With pupils making a staged return to school from Monday 1st June we have been working on the best solution to allow schools to record these temporary pupil ‘bubbles’ within Pupil Asset.
With each school’s return looking slightly different we have outlined two approaches so you can choose the best way for you to record this data in the system:
Create temporary bubble groups
If you want to create bubble groups that don’t interfere with your existing classes you can create temporary bubble groups. This means creating your bubbles as school groups rather than classes. This allows teachers to take registers, filter to these groups and allows admins to send messages to them without affecting their normal classes.
Anywhere in Pupil Asset that normally groups and sorts specifically by class will still show the normal classes – this includes office registers, school meals and fire registers.
Guidance on creating bubble groups can be found here.
Suspend regular classes to create bubble classes
If you want the pupil’s ‘bubble’ to show in the system as their class we have added functionality to suspend their regular classes and create temporary bubble classes. This means the pupil’s current bubble will show as their class on office registers, school meals and fire registers, while still preserving their regular classes to be restored later.
It’s still possible to refer to pupils’ regular classes with this approach but requires a little more work with the filters as their real classes will be hidden.
Guidance on creating bubble classes can be found here.
The third option – Make no changes
Of course you might also choose to do neither. This might be because you are not expecting many pupils to return, your pupils are remaining in the same classes or want to minimise admin work creating temporary classes that are subject to change.
In this case you can leave your classes as they are for filtering and messaging in the system. Your teachers will probably have to complete paper registers for your office in this case as their bubbles will not be recorded in Pupil Asset.
FAQs
Which option is best for my school?
We have tried to outline the benefits of the different approaches above but in the simplest terms:
If your school is not going to be reorganised dramatically or you want easy reference to pupils’ normal classes you might choose to just create bubble groups for teacher registers. The system’s class filters and functionality will still show their normal classes.
If pupil bubbles are going to be a big change for your school you might choose to suspend your classes and create bubble classes. This will allow the system to display the pupil bubbles wherever it would normally show their class.
And if your school is not going to change much at all don’t worry about either. Both approaches are entirely optional.
How will these approaches affect my school’s end of year process?
Either approach involves preserving your normal classes so they can roll-up in the normal way. If your school needs to roll pupils up in their bubble classes we will also be able to facilitate this at a later date.
Will pupil reports be affected if I suspend my classes?
No, your reports will still refer to their regular classes even if you choose to suspend them.
Can I unsuspend and then re-suspend my classes?
Yes, if your arrangements change you can click the ‘unsuspend’ button to archive your bubble classes and then suspend again to start fresh.
Can I refer back to my bubble classes after I unsuspend my normal classes?
Yes, unsuspending will archive your bubble classes to refer back to. The Pupils > Groups page has a drop-down that refers to ‘Today’. Just change this to ‘2019/20’ to see all classes for the academic year.
Do I have to use one of these options?
Absolutely not. We understand schools may have already decided how they are going to manage this. If you need to discuss your approach our support team is available on 01603 631436 and you can email them at [email protected].