PARS complements and extends your existing SIMS system.
Using PARS means you don't have to change the way you work; due to its flexibility you can keep the current processes you need
and take advantage of new opportunities to do what you always wanted with your data.
Providing a friendly, intuitive interface to attendance, behaviour, assessment and communication PARS immerses staff in the flow of data
around school, allowing them, and you as a school, to operate efficiently.
PARS is one of the most comprehensive software packages available, and could consolidate many disparate external products into a single cost effective solution.
Improve pupil intervention and reduce paper chasing
Automated alerts let the right people know what is going on in school instantly. No more missed detentions!
Bespoke parental reporting
Report to parents the way you want to, using rules, content and design you choose.
Modernise communications
Telephone call logging, SMS text notices, free email to parents, staff and other stakeholders for
absences, behaviours or any other reason!
Access anywhere, anytime
Staff have access to the most important features of PARS away from school, using PCs, Macs, or even on mobile devices including
smart phones, tablets, iPhone and iPad.
Discover new ways of analysis
Graphs, heat maps and Dynamic Reporting open the door to new ways of using the data you collect each day,
even across disciplines.
Biometric and Swipe Systems
PARS is compatible with various biometric, card and other access systems.
*text messages are provided via an SMS provider at additional cost
Features
PARS is one of the most comprehensive software packages available, and out-performs its competitors in many ways. It is widely recognized as one of the most user friendly and comprehensive systems available,
simplifying the management role and offering incredible value for money.
Homepage
PARS homepage is the first screen all users will see when logged onto PARS. The homepage is personal to the user and will show their diary and can include timetable, cover, meetings, duties, registers: sessions, lessons, detentions and extra class.
Notices and alerts are retrievable here along with short cuts to pupil information, parental details and emergency alerts.
show me
Attendance
Whether session, lesson, extra curriculum, detention, isolation rooms or cover, PARS Attendance is not only easy for teachers to record; it allows attendance officers to manage their attendance easily and Senior Leaders to retrieve information. An automated alert to specific members of staff tracking pupils throughout the day improves communications within Schools allowing everyone to know where a pupil is at any time. Quick filters give immediate results including post registration truants, any pupils absent today on an editable screen and system notices including ‘unauthorised absent notices to teachers’ and ‘missing registers’.
Choose which Attendance reports you require out of the hundreds available - both list and graphical form and save them as your favourites. Automated weekly reports reduce time spent printing lots of reports by the already busy office staff and reduces paperwork and pigeon holing reports!
Caching data from PARS in the event of a fire, the Fire module will give all attendance details for pupils including session, lesson, extra classes and detentions,
which means you have relevant data, before, during and after the timetabled School day.
show me
Detentions & Removals
You can define exactly which members of staff can place a pupil in a detention on what day and a specific time. PARS ensures no pupil can have more than one detention in one timeslot. Once a detention is scheduled, PARS continues with the process, informing parents via text, email or letter, creating a detention register, notifying teachers when a pupil has a detention later today, updating the fire module, re-scheduling unattended detentions. PARS detentions are more than just logging the time!
show me
Assessment
Assessment can be used in many ways within PARS and is designed to work with all Schools grading requirements. PARS has its own in built grading system which can be used for daily gradebooks, interim reports, and where grades can be linked to lesson, subject or any other group.
You may want a way for PE to log high jump heights, a chess club to log scores or tutors to write progression comments – you decide what you want and how you want to use it.
Assessment Manager data can be linked into PARS also and results can be entered via PARS registers and written directly back to SIMS. PARS Connect, our remote access module, compliments this feature as teachers can enter grades from home rather than having to stay late at School trying to complete reports.
show me
Reports
Any data that sits in PARS can be exposed to a report. There are many reports already available in PARS, though we know that sometimes bespoke reports are necessary to give the output you require, whether that includes calculated targets, images, colours or specific rules based on certain pupils.
All you do is decide on the content and you will have a report as you require. Have a look at examples of reports we have created for other Schools.
show me
Register
What the teachers see – the union of attendance, behaviour, assessment and pupil information in one simple interface - is fundamental to PARS. The register allows teachers to record pupil data efficiently and effectively as it provides additional information relating to the pupil. This information can include detentions later that day, which pupils are ‘On report’, extra classes and clubs today, reasons for pupil absences and school notices.
show me
Behaviour
Versatile hierarchal and permission based ‘smiley face’ behaviour is without question the easiest to use and track; for teachers to easily record in a register, staff to monitor, track and analyse. Positive, negative and even neutral behaviours can be logged, as points can be “cashed in".
