Small Schools

[officeadmin]

Does anyone know of an MIS that can support a small school with 10 pupils? Obviously we need it to be cost effective!

[Jamman960]

For a school of that size I’d be tempted to use something like onenote or an access database, a full blown mis would be overkill

 

Out of interest what do you currently use to record your data? And what do you intend an mis to do for you?

[RootsSchImp]

Are you guys a new school that will grow every year? And do you need a proper MIS to do the census?

 

If the latter then it's worth (really it's always worth) inviting all the major MIS companies to submit bids. You might find one of them cuts you a special deal in light of your circumstances.

 

Ed

[Banjo]

Does anyone know of an MIS that can support a small school with 10 pupils? Obviously we need it to be cost effective!

 

I take it your not an LA school? Most MIS are priced per pupil. Sometimes in bands 0-250 251-500 etc others like SIMS on specific pupil numbers ie 10x £4 =£40 per year (example) but you would need to make a one off licence payment (arm & leg).

 

If you have to complete statutory returns to the DfE then you will need a 'proper' MIS not a home brew. You could try Scholarpack they have some small schools Case Study

[AlanD]

I’d be using paper records or simple spreadsheet/ database....holding the electronic equivalent of what you would have on paper. To be honest, I’m shocked at the thousands schools spend on accounting and MIS systems....and it’s not as if that replaces people...they often continue to employ account clerks, ledger clarks, salary clerks, data officers, etc etc. In fact schools employ more of these staff today than they did years ago before IT Systems with seemingly few benefits .... ok you get nicer formatted account details..and pretty analysis...but I often think the benefits are for those doing those jobs rather than for the benefit of the school.

[elsiegee40]

I’d be using paper records or simple spreadsheet/ database....holding the electronic equivalent of what you would have on paper. To be honest, I’m shocked at the thousands schools spend on accounting and MIS systems....and it’s not as if that replaces people...they often continue to employ account clerks, ledger clarks, salary clerks, data officers, etc etc. In fact schools employ more of these staff today than they did years ago before IT Systems with seemingly few benefits .... ok you get nicer formatted account details..and pretty analysis...but I often think the benefits are for those doing those jobs rather than for the benefit of the school.

I agree. For 10 pupils, Excel will do everything perfectly well.

[vikpaw]

If you definitely want something and need a step up from spreadsheets, then it might be worth looking at some of the free tools out there. This gives you some scope to expand, and later export data out to a fully fledged (paid for, with many more features) system.

 

ARK are working with The SchoolTool Book — The SchoolTool Book in low income countries. I've not used or done much research into it, but I trust and respect the work ARK do, so it's worth a look. Otherwise, Scholarpack - well respected. SchoolPod are small and flexible with price.

 

It will depend on your setup / organisation and what features you need.

[mavhc]

Sadly SchoolTool is dead, unless anyone pays to ressurect it