Application#
Applications are how the school can keep track of all applicants details while the application process is ongoing. It forms the basis for all contact between the school and the applicant/contacts.
Creating a New Application#
If you are a member of staff at the school and have permission, you can create an application on behalf of an external applicant by using the create new application menu option.
You will then be prompted to complete the applicants details.
Once complete, click the create account button. Beyond this point the application is managed in the same way as any other application.
Tip
Realistically you should never be doing this, applicants should apply themselves so that they can receive updates and make requests as it suits them.
Editing an Application#
To edit an application you should navigate to the “View / Edit” menu option within the application section of the modules side menu. This will load a page for you to select the academic year that you would like to see applications for.
Once selected you will be shown a list of the applications assigned to that academic year. The table contains applications at all statuses showing each applications current status, type, applicant name and reference number.
Tip
You can filter the list of applications by clicking the filter icon on the tables action bar and entering a search term to filter the rows of the table by.
Tip
You can order the rows of the table by clicking the header of the column you’d like to order by. Clicking the header a second time will reverse the order.
To edit an application, tick the corresponding checkbox and click the edit button on the tables action bar.
Once you have selected an application you will see the application in the edit screen. The applications edit screen is split up into logical sections to make it as easy as possible to find the information you need.
Application Details#
The first of these sections is the Application Details section. It contains general data about the application.
The following fields are available for all users to see:
Application Type - To signify the type of application a tag will be shown in the top right hand corner.
Application Status History - Allows users to see a history of the statuses that their application has had applied and when the status was applied to the application.
Current Status - The applications current status.
Last Activity - The last activity of either an applicant or contact linked to this application.
Late Application Indicator - To signify if an application is late a tag will be shown in the top right hand corner of late applications.
Main Contact - The main person that should be contacted regarding this application. This person will be the recipient of any written letter communication the school determine is necessary.
Reference Number - The applications unique reference number (Quote this to the school if calling regarding an application and they will be able to easily find the correct one).
The following fields are available to everyone to see if the application is from an external applicant:
Has Education Heal and Care Plan - This flags the applicant as having an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Looked After Child - This flags the applicant as being a Looked After Child (LAC).
Child of Staff Member - This flags the applicant as being the child of a member of staff at the school.
Staff Member Name - This is only shown if “Yes” is selected in the Child of Staff Member option. It should contain the name of the staff member related to the applicant.
The following fields are for the schools use only and will not be shown to applicants or contacts. They are designed to assist the school with the processes required to successfully manage the application process:
Action Required - This flags the application as having some new activity that the school should review.
Has Evidenced Results - This flags whether the applicant has provided evidence of their GCSE results or not.
Late Application - This flags the application as being late. This should never be updated without very good reason.
Likely to Achieve Grades - This is only used for internal applications. It allows staff to flag an application where the applicant (given the schools current knowledge of the student) is unlikely to achieve the grades they need to meet the entry criteria for the courses they have applied for.
Special Attention - This flags the application as requiring special attention, the notes field should be completed with the detail of why the application qualifies for special attention. It’s most common use is to signify that the student has a sibling at the school or is linked to a member of staff. Depending on the schools admissions policy there may be other circumstances that would be worth making note of.
Update Status - Allows the status of the application to be updated.
Attention
The Likely to Achieve flag does not in any way effect the students chances of being offered a place at the school should they meet the entry criteria. It’s purpose is to allow the school to make an appropriate amount of offers to external applicants in order to fill up as many of the available places in sixth form as possible.
Tip
Applications marked as attention required will be displayed on the staff dashboard for the module along with the content of the notes field.
Tip
The Late Application field will only be shown to users with permission to update the late application options. Other users can see that an application is late because of the tag in to top right hand corner.
Tip
A user with permission to access the Application Data report will see a print tag in the top right hand corner to take them straight to the current application within that report.
Applicant Details#
The applicant details section contains the personal data for the applicant. To edit the details click the edit icon in the top right hand corner of the section.
