Starting Next Year's
Curriculum Early
Applicable to April 2012 Onwards
IMPORTANT NOTE: Capita SIMS has made this
document available in Word format to enable you to
edit the information supplied herein. Capita SIMS
cannot be held responsible for any changes, errors or
omissions resulting from the subsequent editing of this
supplied document.
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Contents
Starting Next Year’s Curriculum Early ........................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................... 1
Creating a Data Set for Next Year in Nova-T6 ................................. 2
Send the Curriculum and Timetable to SQL ..................................... 5
Preparation in Curriculum Assignment ........................................... 5
Removing Students from Classes ............................................ 5
Assigning Students to Classes................................................. 7
Carrying Forward Memberships into the New Timetable ......... 8
Timetable for September .............................................................. 10
Populating the Classes for the September Timetable ............ 10
Exporting and Importing SLK Files ............................................... 10
Considerations for Course Manager and the School Census .......... 11
Check List ..................................................................................... 12
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Introduction ................................................................................... 1
Creating a Data Set for Next Year in Nova-T6 ................................. 2
Send the Curriculum and Timetable to SQL ..................................... 5
Preparation in Curriculum Assignment ........................................... 5
Timetable for September .............................................................. 10
Exporting and Importing SLK Files ............................................... 10
Considerations for Course Manager and the School Census .......... 11
Introduction
This document assumes that you wish to send next year’s completed plan and
timetable from Nova to SIMS for dates within this academic year, in addition to
the next academic year. This means that you can start next year’s timetable
early, but that the actual end of year and pastoral promotion remain unchanged
and takes place in September as usual.
It is possible to edit this year’s timetable to include the new classes for next
year, i.e. put Options blocks in Year 9 and send the details to SQL for June and
July. In this scenario, students are assigned to classes in their current year
group and academic promotion can then be used at year end to transfer these
memberships to classes in next year.
Where schools wish to start the timetable early and show students as being in
next year’s classes, i.e. Year 9 students in Year 10 Options classes, the
procedures in this document should be followed.
It covers:
Ensuring that 2011/12 memberships finish on the correct date.
Transferring the curriculum into a new SPL file for the next academic year.
NOTE: At some point, the SPL file for the new timetable will need to be
copied and dealt with as two SPL files, one for June/July and one for
Sept 2012 onwards. This will enable the new teachers arriving in
September to be assigned to the Sept 2012 timetable and teachers
who are leaving at the end of the Summer term can be assigned to the
June/July timetable. This also enables any other differences to be dealt
with.
Sending the curriculum plan and timetable to SQL.
Assigning students to classes for June/July.
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If this year’s student scheme memberships finish at the end of the Summer
term, they need to be terminated at the date the new timetable begins. This
should be done to prevent old, as well as new students from appearing in
class lists. Schemes exist for the whole academic year, even if classes and
student class memberships within the scheme have end dates before the
end of the academic year, unless it was anticipated during the Summer of
2012 that schemes would finish earlier. If it was not anticipated that the
2011/12 timetable would finish early and existing memberships need to be
adjusted, this should be done before making the new assignments.
This document assumes that you are familiar with the processes described.
Further details on these processes can be found in the following documents
available from Web Support:
Preparing the Curriculum for Using Nova-T6 and Options guide
Nova-T6 handbook
Academic Management in SIMS handbook
Copies of all handbooks are posted to SupportNet
(http://support.capitaes.co.uk) and can be obtained by clicking the
Documentation button on the Home page, then selecting SIMS
Handbooks from the Category drop-down list and clicking the Search
button.
NOTE: Please make frequent backups in Nova-T of all the SPL files that
you are using. Select Data | Force Backup to create a backup.
