Recording Universal Infant Free School Meals in SIMS
Contents Overview... 3 SIMS School Dinner Taken (UIFSM) Census Data Item... 3 Overview... 3 Using Manual Entry to record School Dinners Taken on Census Day... 5 Using Attendance to Calculate School Dinners Taken on Census Day... 7 School s Own Monitoring of UIFSM... 10 Editing Meals Lookup Table... 10 2
Overview From September 2014 all Key Stage 1 pupils (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) will be entitled to a free school meal. This is known as a Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM). This is not to be confused with the free school meal (FSM) eligibility that attracts Pupil Premium funding to your school, which must still be recorded in SIMS for all eligible pupils regardless of what year group they are in. SIMS School Dinner Taken (UIFSM) Census Data Item Overview Data will be collected by the DfE via the School Census return for the first time in October 2014. The new data item School Dinner Taken will appear as a new panel within the school census screen in SIMS. As this is a statutory return and will inform future payments from the DfE, it is essential that this information is accurately completed. To access the School Census, you must first have the correct access rights (failure to have the correct access rights will result in the School Census option not appearing in the list). Routines, Statutory Returns, School Census will open the School Census screen. To load a new return, click on New; and then to generate pupil level data, click on Calculate all details. NOTE: For more information on how to complete a School Census return, please refer to the following documentation which can be found on Czone. Preparing for the School Census Autumn 2014 Return Producing the School Census Autumn 2014 Return 3
Once the pupil level data in the return has been generated, School Dinner Taken (Panel 7) will be populated with all on roll pupils on census day in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The school census is only interested in school meals provided by the school (not packed lunches brought in by pupils, or pupils who may go home for lunch). If your school does not buy into the additional Dinner Money module (majority of schools in East Sussex) you will not see the Calculate from Dinner Money button (as seen above). There are two different methods of completing this data item, manual entry or using attendance data to calculate School Dinners Taken. There is also a new School Dinners Taken report available within the Census Detailed Reports. 4
Using Manual Entry to record School Dinners Taken on Census Day The numbers of School Dinners Taken on census day (i.e. meals provided by the school) can be entered manually. Click the Tick All button to populate the School Dinner Taken column. Confirm that you wish to continue by clicking the OK button. All pupils are ticked indicating that they received a school dinner on census day. Edit individual records by clicking the applicable School Dinner Taken cell to toggle between a tick and blank (no meal taken). The Total Taken and Total Not Taken (located at the bottom of the panel) provide an indication of whether the number of school dinners taken is correct or whether further edits are required. 5
After the return has been created and validated, run the School Dinner Taken detail report then check the report contents. Continue editing until school dinner taken details are correct. 6
Using Attendance to Calculate School Dinners Taken on Census Day If your attendance marks have been entered into SIMS for census day, there is the option to use this data to calculate School Dinners Taken by using the Calculate From Attendance button. Click on the Calculate From Attendance button. NOTE: Clicking the Calculate From Attendance button overwrites existing data in the School Dinner Taken panel. Click OK to continue. If missing marks exist, a message is displayed: Please ensure that registers have been taken. Missing marks have been interpreted as absent and no dinner taken. Do you want to continue? If this was the case, click on the Cancel button to return to SIMS where missing marks can be entered; or click the OK button to continue. 7
A tick is entered against each pupil who is marked as present on census day morning (i.e. AM session). It is possible that some of these pupils are not taking meals provided by the school, e.g. they bring in a packed lunch. As meals provided by the school only are required for the return you can edit the information by clicking the required row in the School Dinner Taken column, to toggle between a tick and blank (no meal taken), as required. You can use the Group By functionality to group pupils by Year Taught In, Reg Group or Enrolment Status, enabling schools dinners taken information to be updated from class lists, etc. Once you have chosen the Group By option, you can expand the data by ticking the plus sign beside the Group you have chosen. 8
The Total Taken and Total Not Taken (located at the bottom of the panel) provide an indication of whether the number of school dinners taken is correct or whether further edits are required. After the return has been created and validated, run the School Dinner Taken detail report then check the report contents. Continue editing until school dinner taken details are correct. 9
School s Own Monitoring of UIFSM If schools wish to record which pupils are taking up a UIFSM, separate from the School Census School Dinner Taken data item, there is the option to amend a lookup table. This information would then be recorded within the Meals data item within the Additional Information (Panel 9) of a pupil record. This data could be updated as and when pupils opt in or opt out of UIFSM (not on a daily basis), in the form of a tick box. Reports could then be designed within SIMS Design Report area to provide bespoke information to meet the schools own requirements. Editing Meals Lookup Table To edit a lookup table, click Tools, Lookups, Maintain. Type Meal Type into the Description field, and click on the Search button. Double click on Meal Type to open the lookup. 10
To add UIFSM (Universal Infant Free School Meal) to the Values, click on the New button. Type UIFSM in the Code field. Type Universal Infant Free Sch Meal in the Description field. Ensure that the Active box is Ticked. Click OK button. You will need to make the other fields inactive, if they are no longer required, to reduce duplication and potential mistakes from being made. For example Free Meal value is not necessary to have, as the FSM entitlement (Pupil Premium) is recorded in the Dietary panel of a pupil record. To make a lookup value inactive, double click on the value you wish to make inactive. 11
Untick the Active tick box, click OK, and click on the Save button. Repeat as necessary. Click on Save button. You will then get a message alerting you to the fact that you will need to log out and log back into SIMS for the changes to take effect. IMPORTANT NOTE: Only Lookups where the Statutory Column says No can be edited. If the Statutory Column says Yes then this field must be left as it is, as this information is collected in data returns and used by bodies such as the DfE for statistical analysis. If in doubt please call Schools ICT Services on 01273 481519 (option 1). The Meals lookup in Panel 9, Additional Information will now be updated, ready to be used in a Pupil record. 12