Exam sittings, halls and invigilation
Forenoon and afternoon sittings, and a rule for what happens to classes on exam days. Students placed in halls and seated, and an invigilation roster made by your rules. Exam attendance taken in the hall by the invigilator on the phone.
PLANSFrom Growth
Why it matters
In exam week the office spends days on a duty chart in a spreadsheet. Someone always gets two halls at once or a duty during their own class. Class registers fill with absences for students who were writing a paper, and the attendance percentage that decides the next hall ticket drops. In SmartMy School the roster is proposed by your rules. They cover students per invigilator, duties a day and not the subject's teacher. Never while teaching a class that is held, and the staff with the fewest duties first. Periods taken by an exam are counted in nobody's attendance. The invigilator marks absentees and counts booklets in the hall on the Campus app, and the paper's attendance is filled from that.
The problem it solves
- The duty chart is built by hand, and the same teacher ends up with three duties on one day while others have none.
- Class registers show students absent for periods they spent writing a paper, and their attendance percentage falls.
- Seating is done on the morning of the exam, and two students of the same class sit side by side.
- Absentees and booklet counts come back on paper slips, and someone types them in later.
How it works
- Set your sittings once, for example Forenoon 9:30 to 12:30 and Afternoon 2:00 to 5:00. A paper given a sitting takes its times, which can still be typed.
- Choose what happens to classes on exam days, on the class, the term or the exam. The choices are no change, classes in the other periods, classes only after the exam, or no classes. Periods taken by a paper become Exam sessions with no register.
- Give each paper its room, then Place Students in Halls (by register number) and Make Seating Plan. Where two papers share a room at the same time, students are seated in turn so neighbours write different papers.
- Press Propose Roster. Invigilators and relievers are proposed by the exam's rules, the staff with the fewest duties first. Change what you want and press Confirm Roster; staff are told at once.
- A teacher who cannot come presses I cannot come in the Campus app, with the reason. The exam in-charge names the replacement and approves, and the duty moves.
- On the day the invigilator opens the hall on the phone or the web and marks absent or malpractice. The invigilator notes late arrivals and booklets, and presses Submit Attendance. The paper's attendance is filled from the hall.
Everything it does
Sittings and classes on exam days
- Sittings: name, from, to, for one school or shared; under Examination > Configuration > Exams and Grades > Sittings
- Classes on Exam Days: No change (the default), Classes in the other periods, Classes only after the exam, No classes on an exam day
- Set on the class, on the term, or on one exam, which wins; In Force on the exam shows which rule applies
- Free Before a Paper and Free After a Paper, in minutes, also drop the periods just before or after
- A dropped period becomes an Exam session with the paper on it: no register, not closed, so not paid as a lecture
- Register lines of students in an exam are marked In exam. They are left out of the attendance %, the absence alerts, the portal and the dashboard
- A paper moved, the exam put back to draft or cancelled: the periods come back by themselves. A period whose attendance was taken is never changed. It is listed in the exam's history
- Parents see In place of class on the portal and app timetable for the next two weeks. The teacher's app shows Exam and opens no register
Halls and seating
- A hall per paper and room, with seats (empty: the room's capacity), date and times from the paper
- Place Students in Halls fills the open halls in register number order. Exempted and not eligible students are not placed. Students without a seat are counted as Not Placed
- A subject examined in parts gets a hall per part, and the hall sets the attendance of that part
- Make Seating Plan: Mix Papers in a Room (on to start with). Seats are numbered 1, 2, 3, or by row and place (A1, A2, B1) with Seats in a Row
- Give the Sets in Turn: question paper sets A and B handed out by seat, so neighbours write different sets
- The hall ticket shows each student's hall and seat once they are placed
Roster rules
- Students per Invigilator: 30; Invigilators per Hall at Least: 1; Duties a Day at Most: 2 (0: no limit)
- Halls per Reliever: one reliever for that many halls written at the same time (0: none)
- Not the Subject's Teacher: off until ticked
- Departments left out, and the staff to choose from (else the school's teaching staff)
- Duties by Designation: a share per designation (0.5 half as many, 0 none)
- Never two duties at the same time; never while teaching a class that is held
- Defaults per school on the Invigilation tab of the school's settings; a new exam starts with them
- A duty added by hand against a rule is refused until Rule Set Aside says why
- Clear Proposed removes the proposal; Give to Replacement hands a duty to another staff member
In the hall
- Present, Absent or Malpractice per student; the time a late student came; booklet number and remarks
- Late Entry up to 30 minutes: a student who came later cannot be marked present
- Count Answer Booklets: on to start with; Submit is refused until booklets returned equal students present
- After submitting nothing can change, until the exam in-charge presses Reopen with a reason kept in the history
- A malpractice opens a discipline incident (Exam Malpractice) where discipline is in use, and holds the script back from valuation
Prints and reports
- Hall Attendance Sheet: the list for the door with a signature column, or the attendance after submitting
- Absentee Statement: per paper, placed and present, register numbers absent and malpractice, halls not submitted
- Invigilation Rates per role; a duty done takes the rate; Duties by Staff Member totals the amounts (a report, not a payment)
Who uses it
Exam in-chargeSets sittings and the class rule, makes halls and the seating plan, proposes and confirms the roster, approves duty changes, reopens a hall.