Alternatively, use the Save | Save As option to make a new copy of
the SPL file.
Creating a Data Set for Next Year in Nova-T6
1. Run Nova-T6 from SIMS.
2. Load a data set containing the current timetable (i.e. for academic year
2011/12).
NOTE: It is important that this is not a maintenance data set or a
frozen data set.
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3. Select Data | Transfer Curriculum to display the Transfer Curriculum
dialog.
The routine defaults to listing all of the blocks in the curriculum plan, but
the list may be filtered by selecting an item from the Select Year dropdown list. The most likely columns for receiving transfers are coloured white
(for moving across) and yellow (for moving up). In fact, a block may be
transferred to any or all year groups, including grey ones.
4. A block and its classes can be copied without their attributes (teachers, and
rooms if any). Click a white cell to copy the block into the same year group
for next year, or click a yellow cell to copy the block into the next year
group up (e.g. this year’s year group 7 into next year’s year group 8).
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5. A block and its classes can be copied, together with their teachers (and
rooms, if associated). Double-click in a cell. Single clicking in a cell places a
tick, a second click inserts a face symbol and a further click removes
everything from the cell.
Right-clicking a cell removes its contents. The tick indicates that the block is
copied. The face symbol indicates that both staff and rooms (associated with
classes in the curriculum plan) are also included. An unlikely example is
shown in the previous graphic.
NOTE: The Shift key can be used to mark a continuous series of
blocks for transfer.
6. When you have set up all the transfers you want, click the OK button. The
Enter Carry-Forward Options dialog is displayed.
It is now possible for the One-Per-Day settings of a block to be carried
forward to a new dataset (via Data | Transfer Curriculum). It is also
possible for block and class levels to be carried forward to a new dataset.
7. The new dataset is given the default name of <NoName>, you should now
save this dataset with an appropriate new name, e.g. 2012-13A.
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If you are using a copy of this year’s dataset instead of using the Transfer
Curriculum routine, you must run the Tools | Remove SQL Links routine.
8. On the block screen, after the SPL files have been copied and you are
working on the June/July timetable and Sept 2012 timetable separately, it
is suggested that you rename the blocks so that the names begin with the
letter J. This enables you to distinguish the June/July block from other
blocks on the Curriculum Assignment screen in SIMS.
9. Edit the Curriculum plan and schedule, and then send them to SQL for the
June/July timetable.
Send the Curriculum and Timetable to SQL
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you run a backup in SIMS
before sending the curriculum and timetable to SQL.
Send the Curriculum and Timetable data to SQL via Data | Export
Curriculum and Timetable to SQL.
Enter the Start date and End date in June and July when this timetable
will operate – e.g. 13/06/2012 to 22/07/2012.
In the Curriculum Matching wizard, ensure that the new blocks for next year’s
timetable appear as new items in the wizard. If they are linked to existing
blocks, ensure that the links are broken before proceeding with the transfer.
Preparation in Curriculum Assignment
Removing Students from Classes
Any existing class memberships for the period when the new timetable will
be used, e.g. June and July, must be removed for all students in each block
scheme.
NOTE: This only needs to be done if the original class memberships for
2011/12 finish at the end of the Summer term.
1. Select Focus | School | Academic Structure | Curriculum Assignment
by Scheme to display the Find Curriculum Scheme browser.
2. Click the Search button.
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3. Select the first scheme in the list for which memberships are to be
removed to display the Select Effective Date Range dialog.
4. Select the Custom date range radio button and complete the date fields
as follows:
In the From field, enter the date when you intend to start the new
timetable, e.g. 13/06/12.
In the To field, enter the date when your class memberships were
originally due to end, e.g. 22/07/12.
5. Select the Don’t ask me again (this session or until manually
changed) check box.
6. Click the OK button to display the Tick Grid for that year.
7. Click the Action button and choose Select All Students from the pop-up
menu to select all the students in the grid.
8. Click the Action button to display the Remove All Memberships
Confirmation dialog.
9. Select Remove All Selected Memberships from the pop-up menu and
click the Yes button to remove all the memberships.
NOTE: For Band schemes, each column needs to be selected in the
dialog in turn. For other schemes, memberships for all columns are