A weekly printed report is often too late - PARS allows you to be proactive rather than reactive on behaviour issues. Behaviour incidents can be referred automatically to the appropriate people. You just decide on the rules, such as “the behaviour officer is to be alerted when a pupil has three negative behaviours in a single day”.
Alerts can be immediately sent to specific members of staff on their ‘watched pupils’, ensuring timely intervention.
Automated bonus awards, again based on your School rules identify ‘unseen pupils’, and can be used to support certificates and raffle systems.
show me
On Report
Red Report, School Report Card, Head Teachers Report - you decide. Comment or target based, the On Report facility tells teachers exactly who is On report, from their register, and enter details based on pupil's behaviour in class. Parental report cards can be printed to your own School design.
show me
Communication
External messaging incorporates SMS, email, letters, and phone call logging - all available within PARS.
PARS enables you to communicate with parents and pupils easily
with all information kept in an individual pupil record – excellent for evidence!
Internal messaging encompasses notices in registers to pupils, messages to staff on their homepage, emergency notices which flash up on screen. You can choose to notify ‘all teachers of a pupil’ with choice of internal notice, email and SMS.
show me
PARS Connect
PARS Connect is an extension to PARS, allowing teachers to use PARS anywhere and anytime on various hardware.
All you need is internet access and teachers will have all they need to record and track pupil information.
PARS Connect, recommended for PCs, Macs, laptops and modern tablets such as iPads.
PARS Connect Mobile allows teachers to access PARS using mobile technology with internet access, whether it be a
tablet, iPhone, Blackberry, HTC or other smartphone.
PARS Connect Mobile is not an 'app' which needs to be downloaded and installed to individual mobiles with different operating systems,
so wont take up internal mobile storage.
We have made it simple and designed Connect Mobile to access PARS data as you would expect with easy drop down menus.
Data is neither stored nor cached on the device – would you like
your son or daughter's data to be available on a lost mobile phone?
show me
PARS Homepage
Timetable
With a choice of 1 day, 5 day, week or month view your timetable will provide you with:
* Your statutory and lesson registers read directly from SIMS
* Cover classes
* Extra Curriculum registers
* Detention registers
Staff also have a quick link to colleagues timetables; a great feature when cover required quickly or to see colleagues free time.
Manage notices
Staff notices, missing register reminders, behaviour referalls, grade entry reminders and automated alerts can all be found at the foot of the
homepage plus SIMS notices can also be viewed if required.
All notices can be opened and replied to from this area keeping all internal communications in one place.
Keep your diary up to date
Manage your diary within your homepage with options to add single or scheduled entries for either yourself or colleagues
(based on permission levels); great for organising bus duty, lunch duty, meetings, birthdays!
Pupil information
A quick button gives you access to both personal and culmulative year to date pupil infomation including;
* Pupil photo, DOB, Meal type, Medical, SEN, Parental contact
* % Attendance for subject, class and statutory
* Behaviour incident report in table and graphical view
* Detention list
* On Report list
* Grading and Assessment Data including ASM Grades
... and more features, in an easy to read, TAB page view
(images above give examples of pages available)
Where is a pupil?
A great quick shortcut to find out where a pupil(s) is with the click of two buttons from the homepage including
* Todays Attendance
* Class
* Teacher
* Room
* Extra Curriculum classes
* Detentions
* Link to Parental contact
Contact Parents or Guardians
Yet another quick shortcut button allowing you to view or edit parental contact communications for an individual or multiple pupils including:
* Text/SMS using comment banks or free text
* Email
* Letter with Mail Merge
* Logging a phone call
What a Teacher can see and do from their Register
Attendance
Taking a register is quick and easy via PARS, features include:
* Select specific codes for teachers to use for example /, N and L with time
* Notification for pupils on opening a register; extra classes or detentions later today, if On Report, homework set for today, pupil notices
* View pupil photos * Access to SEN and Medical data...and many more options!
PARS also has specific features enabling attendance officers to manage attendance based on permissions and
can stop; overwriting attendance marks pre-entered (example Holiday, Visit), impossible to have a missing mark in a
register and all marks entered include a time stamp so everyone knows who took a register, when and time - invaluable
information for staff managing attendance
Behaviour
PARS smiley face behaviour is simple to log from a register with a click of a button; positive, negative and neutral for
either multiple or individual pupils along with a hierarchal referral option. Todays behaviour can be seen easily and reports viewed
Detentions can be logged from registers and detention notifications visable in a register allowing teachers to remind pupils
if they have a detention later that day
A Teacher will know if a pupil is On Report with a pair of eyes icon and notification; with access to entering On report targets
and(or) comments
Notices
Pupil notices are available from a register which can include messages from other members of staff for example "Mom has dropped of PE kit,
please collect from reception". Teachers can reply to the notices making originator aware the message has been passed on.
