LEA moving 'school data system'...

[Koldov]

Not sure where to put this...

 

I have just had a strange email from the Head asking if this is ok...

 

It appears that near the end of January he received an email from our LEA (I have no way of telling if this was legit) saying that they were moving their 'school data systems ' from Capita One (B2B) to EYES... and would we like to be part of the pilot scheme and if so we should agree to the data share from our 'software data platform'...(?)

 

Now the Head replied (without informing me) that yes, we would like to do that.

 

So, today he has now received an email (apparently from someone at Groupcall) thanking him for agreeing to be part of the 'Schools Data Feed pilot' and if he (or someone who has sufficient access rights to the Arbor database) could just log-in and agree to the authorisation request (just for completeness, we don't use Arbor as our MIS - if that's what our 'software data platform' is supposed to mean)...

 

And he has left it until now to ask if this is ok....

 

Involved:

 

Headmaster

LEA

Groupcall (Community Brands)

Arbor?

 

Not involved:

 

Me

 

I haven't got a clue what's going on!

[strawberry]

Ditto.

Head keeps asking me about it, he's the one that signed it off.

[IT_JB]

Could be this https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-trialling-daily-attendance-tracker-to-cut-absences/ although the article says this is via Wonde. Maybe they have expanded the project?

[mavhc]

https://www.liquidlogic.co.uk/children/early-years-education-system-eyes/

 

vs

 

https://www.capita.com/expertise/education/education-and-childrens-services

 

think SIMS, but for local councils to record all the children in their area

[Damon]

ONE is the central system used by the LA. It receives data from all of the maintained schools (that agreed to) and they can use it to track SEN, Admissions, etc.. It sounds like they are looking to move to a new system, hence the trial. Arguably it's in your benefit to be part of these things as it ensures the LA has accurate information to work from. It sounds like you would have already been sharing data with the LA in this way via another means, otherwise they would have been in touch to say the feed to ONE was broken.

[psydii]

Similar here but different. First I heard of it was an email from Wonde. Here's a summary of our current status:

 

Involved:

Wonde (who sent me an email about it.)

Me. (becuase wonde sent me that email)

 

Not involved:

SLT

MIS team

LA

 

Nobody here knows anything about it. All I know is from the email and that schoolsweek article. All very strange. Obviously I'm leaving Wonde on hold until I get some sort of nod that SLT are engaged.

 

 

By the way you'll need to do a DPIA as this is a new / change to an existing service.

[Koldov]

I was a little miffed I have to say as it requires something from me, but I haven't even been involved.

 

Still at least all the main 'worry' is above my pay-grade and I will absolutely be keeping the emails!

 

What does concern me though is that it just appeared to have come out of the blue without much communication from the the LEA to the school, just a random email one day saying can you give access to your data...

 

What makes it worse is that the original email coming from them stating details about Wonde and Arbor... but, we use Groupcall and SIMS...

 

Once we told them that, we got an email detailing how to install Groupcall Exporter.... No, no, no, we already use Exporter to do the B2B data transfer, why don't you know this...?

[asteer]

Has the LA recently had an LA children services ofsted inspection? My Local LA (were I used to work and manage the B2B system from the LAside), got slammed in an ofsted inspection, where it was raised they didnt know the details of all the children in the la (as they left B2B to rot once I left and didnt maintain it)

 

Our schools have had a couple fo emails recently from the LA saying - give us your data and lets restart B2B, its all a bit ham fisted and some of the emails dont make much sense, i need to do a bit more of a concedered reply back to the LA to ask them what the actual impact will be (at the moment it all reads give us your info and there wont be any issues for you, having run b2b for 7 years I know thats not the case) but until I do that im just letting them stew

[andy_b]

Similar here but different. First I heard of it was an email from Wonde. Here's a summary of our current status:

 

Involved:

Wonde (who sent me an email about it.)

Me. (becuase wonde sent me that email)

 

Not involved:

SLT

MIS team

LA

 

Nobody here knows anything about it. All I know is from the email and that schoolsweek article. All very strange. Obviously I'm leaving Wonde on hold until I get some sort of nod that SLT are engaged.

 

 

By the way you'll need to do a DPIA as this is a new / change to an existing service.

 

This email was sent to schools last week:

 

This is a copy of the communication issued on the 25th January. We apologise if you have already received this.

 

This is your email to keep you updated on the government’s response to COVID-19. If you have colleagues who would like to receive this email directly, please ask them to use this subscription form.

Today’s email includes:

 

an important update on the collection of school attendance data

 

Improving the availability of school attendance data across the education sector.

 

We know that we share an understanding of how important attendance is and that you are focusing efforts to prioritise maximising attendance.

Having better data is one thing that will allow us to achieve our shared goal to improve attendance. Access to better data at a national, regional and local level will both help highlight particular challenges and identify solutions that are currently working well and can be shared.

Trialling the automated collection of attendance data

 

We have been looking at how we establish a timely flow of pupil level attendance data across schools, Local Authorities (LAs), Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) and DfE, through automation, without placing any additional administrative burdens on schools. Details of how DfE intends to use the data can be found in the Principles of Data Use document.

