SIMS Assisted School and Workforce Census Setup
What is it?
Our SIMS Assisted School or Workforce Census Setup Service assists schools with the preparation and creation of the School or Workforce Census return from SIMS. This service is delivered remotely and offered prior to each School and Workforce Census. Our SIMS consultants will support your school with ensuring that the preparation of your census return runs smoothly.
Why do I need it?
The consultancy will be scheduled at a date and time convenient to your school and a SIMS expert will guide you through the complexities of creating a School or Workforce return. Guidance and support will be provided, ensuring you have the most up-to-date information available as it emerges from the DfE (Department for Education).
What are the benefits?
- A SIMS consultant will help you to prepare SIMS for the School or Workforce Census return
- During the service, you will receive immediate expert guidance and support tailored to your specific school's census return
- Save administration time and costs
- Timely completion of the statutory return
- The latest Fileset will be imported into SIMS allowing real-time validation for your census return
- Any valid future Filesets will also be imported into SIMS
- Any software issues can be identified and addressed early
- If you are new to working in schools, you can be confident that the correct procedures are being followed
"I would 100% recommend this service to anyone - complete novice or even experienced colleagues. It helps provide peace of mind and prevents delays in submitting your Census".
Basnett Street Nursey
"As a census inexperienced headteacher, I found the whole process quick, informative and extremely helpful; a simple error on the day was quickly rectified by the team and my census was completed and sent by 11am".
St Mary's RC Primary School
"I found the process really simple and easy, from booking a session, beginning to compile our data to uploading our completed census. Our consultant completed our assisted census with me and she was so knowledgeable, helpful and full of great tips. A really good service which is real value for money".
The Coppice School
What is included?
- Checks to ensure the latest fileset is imported
- Creation of a School or Workforce Census return
- Using our remote access tool, we will connect to your school's SIMS
- Assists you in the preparation of your SIMS data for the School or Workforce Census return
- Guidance through each of the panels within the School or Workforce Census return
- Completion of the 'create and validate' routine
- Expert help to resolve errors and queries generated by the return
- Guidance on statutory data items and where to record them in SIMS
- Advice on how to run the School or Workforce Census detailed reports
- Advice and guidance on the remaining data items and procedures to be carried out on census day
- Create a successful School or Workforce Census return with the support and guidance of a SIMS consultant
- Copy of the completion notes and submission guidance transferred to the school's desktop for future reference
- A follow-up call to the school, prior to submitting the census, if requested
What is excluded?
- The school will be required to provide all the relevant data to be included in the School Census return
- The School Census return must be checked for accuracy and officially signed off by the head teacher prior to submission by the school to the Local Authority
- Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services will not be responsible for the data included in the return and submitted to the Local Authority
- Following sign-off of the service, no further amendments or support for the census return are included. Further issues or queries with the School Census return should be logged with our ICT Service Centre via our My ICT Incidents or 0300 123 6797 (option 3)
- Amendments or new requests for assistance should be commissioned separately
What does it cost?
Log-in to find out information on our pricing.
Additional information
Is training available for staff on how to use SIMS?
Lancashire County Council Education Digital Service School Applications Team provide SIMS training courses to all schools, including schools outside Lancashire.
To view and book available SIMS training courses, please visit the Education Digital Services website or contact EducationDigitalServices@lancashire.gov.uk for more information.