PARS has an alert button available on registers if needed in the event of an emergency with no access to a phone. The alert will
send a message direct to office staff selected and prevents pupils or teaching staff having to leave the classroom. Quick feature for pupils
removed from class, Inhaler required, truants....
Pupil information
A quick button gives you access to both personal and culmulative year to date pupil infomation including;
* Pupil photo, DOB, Meal type, Medical, SEN, Parental contact
* % Attendance for subject, class and statutory
* Behaviour incident report in table and graphical view
* Detention list
* On Report list
* Grading and Assessment Data including ASM Grades
... and more features, in an easy to read, TAB page view
(images above give examples of pages available)
Grading and assessment
Assessment and Grading data can be both viewed and edited whether daily gradebooks, curriculum based assessment, interim, end of year reporting
from the register or Assessment Manager linked grades.
See also PARS Connect for entering grades from home
Homework
Logging homework and assignments from the registers enables teachers to enter homework details for classes, select if pupil has completed which
also links into the behaviour and grading. Teachers can also check what homework was set in that class previously
Attendance
Manage your Attendance data
Attendance is very easy to manage with a specific Attendance View designed with Attendance Officers in mind. Staff with specific Attendance
permissions have many valuable features within PARS including
* Batch entering marks quickly for classes and user defined groups
* Manage codes for lessons along with pre-defined DCSF codes
* Filter data simply with one click buttons giving quick results in an editable report including post registration truants, first day
absentees, all pupils with specific codes .. and lots more!
* Full access to individual attendance mark details: who entered what code, date, time with full history of data input
* Quick access to all pupils with unathorised absences, automated notifications to tutor...and many more key functions to manage attendance
effectively!
Extra Curriculum Classes
Extra Curriculum classes can be configured and scheduled with option
to populate class prior to day or an empty register ready to 'add pupil on arrival'. Extra Curriculum classes are complete with a register
allowing tracking and enabling teachers to remind pupils of classes from a register
All extra curriculum classes are linked to the 'where is' button,
a function widely used in Schools for quick access by School reception if a pupil not arrived home and parents calling for information. Extra Curriculum classes
also writes back to PARS Fire Module
Automated reporting and Graphs
Many reports are available within PARS with functions including; filtering of data, email,
message parents, export to excel... reports are available in table format and many are available in graphical form
Save time with automated reports - set PARS to schedule reports on a weekly, monthly or annual basis and sent directly to specific members of staff
via email; reduces time priting and pigeon holing paper reports!
Set up your own alerts quickly with your School rules allowing PARS to take the data to you: post registration truants? PA watched pupils? Excellent
for tracking pupils and dealing with attendance issues immediately
Create Defined Groups
All SIMS groups can be viewed in PARS allowing further tracking for specific groups.
User defined groups can be also be created simply
Parental Communication
With 4 clicks of a button and within 1 minute, you can send a text message or email to all parents whose sons or daughters have not arrived
at School based on your School policy; 1st day absence, any day absence, specific code. PARS gives you the bigger picture allowing you to see
all regsiters so no more sending texts to parents when the pupil has attended lesson though missed their form tutor time!
Telephone calls can also be logged which means pupil contact information is all within one file; letters, emails, texts and calls in a printable format
Attendance fire module
PARS Fire module reads statutory, class attendance, detention registers and extra curriculum classes meaning you have immediate attendance data regardless of the
time of day. Staff can also sign into the Fire register as well as sixth forms onsite in School though not necessarily in class
Internal and External Communication
Messaging Parents and Guardians
Whether sending information to single or multiple parents, PARS allows you to email, send a letter, text or log a phone call.
PARS enables you to select rules during sending of commnication which include: only send to priority contacts, do not send to parents with court order,
only send one message to parents with multiple siblings in School
All information sent to a pupils parent will be held in a communication log - letters can be uploaded to SIMS document server if required.
Pupil communication history log
Any information sent to parents will be held in the pupil communication log or as some of our Schools call it 'evidence'. Logging phone calls by all staff is particularly good as it prevents multiple calls to parents about the same issue..."Why are you calling me Mr Form Tutor, I have already spoken to Mrs Attendance today"
Messaging Pupils
"Mom dropped off PE in reception" "Please send John to reception at 2pm, Dad collecting" when sending a message to a
pupil, PARS knows which classes the pupil has today and a notice will appear in their register. No need to walk around School anymore trying to find them!