Tip
Applicants and contacts can only edit these details while the application is at certain statuses. This is because the school need to closely control the information once it’s past a certain stage in the process. If the applicant/contact is unable to edit to the application they should send requests to you via the Talk To Us mechanism.
This will open the applicants details in edit mode, allowing information to be changed.
Tip
The required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). These must be completed before the application can be submitted to the school.
Once you have updated the required information click the save button at the top of the screen to save the updated information. This will take you back to the edit view of the application.
Tip
If the date of birth is outside the date range specified in the Highlight Applicants Born Outside setting then the date of birth will be highlighted with red text on the edit view of the application.
Tip
The current school field is only available on external applications.
Tip
Current internal students will have their form group displayed on their application, you can’t enter or edit the form group it’s there for information only.
Additional Questions#
The additional questions section shows any additional questions that the school have decided should be asked. Each question can be specified as to whether the applicant and contacts can update the answer or whether it is for school staff to update.
To update the answer simply click the toggle switch to signify the correct answer, a popup message will confirm the information was saved.
Tip
Questions that are not visible to applicants and contacts will be shown in an additional section within this block.
Contacts#
The contacts section shows any contacts that have been associated with the application. These people will be given an account so that they can log into and edit the application as required.
Caution
Do not add anyone as a contact that shouldn’t be able to edit the application. It’s intended use is so that the applicants parents can also view and edit the application should it be necessary for them to do so.
Caution
Do not add any contacts to an application without first seeking consent from the applicant. Once an applicant is aged 16 they have the right to choose whether their information is shared with their parents. Adding someone without permission would be a breach of the UK GDPR and may leave you liable for a fine. (It’s best to make the applicants add their contacts themselves)
Add a new Contact#
If no contacts have been added yet you will see the following screen.
To add a new contact, click the add contact button in the top right hand corner of the contacts section. This will open the add contact screen.
Once the contacts information has been entered, click the save button at the top of the screen to save the contact.
Each contact must have a unique email address as this is used as their username. You will be shown a message if the desired username is already in use.
Caution
If the contact already has an account with the school they can be linked to an application by clicking the displayed link and getting them to enter their username and password.
Once added the contact will be sent an account setup email in order for them to complete their security information and gain access to the application. Just follow the steps laid out in the email and accompanying pages to complete this process.
Attention
This account setup email becomes invalid after a period of time. If you try to use an invalid link please contact the school to have a new link sent out.
Editing an Existing Contact#
To edit an existing contact select edit from the top right hand corner of the desired contact.
This will open the edit view for the contact.
Once the required information has been updated click the save button to update the information.
Deleting a Contact#
To remove a contact from your application simply select the delete button from the top right hand corner of the desired contact.
You will be asked to confirm the action with a popup window.
Caution
You will be unable to delete the contact if they are currently selected as the main contact for the application.
Courses#
The courses section shows the course choices that you would like to apply for.
Adding Courses#
If no courses have been selected yet you’ll see the below.
To select the courses click the add button in top right hand corner of the section. This will take you to the course selection screen.
Select the courses being applied for and optionally select a fourth course choice (if applicable).
Tip
The school can choose whether to allow applicants to update the fourth course choice themselves or not. If the school have disabled it, applicants will be shown any selected value but will not be able to update it. School staff will always see and be able to update the fourth choice (if they have permission to do so). If applicants really want to do a fourth course they should first discuss it with the school and you can then advise them further (Some schools choose to do this during a face to face course guidance meeting with a member of the sixth form team).
If the school have enabled it, you can optionally specify a course that the applicant would like to study but can’t due to it clashing within option blocks with another one of the courses. When selecting this option you should select the 2 courses that clash.
Caution
This doesn’t in any way equate to applying for the additional course that clashes it just provides the school with a way to see the applicants expressed interest in that subject. The school may discuss this with the applicant at a course guidance meeting should the application be successful.
Once you have selected the desired courses click the save button to save the changes. You’ll be taken back to the edit view for the application.
Editing Courses#
To edit the current course selection click the edit button in top right hand corner of the section.
This will open the current choices in the course selection screen.
Update the desired courses and click the save button when complete. You will then be taken back to the edit view of the application.
