Learning Aims and Core Learning Aims for Post-16

• Go to School > School Structure > Learning Aims
• Click the green +Add button
• On the slide-over, choose the Name of the Learning Aim (e.g. English Literature)
• Add an optional Short Name (e.g. Lit)
• Set whether the Learning Aim is a Traineeship using the checkbox
• Click Add Learning Aim to finalise

Top Tip: If the Learning Aim is a traineeship for only some of the students, we'd recommend setting up two separate Learning Aims.

Once you click finalise, you are taken to the overview for the Learning Aim you have just added. You can get to this overview by clicking on the Learning Aim in the table on the Students > Enrolment > Academic > Learning Aims page, too.

On the Learning Aim's Overview page, you're able to manage Learning Aim instances. An instance is a time period within which a Learning Aim is delivered. To add an Instance:

• Click +Add 

• In the slide over, add the details of the Learning Aim instance:
   
  • Planned dates - Make sure the planned start and end dates span two years if the Learning Aim is two years long. Make sure the planned end date is on or before July 31st.
  • Core Aim - Only if all the students taking the Learning Aim have it as their Core Aim, tick this box. We recommend not ticking this box and instead setting Core Aims for each individual student instead (see this section)
  • Planned Learning Hours - Add in the planned learning hours for the first year the Learning Aim is running (you'll be able to add in additional year's hours once the instance has been created)
    
    
     

  • For the Linked Qualification Award section, select the qualification from the Linked Qualification Award drop-down. 
    
    Can't select it? Set up the qualification in the Examinations section - see how to do this here.

    If either the basedata for a qualification hasn't yet been released, or if the Learning Aim is a KS4 Qualification, you'll need to instead put in a placeholder name and reference:
     

    • The first part of the award reference is the QAN code.
    • The second part after the / is the Subject Classification Code (SCC or Discount Code).
       
      • The SCC must be one listed here: Generic QAN Data
      • It must be the right one for Key Stage 5. For example, for GCSE English the Exam Awarding Organisation publishes FK2B as the SCC. However, the correct SCC to use in Learning Aims is 5030. For further details, please see page 64 of School census 2023 to 2024: technical information
         

You must set up an instance for each cohort of your students. For example, if your Year 12s study maths for two years, your Learning Aim instance must span a two-year period. When that year group become year 13s, you would set up another Learning Aim instance for your new year 12s.
 

Clicking into a Learning Aim instance, you'll see that if the Learning Aim runs for two years, you'll need to fill in the learning hours for the second year.

If you don't see the second year here, it means you haven't yet created the next academic year. You can either wait to fill the hours in when the year is created, or create the year by following step 1 in this article. 

Add in the hours for the second year, then click Save Changes. The hours are usually the same each year but can be different.

You can add courses to a Learning Aim Instance by clicking on the Instance from the Learning Aim's overview page.

In the Learning Aim instance:

• Click +Add in the Courses section

• Choose a course/courses from your timetable to link the Learning Aim to using the Course dropdown on the slide-over
• Click Add Course to confirm

In the Learning Aim instance, you'll see a table for enrolled students. Enrol students with these steps:

• Click +Add

• Select whether to choose the students to enrol manually (Enrol Students), or automatically add students from particular classes (Enrol Students from Courses) on the pop-up.
  
  
   
  • If you're selecting particular students (Enrol Students), select the students to enrol in the Learning Aim in the Students dropdown. Top Tip: Search for a form group name and hit Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select and add the whole form at once.
    
    
  • If you're choosing to enrol students from a course (Enrol Students from Courses), use the Student Groups dropdown to filter down the list of courses by year. You can then select the courses in the Courses box. All students in the courses selected will be added to the Learning Aim.

• Add further details in the slide over:
   
  • For the core aim box, if all the students you're enrolling have the Learning Aim as their Core Aim, tick this box. We recommend not ticking this box and instead setting Core Aims for each individual student instead (see this section)
  • For planned learning hours, if the number of hours for the students you're enrolling is the same as what you've already set for the Learning Aim instance, you can leave this box blank. If the number of hours is different for these students then you can add a new number of hours here. If you have a two-year Learning Aim and have set up the next year you'll see a box for each year.
  • For Programme Aim Type, we've by default set this to 16 to 19 study Programme, and it can be changed to T level or T level Foundation programme.

• Click the green Enrol Students button to confirm your choices

You then see a table of the students you just enrolled.

• Tick all the boxes next to the students you would like to toggle this feature for
• Click the Bulk action button
• Select Set as Core Aim
• On the pop-up, click Set category to finalise

You can click a student to see the Core Aim setting in the slide over. You can also use the same action to unset Core Aims in bulk.