You can also text pupils from PARS which is used mainly for sixth form pupils and very handy if a pupil is off ill and needs an update on a project / exam revision
Messaging Staff
There are various ways of messaging staff
Emergency Alert - pops up immediately used for urgent messanging. Example: "Can all pupils catching the 481 bus go to the Hall end of the day - do not go to the Bus Stop"
Notice to staff held on homepage - Example: library closed tomorrow due to refurbishment
Notice to staff via email
notice to staff via text
Another great feature is the ability to send a notice to 'all teachers of a pupil' - this could be required for various issues: truant alert, vulnerable pupil, off ill and need to collate work, parent meeting with Head of School later and needs information
Emergency Alert
A quick emergency button is available giving assistance to staff immediately. From a classroom, on clicking the button, PARS already know who the teacher is, room, class and period - teacher send without typing or has the option to enter 'first aid' 'removal'. Quick simple and you can pre-set the alert to go to front desk/office. the office then receive as a pop up emergency notice.
Communication Reports
Various reports are available within PARS enabling staff to track usage of communications - example: how many text messages sent today, which pupils parents have contacted School today
PARS Connect Classic and Mobile View
What is PARS Connect
PARS Connect is a web based designed interface allowing teachers to access PARS data anytime/anywhere and is an extension of PARS.
There are two views for PARS Connect - Classic and Mobile. Classic view is a version which can be easily used on PC/MAC, Laptops, iPad, Tablets. Mobile view is for smaller technology with drop down menus rather than zoom in and zoom out.
As you are working with pupil live data and as we certainly do not recommend pupil information to be used on a non-live system to protect data from unwanted eyes, there is a time-out available.
As Connect is web based you do not have to download seperate software onto the devices so there is no worry of software confliction with various opertating systems (Android Gingerbread, Icecream Wafer, Mac....) . This also means no extra storage required on mobiles for downloads, no updates required and no individual costs for device software
The following tabs are a selection of screens available
Homepage
Mobile and Classic View screen shots
Register
Mobile and Classic View screen shots
Logging Behaviour
Mobile and Classic View screen shots
Entering Grades
Mobile and Classic View screen shots
Pupil Information
Mobile and Classic View screen shots
Behaviour
Smiley Faces
PARS enables staff to log positive, negative, neutral and cashin-in behaviour quickly and easily for single or multiple pupils, configured inline with your Schools own behaviour policies. Happy and unhappy faces are recognisable easily for all staff and can be named as you want - example: merits/demerits
Neutral behaviour is a way to track any issue without effecting pupils behaviour log. Example; Toilet break, note from parent reference uniform, extension of homework
Cash-in is a great facility where you can 'cash-in'positive points (or Net total points) for rewards. Example: 50 points = pen
Behaviour logging is hierarchal with outcomes and referals available based on permissions.
When logging behaviour, PARS automatically knows who you are, where you are, timetable, date and period which means you only need to click a couple of buttons to enter data.
Sharing Data
Referrals and Alerts are easily set up in PARS based on rules definable by you. This enables vital information to reach the correct person immediately allowing for pupil intervention and has been key to Schools dealing with behaviour effectively
Referral; You can manually refer behaviour and (based on permission hierarchy) teacher is able to decide who to refer to also there is an option for 'Hidden referrals' - You define which staff are referred to based on pupils (excellent for watched pupils)
Rule based alerts are also available; Ideal for zero tolerance behaviour or multiple incidents. Example: HOY is alerted when pupil has been bullying. Tutor could be informed if pupil has 5x negative this week.
Reporting and Graphs
There are many reports available within PARS for analysing and tracking behaviour whether it be by individual pupil, specific groups, classes or any combination of pupils.
Reports available include full behaviour report for pupils giving a detailed log of the incident up to referals and end results, comparison of sanctions, School Graphs including Heat Maps and also customisable reports.
Via PARS Automation, reports can be scheduled and sent to specific members of staff each week; example: All Heads of year want a full list of any pupils who have missed their homework last week
Behaviour and Automated Bonus Points
Whilst working within Schools TASC have recognised a very clear issue when rewarding pupils which continues through many Schools - though there is an easy answer!