Teacher (invigilator)Sees and acknowledges duties, asks for a change, takes the hall's attendance and booklet count.
ParentSees the exam in place of class on the timetable and the hall and seat on the hall ticket. Is told if the child was absent.
Where you use it
- Web: Examination > Invigilation (My Duties, My Halls, Halls, Duties, Duty Change Requests), the exam's Invigilation tab, Configuration > Sittings, Invigilation Rates, Duties by Designation
- The Campus app (staff view): Exam duties with Acknowledge and I cannot come, and Take the hall attendance. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Parent portal and the Campus app: In place of class on the timetable
- Not on the parent portal: the seating plan and the roster
What you control
Settings
- Classes on Exam Days: No change, on the class, term or exam
- Free Before a Paper and Free After a Paper: in minutes
- Students per Invigilator 30; Invigilators per Hall at Least 1; Duties a Day at Most 2; Halls per Reliever 0
- Not the Subject's Teacher: off; Duties in the Exam at Most: no limit
- Mix Papers in a Room: on; Seats in a Row: 0 (numbered seats)
- Late Entry up to: 30 minutes; Count Answer Booklets: on
- Invigilation Rates per role: none until set
Approvals
- Invigilation duty change: one level, the exam in-charge, with no set-up; more levels can be added. The teacher who asks never decides; the replacement is checked against the exam's rules.
Notifications
- Invigilation Duty Assigned, Invigilation Duty Changed (hall, date or time) and Invigilation Duty Tomorrow (a daily reminder, once per duty). To the staff member, in the app inbox and by the first channel that reaches them (app push, WhatsApp, SMS or email), at once
- Absent at an Exam: to the parents when the hall is submitted, once per student and hall. In the app inbox and by the first channel that reaches them (app push, WhatsApp, SMS or email), at once
- The school can change the delivery per event; a person can switch off a channel such as SMS, and in-app notices always arrive
Works with
SmartMy HRMSA staff member on approved leave that day is not proposed by the roster and is refused by hand. Leave still waiting is flagged the same way.
Questions
Will students be marked absent in class while they write a paper?
No. Periods taken by a paper become Exam sessions with no register. Where a class is held while some students write a paper, those students are left out of its attendance %.Can we keep a teacher from invigilating their own subject?
Yes. Tick Not the Subject's Teacher on the exam. The roster then leaves that teacher out of the halls of their subject.What if a teacher falls sick on the morning of the exam?
The exam in-charge uses Give to Replacement on the duty. Where there is time, the teacher presses I cannot come in the app and the in-charge approves a replacement.Do invigilators need a laptop in the hall?
No. The staff view of the Campus app lists the hall's students by seat, with one tap for absent or malpractice, and the booklet count. The app is built and in testing, not in the app stores yet.Is an invigilation duty written into the teacher's attendance?
No. A duty on campus is ordinary work. A teacher who goes out for a duty applies for on-duty in SmartMy HRMS.Related features
EXAMS AND REPORT CARDSExams, mark entry and gradingSet up unit tests, term exams and the annual exam with a paper per subject. Teachers enter marks on the web or in the Campus app. The system works out totals, grades, pass or fail and ranks by your rules.EXAMS AND REPORT CARDSGrace marks, supplementary exams, revaluation and hall ticketsGrace and moderation by a rule you set, and supplementary exams for those who failed. Revaluation, retotalling and script copies asked from the parent portal with their fees, and hall tickets held back for unpaid fees or short attendance.EXAMS AND REPORT CARDSValuation of written papersAnswer scripts are marked blind, by dummy number, by one, two or more teachers who never see each other's marks. When their marks differ too much, a further evaluator or the chief examiner decides, and every mark given stays on record for revaluation.ATTENDANCE AND LEAVEClass attendance, and attendance for parentsTeachers mark each period's register on the web or on their phone, starting from all present. Parents see the percentage, every absence and the figures by subject, and are told the same day when their child is absent.TIMETABLE, HOMEWORK, NOTICESTimetable, holidays and lesson plansSet the periods of the day, the holidays and the weekly timetable once. Teachers, parents and students see the same week. Each day's class sessions and registers are made from it, and a teacher can tie a lesson plan to a period.APPS AND PORTALTeachers' appThe staff view of the Campus app puts a teacher's day on the phone. Today's periods and registers, homework, leave requests, parent meetings and chat with families are there, and each teacher sees only the pages their role allows.
See your own school year run in it.
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