removed in one go.
10. Click the Save button to save the changes.
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11. Click the Browse button to return to the scheme list and select the next
scheme where memberships need to be removed. Repeat the process to
remove memberships and continue until you have removed all student
class memberships from this year’s timetable for the required dates.
Assigning Students to Classes
NOTE: Academic Promotion does not work for this scenario and should
not be used.
1. Select Focus | School | Academic Structure | Curriculum Assignment
by Scheme to display the Find Curriculum Scheme browser.
2. Select Bands from the Type filter and click the Search button.
3. Select a band scheme to display the Memberships of Groups of a
Scheme page.
4. Select the Custom date range radio button and complete the date fields
as follows:
In the From field, enter the date you intend to start the new timetable,
e.g. 13/06/2012.
In the To field, enter the date when your class memberships were
originally due to end, e.g. 22/07/2012.
5. Select the Don’t ask me again (this session or until manually
changed) check box.
6. Click the OK button to display the Tick Grid for that year, e.g. Year 9.
7. Click the green Add button above the Tick Grid.
8. On the Student browser, select the Year Group of the students who are to
be assigned to the scheme’s destination bands (Yr 8 for Yr 9 schemes,
Yr 9 for Yr 10 schemes and so on) and click Enter.
9. Click on the first student in the list, hold down the Shift key and click on
the last student so that all students in the list are selected. Click the OK
button.
10. Above the Tick Grid in the Filters section, select the same students’ Year
Group, e.g. 8, and click the Filter button. Only Year 8 students are
displayed.
11. Click the Relax button (which allows ineligible students to be given
memberships) and assign students to bands as required. Be careful not to
assign students inappropriately.
12. Now that the students are in bands, they can be assigned to blocks.
13. For batch allocation of student memberships, the export/import of student
memberships via .SLK files can be used. To populate the June/July
timetable where class memberships are carried forward from this year,
memberships need to be exported for a date prior to June. The .SLK files
can be opened in Excel so that the column headings can be edited.
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Carrying Forward Memberships into the New Timetable
The export/import of Student Memberships function can be used extensively
at year end to allocate students to classes. For full instructions, please refer
to the Academic Management handbook. All handbooks can be accessed
from the Documentation Centre which is launched by clicking the
Documentation button on the Home Page in SIMS. Once open, click the
Handbooks button, select the required category, then click the required
handbook from the Handbooks page.
The following example describes how to carry forward the memberships of
year 9 Maths classes from the 2011/12 timetable to the June/July 2012
timetable.
1. In the 2011/12 academic year, select Focus | School | Academic
Structure | Curriculum Assignment by Scheme to display the Find
Curriculum Scheme browser.
2. Click the Search button and select the scheme for Year 9 Maths.
The relevant student’s memberships are displayed in the tick grid.
3. Click the Allocate button and select Export Curriculum Membership
Wizard.
4. Select a Reference Date during May when memberships are most up-todate.
5. Select the Populate with Student Membership option.
6. Make a note of the .SLK (Symbolic link) file name created and its location.
7. Click the Next button on each page of the wizard until you reach the final
page then click the Finish button.
8. Open the file in Excel and change the column headings from, for example,
9x/Ma1 to 10x/Ma1, etc. Save the file in the same format.
9. Whilst still in the 2011/12 academic year, select Focus | School |
Academic Structure | Curriculum Assignment by Scheme.
10. Click the Search button and select the scheme that you wish to import
student memberships into, e.g. J 10x Maths block.
11. Ensure the selected date ranges are correct before proceeding, e.g.
13/06/12 to 22/07/12. The Tick Grid is empty.
12. Click the Allocate button and select the Import Curriculum
Membership wizard.
13. Select the file type Curriculum Membership option.
14. Browse to the storage location of the previously saved .SLK file and click
the Finish button to import the memberships.
15. Click the Save button to save the imported curriculum memberships.
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NOTE: Timetables for teachers will be available in SIMS after exporting
to SQL. Class lists and timetables for students can be accessed in
SIMS after scheme membership allocations have been completed.
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Timetable for September
At some point, after the necessary preparations for next year have been