Commonly, when looking at reward reports, the top of the list will be the naughty or extremely good pupils - the normal 'unseen' pupils don not appear! Reports in PARS show a balance of behaviour and also have the option to automate bonus behaviour points - example; any pupils with 100% attendance last week receive 10 bonus points each week. having weekly bonus points also gives a pupil a fresh start each week. PARS has various ways to help overcome this issue - we don't want to give all our trade secrets away on a website though!
Certificates
Generate your own reward outcome options; Raffle ticket name generator, Stickers, Bronze certificate of your design for pupils with specific points based on your rules. As School reward pupils in many ways, we ensure that we provide you with the report outcome you require; whatever the format at no extra cost!
Parental communication
Email, Text or send a custom designed behaviour slip to parents with everything you need. You decide what you want in the letter and PARS with merge the data accross as you require.
Detention and Removals
updating
updating
updating
updating
updating
On Report
Lost On Report Cards?
How many times has a pupil who is On Report lost the paper card they are supposed to carry around?
PARS Electronic On Report facility can be used in various ways and you, as the School, can define the types of On Report and who can put a pupil on report.
You can decide on if pupils require specific targets or free enter comments which is set-up ready for teachers to use
What teachers can see
A teacher can quickly see on entering a register that a pupil is On Report with a notice > another reminder on the register and an optional reminder on closing a register
Completing the On Report card
Completing On Report Cards is quick an easy from the register for teachers and the Report Card will follow the pupils around all their classes up to the time when they are no longer On Report
Notifying Parents
Tracking reports are available within PARS and bespoke Parental On Report Cards can also be created with option to email, post or be seen online via our Parental Login (INSIGHT)
Grading and Assessment
Types of Grades available
There are various types of grade styles within PARS: Interim and End of year report data, daily gradebook for teachers, defined group data tracking for extra curriculum classes / groups. If your School already uses Assessment manager in SIMS, you can link the grades you require via PARS allowing teachers to input data which writes directly back into SIMS
Any types of grading can be included: Fischer Family, KS levels, Attitude to Learning, 1-10, %, A-G, Apples bananas pears and comment based... you can set up any grade names and results you want very simply through PARS grade configuration.
How to enter result grades
Grades can be entered via a register for teachers, the main menu or from a reminder on the homepage. Whichever way is very simple for staff to use.
As grades can be scheduled over a period of time, this means that you can lock down grading after teachers have entered data stopping grades been
changed after the close date. You can also chase missing grades for teachers or pupils and PARS will send an automatic count down to teachers for grades due.
Entering Comments
PARS allows teachers to free write comments and/or use comment banks which can be imported if required and subject based.
Character usage can be restricted if required and spell check is available on all comment screens.
PARS also gives the ability to batch enter comments along with 'feild merge' options for example: his/her forename
he/she which enables teachers to easily enter information about work all pupils have done and then edit extra performance/target comments
Notifications and Grade Authorisation
As grades can be scheduled, notifications of due grades can be automatically sent to staff prompting them to complete their grades from the homepage.
PARS also has various ways of checking grades including reports to print and check, editable reports on screen for each class and a grade authorisation function. Within grade authorisation, a member of staff can reject a grade/comment and send a notification back to the teacher
PARS Grade reports
There are many reports available in PARS allowing you to generate lists of data and then we have our bespoke reports. Bespoke reports allow you to have any data in PARS to be generated in such away using calculations, rules, colour, graphing, images.... to create the report you need.
Example of bespoke Report
For further examples, please go to the features section 'Reports'
Standard, customised and Bespoke Reports
Standard PARS reports
PARS has 100s of reports available and within reports you have various options including: sending email, save to spreadsheet, print, hide columns, ascend/descend, filter, create groups and letter to parent
As Schools require data in many ways whether it be attendance, behaviour, grading, communications, there are many options available and you can choose the ones you need and add them as favorites
Data lists and graphical options are available plus the ability to build your own custom reports if required with various field names to choose from
There is also another way to generate reports which is above and beyond the simple field selection....bespoke reports
How bespoke are PARS reports?
Every School is different in the way they present data, particularly to parents.
Student reviews feature within PARS enables data within PARS to be generated into a design providing you with exactly what you need.
Many reports require specific rules and we can set these within Student Reviews. Attendance, behaviour, photo's, grades, comments, how many detentions, behaviour points .... You may want targets listed with comparisons using colour code. A grade may equal a point system. Some pupils may require one type of grade in a subject such as NVQ whereas other pupils ma require GCSE grades in a report. You may want to change class descriptions 'PE' should say 'Physical Education'. Have a graph or image with calculated requirements, specific images or icons for specific data entered.... the list can be endless. What you need is achievable!
