As the new year unfolds, it’s a time for fresh beginnings, renewed focus, and the opportunity to refine how we work. For teachers, that means finding smarter ways to tackle the everyday challenges of the classroom - so you can spend more time doing what truly matters: inspiring and supporting your students.
That’s where SIMS Next Gen comes in. Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with teachers like you to deliver tools that prioritise your time, reduce admin, and help you make an even bigger impact on student outcomes. From smarter classroom management to streamlined assessment tools, everything we’ve built is designed to empower you to focus on what counts.
Here’s a wrap-up of what’s already available - and ready to make your life that little bit easier.
Tip: Modules marked ‘NEW’ bring exclusive, brand-new functionality to SIMS Next Gen - developed from your feedback and included at no extra cost for SIMS schools. Enjoy!
What’s available now in SIMS Next Gen
New Class View
Class View streamlines classroom management by bringing key pupil information and essential tasks together in one place, helping you save time and eliminate unnecessary admin.
- Create seating plans to support collaboration and minimise distractions.
- Record and monitor positive and negative behaviour events to support student wellbeing.
- Track key student information like EAL, Pupil Premium, and SEND to deliver personalised teaching strategies.
- Record assessments to identify areas for improvement and plan interventions.
Class View helps you run your classroom more efficiently by bringing essential teaching tasks and key pupil information together in one place
Class View empowers teachers to make data-driven decisions that support early intervention and improve educational outcomes.
NEW Seating Plans
Plan, organise, and edit seating arrangements. Design flexible, reusable room layouts and strategically arrange students based on abilities, personalities, and relationships to enhance learning outcomes.
Coming this term: AI integration will make seating plans even smarter by reading notes like “Don’t seat Isla next to Mia due to distraction” and generating optimal seating arrangements that set students up for success.
NEW Fire Registers
Access real-time evacuation lists on your tablet or mobile device, with instant updates for late arrivals and early departures. This modern solution eliminates wasted paper and uncertainty, giving you complete confidence that every student is accounted for during emergencies.
Attendance Registers
Take attendance quickly and easily, anytime, anywhere. Add comments and track ‘minutes late’ in the same window, saving time and keeping records accurate.
Teachers can take the register in as little as 15 seconds, freeing up more time to focus on teaching.
Conduct Management
We've redesigned Conduct Management from scratch to make it more flexible and user-friendly. Easily record positive and negative behaviour in class, spot trends early, and step in to support student wellbeing when it matters most.
Coming this term: Conduct Dashboards will provide actionable insights into behaviour, helping you make data-driven decisions, and maximise the value of behaviour data recorded in SIMS Next Gen.
My Markbook and Online Marksheets
My Markbook puts you in charge of your assessments, allowing you to create and manage them directly in SIMS Next Gen with just a few clicks—no setup or support from a Data Manager needed. Easily capture continuous assessments like homework and coursework, add notes, and filter pupils to monitor the progress of key groups such as SEND and Pupil Premium students.
Alongside My Markbook you’ll also be able to access all of the assessments that have been set-up in SIMS 7 and record the results. This means that you have all of the information you need in one place to review pupil progress and provide evidence for assessment reports.
Custom Groups
Easily identify and manage the groups you supervise with advanced search, filter, and bulk editing capabilities.
Staff Timetables Calendar
Access your timetable and other staff schedules in one easy-to-use view. Personalise your timetable with colour-coded lessons to stay organised and on track.
What teachers are saying about
SIMS Next Gen
"Teachers quickly warmed up to Next Gen once they experienced its speed and simplicity first-hand. The inclusion of student photos next to their names was a hit, adding a personal touch that was missing before. They also appreciate their feedback having been taken on board resulting in the option to flood fill the registers.
One of the standout improvements is the new homepage, which streamlines access to pupil details, making it easier than ever for teachers to find the information they need."
Mark Simpson, ICT Network Manager, Newport CE Primary School
“On our field trip I was able to do the 2nd lesson register halfway round our tour!! Massive win in my book! To do a quick roll call mentally was great, much better than carrying a printed register that could get left on a bench!!”
Teacher at Haberdashers Monmouth Schools
“Previously we were using a paper based system for the register, that could be sometimes prone to error. However Take Register is really easy to use, it's simple and straightforward. If you do need to alter it in any way, if you are in the middle of the register and a pupil comes in and you have marked them as absent, you can go back and edit that really easy. And also at the end of the day, you get a clear breakdown and summary of the total number of pupils who were in class that day and the number of children who were absent as well.”
Andy Kelly, Classroom Teacher, Weston Primary School
“As a school the most important thing is children's safety and safeguarding, the Next Gen Take Register allows me to take the register using a digital format and what I can do is, as and when the children come in, I can mark them as in on the register.”
Simon Helsby, PPA Classroom Teacher, Weston Primary School
This is a recap of the functionality already available in SIMS Next Gen. Curious about what’s coming next?