Ask any school leader what turns a good school into a great school and they’ll tell you it’s the people who work there.
A school’s workforce is quite simply its greatest asset when it comes to student outcomes, but making sure every single member of staff is supported and valued and has the right tools and training for the job can be a challenge.
From monitoring staff absence and managing HR compliance right through to keeping track of a teacher’s change of address, HR is a complex task for any school or MAT. And if you’re relying on paper files and spreadsheets for the job, school HR can rapidly become an administrative headache.
But now there’s a way you can bring together everything HR into one single system. SAMpeople, a SIMS partner, is an HR system specially created for schools, and best of all, there is a seamless integration between the two solutions.
So, what are the benefits for schools and MATs who have both SIMS and SAMpeople?
All your personnel data in one place
A single point for all a school’s employee information not only signals the end of filing cabinets clogging up the office, it also makes it easier to access staff data quickly when you need it. For instance, when checking the contract of a teacher who is moving to a new role, or finding the right documents during a school audit.
Think of all those times a school leader needs to make a quick check on how much training a teacher has completed, or whether it’s time to renew a DBS, integration with SIMS allows you to view all the relevant data on a staff member within SAMpeople in a few clicks, and a red, amber and green checklist for staff CPD makes it easy to assess training priorities at a glance.
For a MAT, there’s the added complexity of making sure staff data from multiple schools is consistent. But with HR information alongside a school’s SIMS data, trust leaders can standardise their staff records and access them from a single dashboard, so they can assist teaching and support staff across their trust.
Better oversight of staff absence
Keeping track of staff absence can be challenging, but reducing absence is important because it can save schools and MATs thousands on supply cover and sick pay while giving students more continuity of teaching and learning.
However, there are times when teaching and support staff are unable to work, and having accurate information gives schools clearer insight into what causes those absences. Schools can report on and categorise staff absences in SAMpeople, and make more informed decisions about leave of absence requests.
With the rich data held in SIMS, schools can spot patterns around staff absence and provide additional support to employees to help them balance their needs with their job.
An easy-to-use employee portal
The last thing a busy teacher needs is more paperwork, so a digital employee portal is a godsend. SAMpeople allows staff to log a leave request, check their employment contract and view their appraisals all in one place.
As it’s often easier to focus on these tasks away from the classroom, the fact that SAMpeople is a cloud-based system means staff can log on anytime, anywhere.
Accuracy of data can be a bugbear in an HR system, and an outdated address or missing health details can cause real problems. But by allowing staff to enter and amend their own details, schools can be sure the information on their system is accurate and up-to-date, and the data is pulled through into SIMS.
Keeping everyone in the loop with school news makes people feel valued. An employee portal linked to SIMS data gives schools a great platform for staff engagement where they can share updates about training sessions, employee welfare and staff events.
A well supported staff team transforms student outcomes and creates a positive place for everyone to work. With SIMS and SAMpeople you have the HR dream team for a happy and thriving school or MAT.