on the Pupil Assessment Sheet report.

Check/Resolve N and * Attendance codes

Make sure that attendance records for all Current roll students are complete, and all unmarked and unresolved absences have been resolved. Any missed sessions can be checked by following the steps below:

1. Go to Reports > Attendance > Attendance Records> Unmarked Registers
2. In the From and To boxes, enter the start and end date for your 2023-2024 academic year
3. Tick the List Students and Include ‘N’ Code boxes
4. Press the hand icon to select all classes
5. Press Generate Report

This report will now show students who have * and N attendance codes. We strongly advise that these codes are updated to the correct code prior to running Year End.  If you choose not to correct these, then you will see an error message related to missing attendance data and the students’ annual attendance figures will be incorrect.

More guidance can be found here:

Task 1 – Setup Student Groups and check Attendance

Create a new academic year

1. From the Modules menu choose General and then School Diary. The School Diary screen is displayed.

More guidance can be found here:

Task-2- Create the New Academic Year

Setup required destinations/previous schools

Before setting up your leaver’s destinations and leave dates, you will need to confirm you have the relevant schools in your Other Schools List in Modules > General > Parameters > Other Schools.  If you need to add a school, click the + icon to add.

See Other Schools parameter list for more details.

How to set Leave Date and Destination for school leavers

Before running the End of Year process, it is important that the Leave Date for leavers is set to the last day of the current school year and the Destination is set. Speed Edit is the most convenient way to do this.

1.  From the Modulesmenu chooseGeneral and then School Details.
2.  On theBasic Detailstab, the Leavers Year field on the right-hand side should contain the number of the top year in your school.
   If this figure is not correct, click Edit details, select the correct top year number from the Leavers Year drop-down list, and click Save.
3.  From the Modulesmenu chooseAdministration and then Speed Edit.
   The Speed Edit screen is displayed.
4.  From the Areadrop-down list, select Leave Date.

More guidance can be found here:

Task 3 – Set Leave Date and Destination

Setup required Classes

Before you assign classes, you may need to create new classes for your new academic year.   If class names are changing either because you include staff names/initials in your class names and different teachers are managing different classes this year, or because you are changing your naming convention, then we would strongly advise NOT renaming the current classes.  If you rename a class, the original named class is no longer available in the system for running reports against, and you will only find the new name available in historical reports.
If you are adding new classes for the new academic year, then these classes will show on the current class list on any screens where they are used, e.g. Daily Register or Week View/Group Week View.  If you prefer these not to show, then you can make them inactive once you have completed the Proposed Class/Year group and done any reports for checking.  But you will need to make them active again before you click the Process Year End button.

Task 4 – Setting Proposed Year and Class for Current students and Leavers

There are a number of reports users can print once they have entered all the proposed years and classes. The easiest one to employ is the report showing the current year/class and proposed year/class.

1.  From the Modulesmenu chooseAdministration, Year End.
2.  From the Year End menu, choose Reports Showing the Proposed Year/Class.
   The ‘Year End – Reports Showing Proposed Year/Class’screen is displayed.

Task 5 – Produce reports showing Proposed Year/Class

This process automates the move to the next academic year, by assigning all current students their proposed year/class, moving all leavers onto the Former roll, and setting the new school year as the current year.

The earliest date you can run the End of Year process is the last day of the summer term / current academic year, after the last attendance session has been recorded.

The latest date you can run the End of Year process is the first day of the autumn term / new academic year, before the first attendance session has been recorded.

Before you proceed, check that you have completed Tasks 1-5.

Task 6 – Process Year End

The Year End process will carry out the data changes below:

• Move students from their current year and class into those proposed within the ‘Assign individuals to Year/Class’ window.
• Any students in the Leavers’ Year Group will automatically move onto the Former Roll.
• Select a new school year (that you will have created before running the Year End in the School Diary) that will be the new current school year.

More guidance can be found here:

Task 7 – Check Year End has completed

Start of Year Checklist

If you are completing this section immediately following Year End, please ensure you have logged out and back in, otherwise you may receive an error when you move your admissions to the current roll

More guidance can be found here:

Task 8 – Start of Year Tasks

Data Services from School ICT

We received a fabulous testimonial from one of our Virtual Data Management customers recently, here’s what they had to say about this service: –

“We’ve been working with School ICT since January 2024, and they have been a revelation. The professionalism, quality and overall seamless communication has been there from the start. Andy, our Virtual Data Manager, is always on hand to support with all our data needs. From assessment point reports, target setting and the Census, this is just the tip of the iceberg, they can do everything. It’s like having someone in school as he responds so quickly and always finds solutions to what we need. The “Helpdesk Ticket System” creates a clear transparent pathway from the start of a request to the end and keep us informed of the progress of each request. Highly recommend School ICT.”

Paul Delaney – Assistant Headteacher, Deyes High School.

For further information on our Data Management services, or to discuss your requirements, please give us a call on: 0345 222 6802 – option 3 or e-mail: enquiries@schoolicts.co.uk.