It is a common scenario: a pupil or student has bumped their head, or suddenly started feeling unwell, and care givers need to be contacted quickly. Mum, dad, granny, grandad, or whomever is the primary carer, is stuck in a meeting and so doesn’t hear the phone ringing in their pocket. In these scenarios, time really is of the essence, and even when the scenario is not an emergency, having to delve into the depths of an MIS to find secondary contact details is not ideal. After all, expediting administration and providing quick access to important information is the backbone of an MIS platform.
This is precisely what Pupil Contacts, which in June will be piloted across eight to ten schools (which will also receive access to Take Register), is designed to address. Research conducted through Discovery revealed that although primary contact details could be brought up quickly, it was slightly trickier and more time consuming for users of SIMS 7 to find secondary details.
Built for teachers by a seventeen-strong team consisting of product designers, engineers and managers, along with external technical support, Pupil Contacts overhauls the design by presenting the full list of contacts on a single page. Pupil Contacts halves the number of clicks and time required to find secondary details. Users will be able to access the page through SIMS ID and, from here, will be able to ‘favourite’ the URL so it is always easily to hand, freeing up more of teachers’ valuable time.
Pupil Contacts is the latest slice of SIMS Next Gen to be unveiled as part of our commitment to investing £40m in enhanced performance and functionality over the next few years. Set to go into pilot, feedback on the designs has already been positive, meaning the software looks set to be available for primary schools across the country in time for the start of the Autumn term in September. Pupil Contacts will be available on mobile and, in time, will see additional pupil and student details added to the page, be it SEN details or timetabling.
Of course, we’ll keep both you – and the platform – updated.