The following tabs are examples of reports bespoke to some of our Schools developed by PARS.
Behaviour Graph
Grade Intervention
On Report Card
Simple Grade Report
Interim Report
Grade summary
Grading report
Report with graph
KSLevel chart
Reward Certificate
Raffle generator
Case Studies
If you would like to discuss our products directly with any of the schools involved in the case studies, please contact us initially and we will be happy to contact the relevant member of staff, before passing on their contact details.
Honley High School, Kirklees
Author: Paul Sharrock, Assistant Headteacher
Honley High School is located in Kirklees with over 1200 students aged 11 to 16.
The school serves students from various areas in the region and primarily from Honley, Brockholes and Meltham.
The school specialises in Science and Mathematics.
Read more
Newent Community School
"The product is backed with unrivalled technical support, and new features are released on a frequent basis."
Kevin Stacey, IT Manager
Sarah Smith, Attendance Officer
"Use PARS for lesson by lesson monitoring registers done within first 10mins so can see very quickly which students are in and which aren’t. One of the useful features is that it has a whole load of filters. Uses ‘students not in filter’ for a very quick way to find out which aren’t in. From that does a lot of texting. Get a good response back from sent text msgs. Another benefit is, you can note down where students are if not in lesson. But difference is they are doing music lessons, then you can code them down as ‘in school, but not in designated lesson’. Like the letters in PARS. In other systems you can only put ‘late x number of times in a year’. In PARS you can put ‘late 25 times and its a total of 400 mins’. So from that parents can see that they’re arriving frequently late in the morning and can hopefully drop child off earlier. "
Watch
Adrian Underwood, Head of Science
"We have used PARS for a very long time and PARS is a valuable system. As a tutor helps me to put a student's progress during the day. It gives me the instant feedback as
to where the students been, whether they were in lesson, whether they were not in lesson, and also the behaviour management - the fact that it records the CQs and the house points.
It is useful to me because it is up to date and very current and that's what's good about it."
Watch
Ashley Mortimer, Advanced Schools teacher
"We have been using PARS for quite a number of years now and its integrated well into our system now. The clever thing thats happened is that we have this simple single sign on in terms of username and password which saves us a whole load of problems and means that people use the software more easily and regularly. "
Watch
Del Hughes, Teacher of ICT & Progress Leader for Yr11
"I use PARS on a daily and hourly basis from a registration perspective to keeping an eye, again, on students who turn up to lesson. You can see what house points they have or CQs they’ve had and that can be a little bit of a tool if I’m honest. The fact that when students come into a lesson and they have just had a CQ and its a nice tool to be able to use and I can say that, “Well look I can see that you’ve had a CQ so let’s see if we can sort of try and counteract it by getting a house point this lesson”. So I leave them alone for a bit. So having that as a visual thing, a visual stimulus and something that we can use, because the whole point of progress leader – not just increasing communication - not just raising achievement, but the ways in which we are going to do that to ensure that teachers are using data not once every reporting cycle, on a daily basis on a regular basis and again, this is another tool that enables us to do that. So, having that data there in front of us and we are looking at ways as well, of maybe incorporating other things into it. I mean it’s only recently we’ve started to put the numbers on so you can see how many house points students have. It’s not just the one sort of happy green face. We’ve got that, “Oh! That kid has had 3 house points today”. You know and that is brilliant! So that sort of thing is great because that is really going in the direction that we want to be going with our use of data. Data isn't a static thing that sort of dusty and stacked away on SIMS in this old database. It’s something that we want people using on a daily basis to help inform their teaching. So, all in all the two systems together combine and it’s fantastic! It really going in the direction that we want it to go and taking us in that direction."
Watch
Mark Ellis, Development Leader of ICT
"The stuff that we’re getting from PARS is, you might think, just the same as what you get in a paper register. Yes it is at the core, but there is more to it than that and it’s the histories, the patterns and the accessibility of the data that makes it for us, absolutely glorious! The fact that you can use it as a messaging system – yes, helpful! We have got other messaging systems, but everyone goes onto their register. The fact that people can keep on top of the key absences - ‘looked after children’, things like that. People who are missing and shouldn’t be missing – we can pick that up. We’re never going to have a black hole. We counter count for a child. We know where they are. One of the jobs that is new to us, is the ability to monitor children really closely and pick out students who need good mentoring and need it today and not at the end of the reporting cycle because the data is coming regularly and is coming into the Progress Leader’s hands. They are able to be very responsive and say, “Well, why is there a problem there?” erm and go and deal with it in a way that I don’t think they could ever do if they were relying on paper communications. We are also able to put some of our Progress Leaders have been working on trying to put some reports on a daily basis, put into the system. As the register is taken, everything is available to the class teacher and they can communicate with whomever that needs communicating with on that single screenshot and we think that this is going to be a really useful tool."
