Question for Timetablers - First Transfer from NOVA to SIMS

[duesouth]

I have a question for timetablers, please.

 

I'd like to know at what point you first import the timetable for the new academic year into SIMS from NOVA-T6, so as to populate the Curriculum Assignment by Scheme screen in SIMS. I'm asking as our timetabler doesn't do this until June and makes things quite difficult in terms of getting the new classes entered into SIMS before the end of term. The previous timetablers I worked with all did this far earlier, so I'm just wondering when others do this in terms of where in the NOVA process.

 

Thank you in advance.

[minimoo]

It will vary - we often end up doing it in last week of term in July.

 

Ultimately there are 3 things I'd normally send from nt6 to sims:

a) timetable cycle

b) timetable bands

c) all the lessons

 

So lesson times, then block structure - then at the end all the Lessons. First time courses are sent you want to have set levels e.g. gcse/a2 as it will only pick this up on first send.

 

I do both - assignment + timetable - however i'm at a school that is selective, and only does A-Levels so our students are largely static through a year; and everyone is just simply doing 3-4 a-levels - equally at gcse, everyone does 9/10 so there's hardly any messing around with alternatives.

 

I normally leave it quite late until the timetable is done - as it saves messing around when something changes e.g. if a class suddenly gets split between two teachers - such that it becomes a cluster. On the odd occassions in the long distant past, i've seen sims then leave something blank etc.

 

But then, our setup is easy - 10/12 are done in options and important. 11/13 are just promotions from the year before. 7/8/9 are in form groups and only maths/english put them in sets. So the assignment can be done easily in an afternoon.

[Linfit]

I would agree that June or even later is common and indeed necessary. I probably don't have a complete timetable until mid-June and there will likely be teacher changes after that. If you hit scheduling difficulties late in the day and need to adjust the curriculum model to get it to work it would mean potentially changing the band/class allocation and you only want to do that job once.

[duesouth]

Thanks, both - I will wait more patiently this year!

[ajp233]

Hi @duesouth

 

You can send the timetable across once the Curriculum model is completed. You need to make sure the Levels are correct in Tools > Assign Levels. There is no need to build the blocks. You can just send the timetable with the Model being completed.

 

The new academic year has to be created in SIMS and once the timetable has been sent across you can then do the Pastoral Promotion to assign pupils to their year group for the new year. You can then begin to assign pupils to classes via Curriculum Assignment by Scheme.

[duesouth]

Hi @duesouth

You can send the timetable across once the Curriculum model is completed. You need to make sure the Levels are correct in Tools > Assign Levels. There is no need to build the blocks. You can just send the timetable with the Model being completed.

The new academic year has to be created in SIMS and once the timetable has been sent across you can then do the Pastoral Promotion to assign pupils to their year group for the new year. You can then begin to assign pupils to classes via Curriculum Assignment by Scheme.

That's exactly what I need - I'll pass this on to our timetabler! Many thanks.