Course Choice History#
You can view a history of any updates that were made to the applications course choices by selecting the history button from the top right hand corner of the section.
This will show a complete history of any changes made to the course choices for the application.
Documents#
This section allows you to attach documents to the application. It should primarily be used for uploading results after they have been received.
To add a new document drag and drop it onto the upload area. You can also click the upload area to select a document to upload.
Once uploaded you will see the document listed under the upload area.
You can remove an uploaded document from the application by clicking the delete button next to the corresponding document.
Caution
If the application is at a status that prevents applicants/contacts editing it the delete function will be disabled.
Tip
There is a limit to the number of documents that can be attached to a single application, this limit is currently 6 documents.
Caution
When uploading documents to your application they must be below the maximum file size of 10MB. This restriction is in place to ensure the service isn’t abused by users with bad intentions.
Tip
If the document you’re trying to upload is to large, try saving it as a PDF before attaching it to the application.
Tip
When uploading an image that’s too large, try saving the file in a lower quality before uploading. (Most modern phones take pictures in very high quality which is unnecessary for this purpose).
Tip
When the application is at a status that signifies withdrawn you won’t be able to upload any documents.
Talk To Us#
The talk to us mechanism provides a way for the school, applicants and contacts to communicate with each other in an efficient and controlled way.
Caution
All communication between the applicant, contacts and the school should be carried out through this mechanism. It provides proof of conversations between all parties should an appeal be made at a later stage.
To access the talk to us window, click the floating action button at the bottom right of the edit view for the application.
This will open a messenger on the right hand side of the screen.
To send a new message enter the text and click the send button.
When a new message is sent by an applicant or a contact the school sixth form admissions administrative team members are sent a notification that a new message was added and the application is marked as having Action Required.
Tip
As a staff member sending a new message you can choose whether or not to create a notification for the admissions administrative team by selecting the alert admins option. This is intended for use by staff at the school who have permission to view but not edit the application (likely to be the school receptionist who might receive a query about an application).
Once the message is added you can close the talk to us window by clicking in the main window (off of the talk to us window) or selecting the close button in the top right hand corner of the messenger.
Tip
When a staff member adds a new message to the application the applicant and contacts will be sent a notification informing them of the new message.
Tip
Depending on the main contacts notification settings they may or may not be sent an email reminding them of the new notification.
Tip
A user with the Add Talk To Us Messages permission can add a talk to us message without being able to edit the remainder of the application information. (You must also assign this user the View Applications permission so that they can select an application to add messages to)
Updating an Applications Status#
To update an applications status click the update status button within the application details section. Clicking the update status button will display the status update window.
You should select the desired status from the list. The default message for that status will be loaded into the text field. If a custom message is needed for this change then just type over the default one. When clicking update status the text field should contain the message you would like to send to the applicant and contacts.
Click the update status button to update the applications status and create a new message for the applicant and contacts. This will update the applications status, add a new message and close the status update window.
Tip
As a staff member with permission you can update multiple application statuses at once using the batch process. See Status Update Batches for more.
Tip
Each time the applications status is updated a new entry will be added automatically to the application’s status history keeping a record of all the statuses for the application.
Action Required#
This mechanism is designed to allow easy access to applications that require attention from the Sixth Form Admission Administrative Team.
It is most commonly used for a new message being added via the Talk To Us mechanism. Once you have reviewed and responded to the new message (or other activity) you should set this back to no so that other people in the administrative team group don’t also review the application.
Application Status History#
This mechanism allows you (and the applicant/contacts) to see a full record the statuses that have been applied to an application and when they were applied. You can access this information by clicking the history tag in the Application Details section, this will open the application status history view.
This page shows the history of statuses for the application including the following details:
Date - The date the status was applied to the application.
Status - The status that was applied.
Offer - Did this status signify offer at the point it was applied.
Withdrawn - Did the status signify offer at the point it was applied.
User Updated - The user that applied the status update.
Tip
The offer and withdrawn option signify the statuses configuration at the time it was applied, not it’s current configuration.