Teacher Strike Days & what to do in your MIS

As always SBS are here to help you update your MIS system for any scenario in the academic year, whether you use Arbor, Bromcom, Scholarpack or SIMS.

On Monday afternoon (16th Jan 23) the National Education Union (NEU) announced it had met the legal threshold required in order to proceed with industrial action. Accordingly, it has announced seven dates for strike action, with the following six affecting schools in England:

• Wednesday 1 February - all England
• Tuesday 28 February – Northern, North West, Yorkshire & the Humber regions
• Wednesday 1 March – East Midlands, West Midlands & Eastern regions
• Thursday 2 March – London, South East & South West regions
• Wednesday 15 March – all England
• Thursday 16 March – all England

To add a 'Whole School Closure' in Arbor

• Go to Students > Attendance > Bulk Edit Marks Standard
• Use the filters to select the appropriate students, ensure start, and end dates are correct
• Click on the Bulk Action button and select Bulk Set Absent
• In the slide over select the appropriate attendance mark i.e., Y
• Once you are happy with your selection click on Bulk Set Marks
• You will receive a notification in the top right of your MIS when the change has been completed
• Please be aware that it can take some time for marks to load if you have updated many students' marks at once

To add a 'Whole School Closure' in Bromcom

• Go to Students > Attendance > Bulk Edit Marks Standard
• Use the filters to select the appropriate students, ensure start, and end dates are correct
• Click on the Bulk Action button and select Bulk Set Absent
• In the slide over select the appropriate attendance mark i.e., Y
• Once you are happy with your selection click on Bulk Set Marks
• You will receive a notification in the top right of your MIS when the change has been completed
• Please be aware that it can take some time for marks to load if you have updated many students' marks at once

To add an 'Unexpected School Closure' in Scholarpack

School Registers
In order to do this, go to Register > Manage Register:

• Above the View Register button, you will see the Quick Dates section. Click 'Today Only' or enter the date range for the period you would like to record.
• If it is a part day closure, select the appropriate AM or PM field on the left side as it will default to 'Both' (all day). 
• Click View Register to retrieve all students on roll and make sure all students are selected with ticks on the right-hand side of the table.
• At the base of the student table, select the code you wish to apply to all students from the drop-down menu.  If any students have an existing code in place, you may choose to tick the box 'overwrite' to ensure all students have the same code for school closure. Then click Fill Spaces.

To add an 'Exceptional Circumstance' in SIMS

• Select Focus > Attendance (or Lesson Monitor) > Exceptional Circumstances
• Click the 'New' button to display the Create an Exceptional Circumstance page
• Enter the dates e.g., from 12/12/2022 AM to 12/12/2022 PM
• By default, the Group Type is displayed as Whole School. If a different group is required, select this from the drop-down list and then click on 'Search' to refresh the display.
• Select the required Attendance code from the drop-down list i.e., Y
• Enter the reason in the Description field e.g., School is closed due to snow
• Highlight the pupils/students e.g., Whole School
• Click the 'Apply' button; you will see a message confirming that the marks have been applied.

Please contact us on 0345 222 1551 | Opt 3 or email the MIS Service Desk for any further assistance.