Watch
Hamish Young, Head of Art
"In terms of using PARS as a registration tool, it is primarily used for that but we also have the capacity to reward students with house points and also to apply sanctions, in this case, CQs which would result in various forms of detention. The school is actually currently looking at ways to moving away from using detentions as a form of consequence and looking more to moving to a restorative point of view. The CQ marks you can put in PARS enables information about an incident or a particular type of behaviour that needs modifying to be passed to tutors and other members of staff to enable those restorative conversations that need to happen between adults to enable students to be modify their behaviour. So its a really really useful communication tool at the point of which an incident happens and that can inform other adults that need to know that particular time."
Watch
Martyn John, Senior Pastoral Leader
"The way that PARS is particularly useful to me and my role within the school is that it gives me immediate access to student details. As part of my role, I need to speak to students at short notice and PARS enables me to find out exactly where they are so that i have instant availability for all students. It also allows me to get a picture as to their behaviour within the school, both in terms of ‘conduct log’ and their collection of ‘house points’. PARS enables staff to have immediate access to that and we can tell on a day by day basis and a lesson by lesson basis how well they are performing in school. It is key as well in terms of contacting parents that very often we have to quick phone call them up home and we can immediately log on to PARS and we know exactly where that student is so when talking to parents, we can say, “Yes, that they have been registered in a particular lesson”, erm, which doesn’t happen very often at this particular school but obviously that sort of information is key to the school and the parents. So those are the main benefits we get from PARS."
Watch
Wolstanton High School
Steve Wilkinson, ICT Coordinator
"PARS started to prove an essential tool and was expanded to all lessons. It informed staff if a student had been missing from even one lesson. This proved essential in a battle for attendance. Our attendance to lessons improved significantly. Lateness to lessons was reduced. Another useful feature is the logging of behaviour, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’. So we are very keen here to reward good behaviour and we have a merit system that we can add on to the class register by simply clicking onto the child’s name or the whole class and add merits and comment on what these merits were issued for. Obviously we can also do that for demerits... any disruptions can be reduced by the teacher speaking to the pupil at the end of the day. It is very flexible and can be set up to suit any school, any situation if you can think of what you want it to do, it can be set up to do it."
"PARS is available for staff to use from home which is a very useful part of it, because teachers do actually work at home for marking and grading and it is nice then rather than bringing it straight into school, you can just logon from home and you have access to that class’ grade and the information there. "
Watch
Lode Heath School
Author: Margaret Wheeler, Information Management Officer
Lode Heath School is a co-educational comprehensive school for students
aged between 11-16 and is maintained by Solihull LA. The school is located in Solihull with approximately
1000 pupils. The school specialises in science and sport.
Read more
Mark Wilson, Deputy Headteacher
"We have had PARS since 2005. We use it for registration, behaviour analysis, attendance and assessment.
Its very very easy for staff to use and all the information which is a key point is actually in there and
refers back to SIMS.
It is tailored to the school's personal needs, has a particularly impressive impact on learning progress.
The data is used to show to pupils on how well they are doing and how they can improve
and highlights attendance and behavioural issues with individual student.
It can derive some real focussed and direct intervention strategies.
You can easily extract reports and analyse the data with the ease of use.
It allows tracking and monitoring at class level. It’s an easily accessible communication tool for staff.
We use it for assessments and have been tailoring our assessment procedures to make
it simpler for staff to use to fit in with our termly reports. Class staff can logon,
use the assessment facility, enter marks easily, a whole class report, all takes a class
only twenty minutes which is a large improvement from the paper version.
We also use it as a strategic tool, identify issues with attendance, behaviour,
under achievement and we can identify any issues early allowing for focussed intervention."
Watch
Maidstone Grammar School
Author: Stephen J. Moores
Maidstone Grammar School, a state run school in the town takes pupils from the ages of 11-18 providing GCSE and A Level courses. Currently the school has approximately 1300 pupils on
roll. The school was founded in 1549 to teach Latin grammar to students. Latin can still be taught to those who wish to take it, although it is no longer the main focus of the school. Maidstone Grammar was described as the top state run school in the town, in the Financial Times in 1995.
