Press | 22 Oct 2018

iSAMS Supports Schools in Scotland with Solutions for GIRFEC, SQA and GDPR

iSAMS, a leading web-based management information system to schools, now further supports Scottish schools in providing the right tools to support GIRFEC, SQA Examinations and GDPR.

SQA Exams Compliant

iSAMS is pleased to announce a new working data sync with the SQA, that will allow Exams Officers to manage Registrations, Entries, Estimates and Results; the ability to automatically assign SCN numbers, manage seating plans and timetables all from within the world’s leading MIS platform. A system that will not only enhance the exams process but will bring your entire school community together.

The iSAMS SQA integration supports the import and export of reference files to the SQA Connect platform to allow schools to easily register candidates, allocate SCNs and record achievements.

The iSAMS SQA integration features include:

  • Efficiently manage SQA Registrations, Entries, Estimates and Results with the added ability to automatically assign SCN numbers, manage seating plans and timetables – all within a single MIS system.
  • Import Reference Files, SQA and English exams, which can be run in the same cycle.
  • Automatically assigns SCN (Scottish Candidate Number), the SCN number is allocated alphabetically to each student.
  • Import the SQA Registration information from the students’ contacts page including candidate’s name, date of birth, gender and address.
  • Candidate Registration issues are highlighted, with the issues listed that need to be changed before the registration file can be created and sent to the SQA
  • Select the exams that the students are going to take, with different completion dates for different students. Once completed create an SQA Entry Submission file to submit.
  • Create Forecast Grade for both Courses and Candidates
  • Create seating plans for both Candidates and Courses. Manage Rooms and dynamic seating plans.
  • Import Results Files, manage/edit and publish results

The SQA integration is supported through the iSAMS External Exams Manager, designed to give schools complete control over all aspects of managing and administering external exams. Using data entry forms schools can submit forecast grades and coursework marks, reschedule and specify the location of each exam and produce seating plans with a simple step-by-step wizard.

Supports the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) Policy

Many schools in Scotland are taking to invest in resources, processes and technologies to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of children in schools. At the core of this is a system to support the Scottish Government approach, GIRFEC.

The iSAMS Wellbeing Manager is a system to support staff in the safeguarding and wellbeing of children in schools. Developed to support the Scottish Governments’ wellbeing-focused guide, it provides schools with the right information to help at the right time showing them at a glance the importance of their role in supporting a child’s wellbeing. It further supports schools in formulating their structures, creating open dialogues and implementing audit processes to evaluate and identify actions to improve wellbeing in schools.

iSAMS Director, Jamie Reid said, “Given the GIRFEC regulations and feedback from our own clients around the need to improve on technology to support a child’s wellbeing, we developed the new module to support this key area of concern in many schools today. The Wellbeing Manager is a dedicated module focused on recording, monitoring and managing student concerns and well-being”.

The highly intuitive module offers the ability to manage and store all records to support inspections, recording concerns against single or multiple students, and actions to those concerns. Using the Raised flag feature the system can identify moments which have significant impacts on a student which should be highlighted to all.

Associated with each concern is the GIRFEC well-being wheel, to help guide assessment and action plans to improve outcomes. These include the four capacities; a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor. The module gives schools complete control ensuring the best for a child’s wellbeing under their care.

GDPR Compliant

The iSAMS Data Protection module is designed specifically for school staff members who have responsibility for Data Protection and who are leading GDPR compliance.
Under GDPR an individual is entitled to be provided with a copy of all the personal data that a school holds on them. This is called Data Subject Access Request (DSAR). All DSARs that your school receives must be reported.

The iSAMS Data Protection module supports the right to see their educational records offering an area to record all DSAR requests against an applicant including fields regarding the status of the DSAR, the date, and other key information pertinent to actioning a DSAR.

Furthermore, under this new law schools will need to seek consent prior to processing personal data. The consent management feature within the iSAMS Data Protection module is split into four sections:

1. Configuration – the ability to create consent registers and select the data subject type(s) to which it applies (Student, Contact or Staff).
2. Manage by Data Subject – ability to view and manage consents against a single data subject and to bulk apply consent against multiple consent registers to multiple data subjects.
3. Manage by Consent Register – view and maintain both data subject consent against each consent register.
4. Admissions Portal – capture consent at the time of enquiry for applicants and associated contacts.

Schools using the iSAMS Data Protection module can create multiple consent registers and add these to the iSAMS Admissions Portal to display in an online admissions form.

Schools can then obtain consent from the beginning of the admissions process from the parent, guardian or caregiver, with consent then registered against the student’s record.

The iSAMS 100% web-based MIS platform fully supports Scottish school requirements:

  • Wellbeing Manager – a dedicated module to support GIRFEC and enable your school to record, monitor and manage pupil concerns and wellbeing.
  • Data Protection – a module to support your school in complying with GDPR regulations.
  • SQA Compliant – integrated with our External Exams Manager to support Scottish schools for SQA examinations

Are you interested in the iSAMS management information to support your schools’ requirements? Request a demo today.

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