completed in SIMS, including the creation of the new academic year and
promoting the pastoral structure, the copy of next year’s timetable that is
intended for use from September should be sent from Nova-T6 to SQL using
the dates for next year. After this has been done, classes can be populated
for September onwards.
Populating the Classes for the September Timetable
Classes can be populated using the Academic Promotion routine. However,
if the timetable has been started early, then Academic Promotion needs to
use a reference date from before the new timetable started. For most
schemes this would not be practical as a reference date in May, for example,
would be unlikely to contain up-to-date class membership information. Also,
none of the new class memberships in the new timetable would be available
for this process.
Therefore, you may wish to use the following instructions to populate the
classes in September.
Exporting and Importing SLK Files
The export/import of student memberships function can be used extensively
at year end to allocate students to classes. For full instructions, please refer
to the Academic Management handbook. All handbooks can be accessed
from the Documentation Centre which is launched by clicking the
Documentation button on the Home Page in SIMS. Once open, click the
Handbooks button, select the required category, then click the required
handbook from the Handbooks page.
The following example shows how to carry forward the memberships of year
9 Maths classes from the June/July 2012 timetable to the September 2012
timetable.
1. In the 2011/12 academic year, select Focus | School | Academic
Structure | Curriculum Assignment by Scheme to display the Find
Curriculum Scheme browser.
2. Click the Search button and select the scheme for Year 9 Maths.
The relevant student’s memberships are displayed in the Tick Grid.
3. Click the Allocate button and select Export Curriculum Membership
Wizard.
4. Select a Reference Date during July when memberships are most up-todate.
5. Select the Populate with Student Membership option.
6. Make a note of the .SLK (Symbolic link) file name created and the storage
location.
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7. Click the Next button on each page of the wizard until you reach the final
page then click the Finish button.
There is no need to edit these files in Excel because the same classes will
exist in the September timetable.
8. Change into the 2012/13 academic year, select Focus | School |
Academic Structure | Curriculum Assignment by Scheme.
9. Click the Search button and select the scheme that you wish to import
student memberships into, e.g. 10x Maths block. Please note that band
allocations must be completed first.
10. Ensure the selected date ranges are correct before proceeding, e.g.
02/09/12 to 28/05/13. The Tick Grid is empty.
11. Click the Allocate button and select the Import Curriculum
Membership Wizard.
12. Select the file type Curriculum Membership File option.
13. Browse to the storage location of the previously saved .SLK file and click
the Finish button to import the memberships.
14. Click the Save button to save the imported curriculum memberships.
Considerations for Course Manager and the School
Census
When you have finished assigning students to their classes, select Tools |
Academic Management | Course Manager | Update Course
Memberships. This routine should always be run when any changes to
class memberships are made.
Please be aware that where students are in a class attached to a course in
June and July this year, then in the same class attached to the same course
from September onwards, the Course membership will show as starting in
June. Please also be aware that where students are on a 2 year course that
started last September, they will continue in the same course through June
and July and into the next academic year, provided that the classes they are
in belong to the same course throughout the 2 years and there is no gap in
their membership, i.e. where the class exists but they are not in it. This
information will be reflected in the School Censuses. For further information
on Course Manager, including information on 2 year courses, please consult
the Managing Courses in SIMS handbook and the latest census related
documents available from SupportNet.
All handbooks can be accessed from the Documentation Centre which is
launched by clicking the Documentation button on the Home Page in
SIMS. Once open, click the Handbooks button, select the Timetabling and
Curriculum category, then click the handbook title from the Handbooks
page.
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Check List

Creating a Data Set for Next Year in Nova –T6

Sending the Curriculum and Timetable to SQL

Removing Students from Classes

Assigning Students to Classes

Populating the Classes for the September Timetable

Exporting and Importing .SLK Files

Considerations for Course Manager and the School Census
12 Starting Next Year's Curriculum Early