E10 - Process for editing next year’s timetable where all years are doing Headstart at the same time (Type B)

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:54 AM

Preamble

This document will outline the process and considerations for creating one Headstart etz file when all years move up into the next year level at the same time during the Headstart period. In some sense, when the whole school moves up it can be an easier overall process, but this can be dependent on staff turnover. If an exiting staff member will be replaced directly by a new staff member, minimal work is required. However, where a significant reworking of staff allocations will occur then a complete new timetable may need to be built.

This document applies to a typical Year 7 - 12 school. It also provides Compass information due to the large number of Victorian schools using Compass. Schools using other Management systems should check their system's documentation.

Please refer to our main document here to see other options on running the Headstart program.

Benefits:

One complete new timetable will be built, without the need to consider any existing junior timetable running concurrently.
Teacher and room clashes can be highlighted and solved directly in etz file.
This etz file can be synced to a cloned dataset of Timetable Daily for daily organisation activities, displaying the correct Headstart timetable.
This Headstart clone database in Daily can then be synced to Compass where students and teachers will see their timetable for the Headstart period.

Issues:

Greater pressure on having to get a working timetable completed earlier.
This timetable is usually staffed with the current year's staffing cohort. Given that many staff will leave and new staff will arrive, it is common for the need to build two timetables: one for the Headstart period with the current available staff, and one for the following year based on the following year's staff.
Daily Organisers will not get accurate report for absences, covers and extras because there's no dynamic link between the current year's Daily database and the Headstart clone database.
Tes Interviews/SSO/SMS Casual requests/Creation of new users are not supported in the Headstart clone database.

Summary of steps

Rollover the current year’s etz file.

Generate lines for the following year.
Attempt to get to Champagne stage, including staffing classes.
Create a copy of next year’s file. This will become the Headstart etz.
Edit Class data as needed.
Modify staff allocations using Term 4 available staff.
Place classes onto the master grid.
Solve any clashes.
Edit etz academic year to current year in Setup >School info > Admin > Academic year (this file)
Tick Settings > File > Headstart file

Considerations

Rotations (Rot):

The Headstart etz file will have rotation 1 and year-long classes running during the Headstart period. Set current rotation to 1 in etz Settings > File > Current rotation.

Class Codes

Some external systems may need to retain the current year's class lists for reporting purposes, even though they are not running on the timetable. To be safe the class identifiers in the following year’s file must be different to any used in existing class codes in the current year’s file so that they are seen as additional classes, and do not overwrite the original classes.

Example:

11DRA.1 is an existing class in the current year's file, and has Year 11 students enrolled.

11DRA.1 is also running in next year’s file, with the new Year 11 students (the current Year 10 students).

If 11DRA.1 is imported into the third party as is, it will replace the existing 11DRA.1 class completely. To keep the existing 11DRA.1 class, and allow an additional 11DRA class to be imported, change the class identifier in the Headstart etz file so that it has a different identifier, eg 11DRA.A.

If syncing to Compass you don’t have to change the class identifiers in the Headstart .etz file.

Student data

Would students:

a. remain in their current Student data year level for Term 4?

b. be promoted to the new year level, reflective of the following year?

Example:

Jim Jones is in Year 11 this year, but will start studying Year 12 classes in Term 4. He can display in Year 11 student data, but be enrolled in Year 12 classes, or he can be in the Year 12 Student data screen.

*E10 does not mind, but external systems may.

Students remain in their current Student data year level for Term 4. In Student data, move back year 8s to year 7, then year 9s back into year 8, and so on. Go to View > Year (for moving). The Year column will be visible. To move year 8 student to year 7, type 7 under Year column, then copy-paste to the rest of the cells.

Students promoted to the new year level, reflective of the following year. No additional work to do as the Headstart etz file is a copy of next year’s file where students have been rolled over to their next year level.

Staffing

Schools should consider staff codes when syncing their etz to Compass or Daily. As mentioned staff turnover is likely at most schools, however it is best to keep the current year's staffing codes in the file to continue successfully syncing, even when you know the incoming teacher's details, or a sync may not occur successfully. These codes can be updated next year once the new staff appear in Compass or other management systems.

It is also important for schools using Daily to leave exiting staff details in the etz file if they must still be available for events, covers, absences etc. Removing them from the etz file automatically makes them inactive in Daily.

Timetabling

Staffing changes may need to occur in order to get a good solution. If unsolvable clashes remain, split staffing may be required for Term 4, but note that the split staffing may not be required in the following year’s file due to a completely different staffing arrangements.

Synchronisation

Syncing from Headstart etz to Daily

Refer to: Timetable Daily: Using a Cloned Timetable Daily Dataset for Headstart Programs

Syncing from Headstart etz to Compass

Options:

a. Sync the Headstart etz to an independent Headstart layer in Compass (set up by Compass). .

b. Sync to next year's Compass academic year

Tes advises all schools to discuss the implications of each option with Compass.

Note: Please ensure to read and familiarise yourself with the Compass 'Headstart' Knowledge Base article prior to syncing your Headstart file to Compass. Go to Knowledge Base > Rollover > Headstart.

To sync the Headstart etz to an independent Headstart layer in Compass:

Change the Compass configuration URL to the special layer. Check with Compass what this layer/URL is if unsure (File > Synchronise > Configure > Compass Configure > Connection tab).
Enter the rotation dates for the Headstart period (if etz file uses rotations) and the ' Holiday start' date (File > Synchronise > Configure > Compass Configure > Other tab). Note: This sets the enrolment start and end dates for classes in Compass.
Perform an Advanced sync with Compass. Ensure that data is only being sent one way from E10 to Compass - if not, students will be moved back into the E10 student data year level that they were in this year. Note that E10 cannot change a student's year level in Compass.

For more detailed information refer to our Knowledge Base on Synchronisation with Compass.