 

As we test and develop this new approach, it’s important that the usual methods of data collection remain in place given their importance to informing our response to COVID-19, such as the Educational Settings Status collection. Please continue filling out the collection as usual for the moment, given how vital this is to understanding the impact of the pandemic, particularly in the context of Omicron. We recognise the effort that goes into completing and submitting this data and will review the position at Easter. This trial is part of our ambition to introduce more automated data collection in the future, high participation will help us achieve that ambition.

 

To deliver the trial, we have procured the services of Wonde, a data connector, who will ask for your agreement to share daily pupil level and attendance data with the department in the coming days.

 

Our ambition is for this to help you identify issues and challenges relating to absence and safeguarding in a quicker and simpler way. To develop the reporting we are conducting research with schools, LAs and MATs to better understand how best to share the data and we will seek ongoing feedback to help us improve.

 

The process is quick and simple, all you need to do is click ‘yes’ to give your agreement when asked through a secure portal. This is a one-off process, once you agree to share data it will be automatically extracted from the Management Information System and sent to DfE each day. No daily action will be required. The data request will include attendance and demographics. We see this as the first step towards a more efficient approach to data collection that is less burdensome for schools.

 

This voluntary data will not be used for Ofsted or Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) decision making, for judgements around what constitutes a school causing concern, or for inspection, academisation or decisions to place or remove a school in a Trust.

[Koldov]

This email was sent to schools last week:

 

From...(and who to 'specifically' in the school)?

Edited February 4, 2022 by Koldov

[asteer]

From...(and who to 'specifically' in the school)?

The email (of the 25th) came from the DFE and went to anyone signed up to the Covid-19 government reponse email, whihc you have to signup to via the following form

 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=yXfS-grGoU2187O4s0qC-QqN_lFznWdElvOZAsgLa61UMlVaSEZWQVA3RDE1VU05SlVOQVFDNVlINy4u

[mavhc]

Could be 2 different things, could be the same thing

[Sylv3r]

We've had several requests to be part of this trial through Wonde also. We are logging into the Wonde platform and rejecting them.

[andy_b]

From...(and who to 'specifically' in the school)?

 

Sorry, forgot to include this info....

 

As @asteer said, but we also got a copy sent to our enquiry address.

 

Edit:

 

This "Data Collection Princple link" is in the email: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_h3CtIqzwAFWuA61YCBwiHdKyVOqemAc/view

 

DFE statement from 25th is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-increase-school-attendance

Edited February 4, 2022 by andy_b

[andy_b]

From DFE - 8 February – Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Update to all education and childcare settings and providers

 

An update on the automated attendance data trial

 

Thank you to the 10,000 schools that have so far agreed to share their attendance data as part of the automated attendance data trial. Schools that normally complete the school census are encouraged to participate in the trial. To take part please accept the request to share data with DfE in your Wonde secure portal.

 

We have been working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on our data protection impact assessment (DPIA). We intend to publish the DPIA and related privacy notices shortly and we will be share them with you at that point.

 

Further information on the trial can be found in the Q&A. If you have any further questions, you can contact Wonde Support by email.

 

[DavR]

Sounds like two different systems to me.

 

I remember Capita One when I worked at an LA for a while, this was reporting student info to your local authority. It never quite worked in my time, so I guess people are giving up and trialling this new thing.

 

We had the request from Wonde about sharing our Attendance data, this is giving the DfE direct access to the Attendance data in your MIS, so they could have a top level view of attendance nationally. I don't object, as such, but also am not choosing to volunteer....

 

I wonder if Data Protection Impact Assessments come into play here, for either new product. These are bodies you already have a data sharing relationship with, but the mechanism is changing.

[psydii]

I'm wondering too.

 

They get most/all of this via one of the census returns. What is changing is the frequency, and we all know that the accuracy of the live data can leave something to be desired; am/pm always get taken, but they aren't always all in the MIS by the time they *should* b etc. etc. ...and lesson by lesson accuracy is even worse.

 

If we are going to be sending data that we know is not perfect.... linked to individuals... that is a risk that needs to be addressed/documented.

 

Do census reports send LAC details to DfE or is it anonymised? This new arrangement it is not anonymised.... so if that is new I would say a DPIA should be completed just to show you've been through the arrangement and checked everything.

[andy_b]

The accuracy is mentioned (stupid none copyable pdf..):

 

 

LAC info is sent via census.

 

We aren't volunteering.

[pete]

The accuracy is mentioned (stupid none copyable pdf..):

 

I made a complaint about that. Wonde are acting on behalf of government and should be meeting accessibility requirements.

 

I suspect it's the DfE being over cautious (and/or barring the door after the party horse has bolted), but it's not acceptable.

[mavhc]

Capita One, all the technology of FMS, with none of the upsides.

 

There are no upsides to FMS.

[mthomas08]

I have noticed that some of our 'externals' like Groupcall and Wonde seem to be popping up with more and more data access requests.

 

I've ignored everything so far and no one seems to be complaining. The HT had one a few weeks ago and said no. I'm lucky we seem to be on the same wave length. If these companies want to setup a trial - setup some fake data and don't use ours.

 

I don't know why they're constantly asking access to our data... we do need to be vigilant. I made a point a few years ago about how many have direct access to our MIS data.. and it was alarming..