Sims training for beginners

[Nas]

Hi

 

I'm looking to find work in secondary school administration, particularly attendance.

Unfortunately I have not had any luck, despite getting to interview stage, I am always unsuccessful because I don't have SIMS experience. I have tried to do voluntary experience in schools database systems but not had any luck. I have looked at training courses but these are quite expensive.

 

Can anyone please recommend an online training in sims (free or very cheap) or A course based in London that isn't expensive.

 

Thank you

 

Nas

[Meldrew]

Hi,

 

I wish you the best of luck, but it will be an uphill struggle. To be able to get voluntary work, you would need to be CRB/DBS checked which will cost something like £35 from memory. I would take the approach when asking for volunteering that you'll fund this (assuming you're happy to).

 

As you say, training courses are quite expensive.

 

All I could advise is that SIMS attendance isn't that difficult to learn (trying to learn all of SIMS would be too much of a bite for a lot of people) and really the job (at least at my school) is more about taking calls from parents, calling parents about missing students and moaning to teachers about not completing registers, so for an attendance role, it's more important what your communication skills are than anything if I were interviewing for a new attendance person. That's what I would therefore advise you push in an interview and that assuming you are able to pick up new skills well, that you make that clear too.

 

Hope this is of some use!

 

Meldrew

[Nas]

Thanks for replying and for your advise Mildrew.

 

I'm already dbs checked and on the update service as I'm a school governor for a small nursery which doesn't use sims. I'll definitely take on board your interview tips.

 

Would like to know if anyone knows of any online sims courses available, as I can't seem to find online.

 

Thanks

 

Nas

[Banjo]

You'd be better off Googling LA's in London and their SIMS support teams and asking if you can attend one of their courses next term. Your gateway is to be linked with a school they support, whether it's paid work or as a volunteer. I don't think any providers do online courses as SIMS isn't something that anyone can purchase at PC World and install on your own machine.

[astevens84]

Thanks for replying and for your advise Mildrew.

 

I'm already dbs checked and on the update service as I'm a school governor for a small nursery which doesn't use sims. I'll definitely take on board your interview tips.

 

Would like to know if anyone knows of any online sims courses available, as I can't seem to find online.

 

Thanks

 

Nas

 

There's a really good online Assessment Course Bundle for SIMS - https://davidpott.com/

 

Aside from that, I agree with others - see if you can get yourself on an LA course. You may also be more successful focusing your efforts on primary schools to begin with, until you have some experience. Way more primary schools use SIMS than secondary - just my two pence worth.

[MissingDatum]

Well, since I'm not sure if we're allowed to provide links to the handbook (Maybe PhilNeal could tell you!), I will settle for suggesting you start by having a look at Scomis' FAQ page and finding the quick reference sheets on there. That's going to cover most of what an attendance officer will have to know about SIMS to get their feet under them.

[jmak]

I tried a more specific search string and found a bit more information: "Sims attendance module guidance"

 

Apart from a bunch of YouTube videos from Capita, I came across RM's wiki, which seems like a pretty comprehensive guide (publicly available from a Google search, so I presume I can link?): https://wikis.rm.com/0000216/TEN_Centre_CPD/SIMS

 

Apart from day to day records, I'd expect the main things an attendance officer to have to manage are the census and the beginning and end of year procedures. The official Capita guides for these come up from the search string above.

 

I would have thought that if you could demonstrate that you have experience of using databases, are familiar with what the reporting requirements are (DfE specified) and have shown enough initiative to find specific information about SIMS it would be enough to succeed at interview - although if you're up against someone who has experience, you may still struggle...