Within a Learning Aim Instance:

• Click the student you would like to toggle the Core Aim feature for.
• Click the orange Edit button on the slide-over

• Tick or untick the Core Aim box
• Click Save Changes.

• Students tab - Individual students' enrolment into each Learning Aim.
• Courses tab - Individual students' enrolment into each course linked to a Learning Aim. This will default to the current academic year, and the lowest year group set up on your site that is Year 12 or higher. If there is no year 12 or higher, it will default to the lowest year group at your school.
• Learning Aim Instances tab - Shows the Learning Aims running in the academic year selected. Click one to go to the instance, where you can edit as shown in the From the Learning Aims area above.

Note: Each tab has an Academic Year and/or Students filter that acts independently. Changing a filter on one tab will not change the filter on the other. So, if you are not seeing the correct data, please check you have the correct academic year and student group(s) set. If you need to make changes to the filter, use the dropdowns and click the green Apply button. 

In Bulk

The Students tab has tick boxes to enable you to manage data in bulk.

This will default to the current academic year, and the lowest year group set up on your site that is Year 12 or higher. If there is no year 12 or higher, it will default to the lowest year group at your school.

Click into the filters to select a different year, student group, and whether to include students with no or multiple core aims set.

You can use the bulk actions to set a Learning Aim as a student's core aim.

Click on a student, and click Edit.  

Tick or untick the Core Aim box, then click Save Changes. 

If your students have finished their Learning Aim, you need to put that they have completed the Learning Aim. In the Enrolled Students table:

• Tick the students
• Click Bulk action button
• Select Bulk Complete

• On the slide-over: 
   
  • Add in the Completion date (if this is different from the planned end date of the Learning Aim instance)
  • Check the Enrol once completed? box if you want to immediately enrol these students into another learning aim after the completion
  • Add any Notes
  • Click Bulk Complete
  • Click Complete on the pop-up to confirm

If you ticked the Enrol once completed? box, complete the details of the students' next learning aim enrolments and save these (if you do not do this, the learning aim will not save as Completed)

Once a student is marked as having completed the aim, the student will show as completed with their actual end date in the Enrolled Students table within the Learning Aim Instance.

If a student will be continuing a Learning Aim, you can change their Learning Aim completion status back by removing the end date. You can do this in two ways.

Per student:

• Click on the student
• Click Edit on the slide over
• Remove the Actual End Date
• Click Save Changes.

In bulk:

• In the Enrolled Students table, click the boxes next to the students you want to edit
• Use the Bulk Actions
• Select Bulk Update Actual End Date
• On the slide-over, make sure the Actual End Date field is blank
• Click Bulk Update.
   

• Tick the boxes next to the students you want to withdraw
• Click the Bulk action button
• Select Bulk Withdraw.

• In the slide over, add in the withdrawal date
• Select a Withdrawal reason
• Leave a Note (optional)
• Click Bulk Withdraw.

If any students are enrolled in the course the Learning Aim is linked to, you can choose what to do with the student's enrolment into the course:

• Withdraw from Learning Aim only - students will be withdrawn from the Learning Aim but will remain enrolled in the course and class registers.
• Withdraw from both - students will be removed from both with the end date for the Learning Aim withdrawal applied to the course as the last day the student will appear in class registers.

You can also do this for a single student by clicking on their name and clicking Withdraw on the slide-over.

To transfer a student to a different Learning Aim:

• Click the student's name
• Click Transfer on the slide-over

• Select the Transfer reason  
• Add a Note (optional)

• In the Transfer to Learning Aim section, choose the new Learning Aim and instance to transfer them to.

• In the Transfer Courses section:
   
  • Select the Current course to transfer the student from
  • Select the New course to transfer them to
    
    To select a new course to transfer them to, you need to have made sure to select a Learning Aim in the section further up in the slide over. This box will then show any course the student is not already enrolled into.
     
  • Set a New start date for new course enrolment. This is the first day they will be in the new course, the day before that will be the last day they are in the old course.
  • Click Transfer. 

Their enrolment into the Learning Aim and course will end the day before they begin the enrolment into their new Learning Aim and course.

Top Tip: There are a few reasons why you might not be able to transfer them to a new course alongside the Learning Aim.

• The student is not enrolled in the course linked to the Learning Aim you are transferring from
• They are already enrolled in the new course. You can check a student's enrolment from their profile.
• One or both of the Learning Aims don't have a course linked.

You can click into an individual student to amend their Learning Aim enrolment start and end dates by clicking Edit on the slide-over.

You can update these in bulk with these steps:

• Select the students with the tickboxes
• Use the Bulk action button
• Select change Planned Start Date, Planned End Date or Actual End Date depending on what you want to change

• On the slide over, select the new date to apply
• Click Bulk update.

Top Tip: Delete the values in the date field to remove the date.