Read more
Sacred Heart High School
Author: Michael Cousins,
Assistant Headteacher
"We have been using PARS for five years. We found PARS really really useful for members of staff they can see all the information they need for that one lesson from a management information level, from that one screen - its a one stop shop! PARS does all of our, attendance, behaviour management, reporting, merits and concerns, runs our detentions, target setting, assessments. It has reduced my workload spectacularly because it does exactly what you expect it to!"
Watch
Sturminster Newton High School
"PARS Connect allows staff full access from outside the classroom. The introduction of PARS and PARS Connect was instrumental in fundamentally changing the way the school functioned on a day to day basis. Communication, tracking, behaviour, attendance, and reporting systems within the school all improved very quickly and the quality of information held, greatly increased."
Tim Weeks, Assistant Headteacher
Arden School
"I like it – it’s reliable and teachers find it easy to use."
Youseff Hennous, Network Manager
Mount Grace School
"Teachers are able to use PARS Connect to input data from home to do reporting. The software interfaces with SIMS data. The ease of use of the system has made the software very user friendly for teachers. PARS Connect also complies with parental reporting which has also been a main driver for having PARS Connect."
Matthew Robb, Network Manager
Rawlett Community Sports College
"We operate a consequences and merit system on behaviour. All the collation and capture of information was previously done on paper, with the inevitable problems of bits of paper getting lost in the system. Now it is instantly captured and available for form tutors, who have all the relevant information to hand on their PCs – our P.E. staff can also access it via PDAs. We can now make sure that merits and consequences are auctioned and carried out. It’s much easier to track and keep up to date and it’s also easy to use and to generate reports. Whenever we wanted changes made and the software tailored to our own particular operational requirements, TASC have carried this out and it has been implemented very effectively – the back up and support has been superb!"
Andy Dicken, Systems Manager
George Stephenson High School
"We now have a much better picture on attendance. We know who is in, and the accuracy is dependent upon the user and not the software. We didn't have lesson registers until PARS, now we can quickly see who has disappeared. Our Attendance Officers use it all the time and attendance is now better than it was before. We also use the messaging and notices facilities on PARS and find its communications features very helpful."
Ian Craigs, Network manager
Chatsmore Catholic College
"PARS Connect was initially added to allow Senior Leaders to access student details while on duties away from the school network. Connect was quickly rolled out to all staff so that they could access data from home. Connect has provided staff with the ability to find student information from home if they need to make contact out of school hours, they then have the ability to log that call onto Connect so that all staff can access the call log, if necessary. Connect is now being used as a means of recording data on student performance with a view that it will ultimately replace our reporting procedure. PARS Connect has proved an invaluable tool in supporting the PE teachers at school as it allows them to take registers and record behaviour while outside on the field. We initially provided them with windows mobile devices, however have now re-issued them with IPOD TOUCHES as the mobile version of Safari and displays Connect brilliantly. The PE staff now has all their music for dance, gym and register in one mobile device. PARS Connect will continue to be at the heart of any improvements in school as it pulls together attendance, behaviour, and reporting."
Julian Morgan, Assistant Headteacher
Bishop Heber High School
Author: Gary Naylor, Network Manager
PARS Connect is the next big leap as far as we are concerned. It takes the elements from PARS.net that are used daily by our teachers and puts them into a web interface, meaning that there is no installation or updates for the teaching staff to worry about, and the maintenance load for technical staff is greatly reduced. Also, it has made remotely accessing data much easier, doing away with the need for VPN or other difficult to set up networking tools."
Read more
FAQs
Here are a selection of the questions we are most
commonly asked about PARS...
Is PARS compatible with my SIMS system?
Yes, PARS integrates and is fully compatible with your SQL SIMS database and program modules. As a partner of Capita ES, we can ensure full current and ongoing compatibilty by using SIMS' own components to perform database operations.
Will PARS allow you to send messages to parents?
Yes, You have options to send parents / guardians messages either by post or email and also landline or mobile; voice and text. Message options can be configured specifically to the need of your school and could include notifications such as: unexplained absence, detention, excellent work, missing dinner money.
Can you use a PDA for registration?
You can use a PC, Laptop or PDA to take an electronic register. PARS also supports biometric (eg. finger print, iris) and swipe cards allowing students to sign in.
Will PARS work with SIMS Partnership Xchange?
Yes. Simply inform Capita ES that you are a PARS user and they will make available the necessary file to ensure all PARS Lesson data is accessed.
