Frequently Asked Questions

The SIMS Support Accreditation Scheme has been operating for over 5 years, in which time a large number of Local Authorities have achieved accreditation. It is the LA that becomes accredited provided the quality of support schools receive from the team(s) used to deliver it is satisfactory. The completion of a survey by LA schools is a key ingredient in determining if that level has been reached. The questions below represent some of the issues that have arisen in the course of the scheme to date.

How do SIMS users benefit from the Accreditation Scheme?

Most schools obtain their SIMS support from local support teams. Many of these are LA-based, some are independent. Some support schools in a single LA, some cross authority borders. The Accreditation Scheme is intended to ensure that all schools receive effective, value-for-money support from their team, irrespective of its source.

What steps does an LA have to negotiate to achieve accreditation?

The Accreditation process is part-inspection, part-consultation. SIMS is more concerned with helping LAs to achieve the necessary standards than in finding them deficient in any particular area. To begin with, the LA support team completes a comprehensive written survey of work practices and any concerns are discussed in detail with some of SIMS's most experienced consultants. Where necessary, changes or improvements may be sought.

The team is also asked to provide email contacts for each of the schools it supports, and all these schools are then invited to take part in an on-line survey. Minimum acceptable response levels and scores are defined for this survey and a support team must satisfy SIMS that its performance is satisfactory before achieving accreditation.

A team retains its accredited status for 2 years, after which it must seek re-accreditation.

Which LAs are accredited?

At present the following LAs have achieved accredited status:

Barnsley	Hampshire	Rotherham
Bath & North East Somerset	Harrow	Shropshire
Bexley	Havering	Somerset
Birmingham	Hertfordshire	South Gloucester
Bolton	Kensington and Chelsea	Southampton
Bradford	Kent	St Helens
Bristol	Lancashire	Stockton
Buckinghamshire	Leeds	Stoke on Trent
Cambridgeshire	Leicestershire	Tameside
Cheshire	Liverpool	Warrington
Cornwall	Manchester	Warwickshire
Devon	Middlesbrough	West Sussex
Doncaster	NE Lincolnshire	Westminster
Durham	Newham	Wirral
East Sussex	North Lincolnshire	Wolverhampton
Gloucestershire	Rochdale	Worcestershire

How long does it take to do the survey?

It depends on how prepared you are and how hard you're trying to be accurate! Completing the on-line screens should take 10-15 minutes, but it will be easier to do the on-line part if you prepare the answers in advance. If you print out the Survey Notes, you will be able to check with the various specialists in your school to ensure that your information is accurate - and it will take less time to actually do the survey.

Where do I get my password for the on-line survey?

Your support team provides Capita with a contact email address for each school and at the beginning of the survey we send out an invitation to them to participate. The password is in the email. Your school's password is specific to the one establishment, so don't call the school up the road to find out what the password is, or you'll end up over-writing their responses to the questions.

What if I don't get a password?

If you know that the survey is under way in your region but you have not received an invitation with your school's password, please email the webmaster at Capita Education Services. Be sure to give the name of your school and that of your support team. We'll send your password.

Is the survey straightforward to complete?

Yes, most of the questions are "multiple choice" but there are a few where you are asked to enter comments. As you complete each screen, the answers on it are automatically saved so if you do have to abandon the survey (we know how busy schools are), you can log in again later and you'll find that all the answers you had already entered are still there. Once you've finished the survey, you will be able to revise and change any of your answers up until the time the survey for your authority closes.

I hear there's a prize for schools that participate...

Yes, there's a prize draw for all schools that complete the survey before the end date. The prize is a digital camera. For your school...

So if I do the survey 6 times I get 6 chances to win?

Sorry, you can do the survey as many times as you like, but only the last set of answers is saved.

Fine, I've been wanting to tell someone what I think of the new modules. This is my chance.

Of course, we can't stop you including whatever you want in your comments. However, this survey is about your support team and how you rate the services it provides. Comments about the software (or anything else) would be better made elsewhere as they will not be relevant to this particular enquiry.

If I have problems, who do I get in touch with?

Not the Capita Help Desk, please! Enquiries about the survey are best addressed to the webmaster. If you do enquire - lost password, trouble connecting to the site, etc. - please explain clearly the nature of your problem. We do get enquiries on the lines "Can't access survey. Advise". That doesn't give us much to work on. You need to report a fault with the survey in the same way as any other software fault - be as detailed as possible about what you were trying to do, what went wrong, what error message was shown.