alternatives to SIMS Activities needed (merged with SIMS parent app)

[EcclesfieldSchool]

Hi all,

 

we have been using SIMS Activities for many years now to register students in extra curricular clubs but since its merger with SIMS Parent app we already have other systems in place that perform the same role as SIMS Parent does so we are now looking for alternatives to SIMS Activities.

 

Any advise please?

 

Thank you in advance.

[andyfield]

Not sure what your parent option is but we now use EduLink One and works really well for clubs. Alternatively I did look at this before we used EduLink.

https://www.myattendancetracker.com/

[EcclesfieldSchool]

Good morning, thank you for your reply.

 

At the moment we use SIMS InTouch for communicating with parents and staff by text message. I think this was the first / one of the only systems around when we were first looking for a system five years or so ago.

 

Our main parental tool for communicating reports, assessments, student timetable information, behaviour, achievements and much more is TASC Insight which we've had for four years now

 

We have got the Room Booking System to link in to SIMS for checking room availability and booking rooms

 

We have recently signed up for the same companies parents evening booking system which seems to be going well and we are now exploring alternatives to SIMS Activities seen as TASC Insight does everything for us that the SIMS Parent app would have done. We have also found SIMS own add-ons to be less user friendly whilst also being on the expensive side to initially purchase and then maintain.

 

Thank you

[Diello]

We are currently looking at the solution here: https://chqgroup.co.uk/ - Might be of interest to you.

[andyfield]

Just thought I would mention that EduLink does everything all your disperse systems do. Would provide a single pane of glass for parents. It also saved us loads of money to consolidate everything.

[EcclesfieldSchool]

Thank you for this. I have seen several references to it elsewhere on here but not heard of it myself / seen it around / known anybody who has used it. Due to the various systems already in place at the minute we wouldn't be looking at wholescale changes....but it could be something of interest for the future.

[SouthCoastSaint]

They have a flat fee of £2000 for secondary and can offer you a free demo. I think you may well save more than that moving just from InTouch initially. We were Schoolcomms and Insight users. EduLink is far better than Insight for design and functionality in my opinion. It also offers seating plans, resource booking and forms (think googledocs) as additional features. I loved Parents Evening Booking System, we had been with them for years, but I must admit, bringing that function into the Parent Portal where parents see everything else was a hit with parents.

[EcclesfieldSchool]

Thank you. That introduces another external system that we use, MINT class. Primarily for the SEN / SEND aspects of students from SIMS but also a secondary benefit was that it too also offers a seating plan.