Virtual End of Year Processes Guide 2026 – Virtual School

Unlike the standard school End of Year process there are elements of this procedure that require the Partner school to have completed their End of Year procedure first. These elements will be noted within the text. The remainder of this procedure can be undertaken at any point in the current academic year, but it is best to wait until the information being entered is no longer subject to changes.

The screenshots and examples in this guide are for illustration purposes only and may differ from your school view.

For any issues or queries regarding the processes in this guide, please do not hesitate to contact the usual Support Channels.

There is no End of Year application to be run as such. The procedure consists of creating and configuring the various curriculum and calendar components that make up the forthcoming academic school year. Follow all the steps appropriate for your schools system, in sequence

For the End of Year

• It is recommended to first tidy up the current Academic Year. Check with colleagues at each Partner school to determine when they plan to run their own End of Year.

Access

• Make sure that person responsible for the process has the correct access rights to all the relevant menu items – an Administrator will have access by default.

Interval setting for the End-of-Year

Set ‘Current Interval’ (on the ‘My Account’ Page) to ‘Nucleus’, this setting gives access to all Academic Years including the new one once created. To change this setting, click on the picture in the top right of Bromcom and then click on My Account in the drop down menu.

Then in the General tab from the Current Interval dropdown select Nucleus

Click top left Save

While the End of Year process is underway each of the partner schools will be making potentially sweeping changes to their data. It is therefore advised to de-activate the transfer of data until such a time as the partner schools have completed their own End of Year processes and are ready for the data to transfer.

Navigate to Config> Setup > Virtual School Configuration

In Configuration Options click on the ‘Student and Class Data Synchronisation Schedule’ and ‘Academic Data Synchronisation Schedule’ drop down choices.

Select Disabled

Click Save

Please remember to re-activate the link once the Virtual School Administrator has confirmed that the partner school systems are ready to re-initiate data transfer.

IMPORTANT : Only complete this section if planning to use a Different Period Structure next year e.g., the school is changing the shape of the school day or moving to a 2-week timetable, etc. Otherwise, skip this step and continue to Creating a New Academic Year

• If changing the period structure on the Virtual school remember that a structure must be designed that will allow the mapping of each Partner schools data.
• Following this change, please remember to undergo the mapping process for each of the Partner schools.
• If using detentions management option and a new period structure is created it is then necessary to setup the detention scheduling for the new academic year. See the section in this guide on Reset Behaviour.
• Ensure that a logon is being used that has the Administrator Role.

Go to Config> Curriculum > Configurations.

Check the Defaults for Period Durations and if necessary, adjust them.

• Setting the correct defaults will make it much quicker to create the new period structure later.
• Set the default durations of the new period structure: AM, PM, and Class Periods.

Click Save

• Don’t worry – Any changes made on this screen will not affect the current year’s data.
• The ‘Class Duration’ refers to the length of the period and the ‘Max Class Duration’ refers to the maximum length a period can be.
  • For example, each period of the day may have a duration of 40 minutes, but the last period on Friday may be 50 minutes. Therefore, the Class Duration would be 40 and the Max Class Duration 60 allowing for a period up to 60 minutes. 

Next navigate to Config> Curriculum > Period Structures.

Click New.

Enter a Period Structure Name, which must be unique, for example “1 Week 6 Period”

• Set the start time for the Morning and Afternoon Begins ; this will be the time the first session of the morning and afternoon begins. This will usually be the AM and PM registration sessions, where AM and or PM registers are not used, it will be the first period of the morning and the first of the afternoon.
• Set the No of weeks that will exist in the timetable cycle for example; a 10-day timetable cycle that runs Monday-Friday is a 2-week cycle (Monday to Friday week 1, followed by Monday to Friday week 2).
  • A 1 week cycle that runs Monday-Friday is 1 week and 5 days in the timetable cycle.
  • After selecting the number of weeks put a tick in the boxes of the days that are part of the cycle.
  • For a multi week cycle, be sure to check the boxes for the days of the week that are to be Academic Days in the extra weeks.
• Enter the number of days in the timetable cycle
  • The Days in timetable cycle box should usually contain the value of the number of Academic days in the timetable cycle as defined above (e.g., 5 in the example above).  It can sometimes be different so if in doubt of what to put in this field then please contact the usual Support Channels.
• The Available From date is the date from when it is first possible to use it within an Academic Calendar.  If performing End of Year Process before the start of your new Academic Year then just leave it as today’s date (It will not affect the current Academic Calendar), otherwise ensure the Available From date is before the start date of your new Academic Calendar.

Click Next

The Create Timetable Day Structure screen is used to create the actual period structure of the day. AM position and duration, number of morning sessions, PM position location, Lunches, Breaks etc.  

Click the Add button to increase the number of available periods

Use the Period Type drop down to select the type of period, AM,PM,TP. 

Please Note; new periods will default to TP (Teaching Period). Edit the start and end times if required but please bear in mind that the times must not overlap.  

• RECOMMENDED!  Please define Breaks (BR), Lunch (LU), Pre-School (PS) and After School sessions (AS). These are needed to schedule detentions outside normal teaching periods (e.g., after school) or to timetable a teacher to do lunchtime duty. 
• Please remember to adhere to the AM, PM Period durations as defined on Defaults for Period Durations. As well as the morning and afternoon begins session start times from Create Period Structure 
• Even though the AM and PM sessions are not recorded at the Virtual school it is good practise to leave them in place. If in doubt, please contact the usual Support channels for advice before proceeding further. 
• If selected the top right checkbox Copy Settings to all days of the Timetable Cycle the completed day is then copied to all the days in the Timetable Cycle.
• If one day of the cycle is different e.g., finish early on a Friday for Staff Meetings, then amend the appropriate days (Day 5 and 10 in this case as we have a 2 Week Timetable), making sure that the Copy Settings to All Days of the Timetable Cycle box is unticked and click on SAVE again. 
• If the settings are incorrect, the system will display a warning in red. Make the appropriate amendments and click Save again. 

When no warnings are displayed, click Save

For more information see How to Create a Period Structure

If changes have been made to the period structure, then please check to ensure all the parameters under Attendance > Maintenance > Register Update Parameters are still valid. For instance, it would be difficult to update the PM register from Period 5 if the period structure has changed such that there is no longer a Period 5. See How to use Register Update Parameters

 

The current academic year will expire on or around the end of August/beginning of September.  To ensure that the system continues to run smoothly it is important that you define the New Academic Year.

This section can be executed independently of the Partner schools.

Access: The minimum permissions required to access the Academic Year page is found under Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions > Curriculum.

Navigate to Config > Curriculum > Academic Years.

Click New 

The system will automatically generate a Start and End Date for this new Academic Year based on your previous Academic Year (if there was one).

• Note: The system requires the Start Date to be a Sunday and the End Date to be a Saturday, regardless of the Real Start and Finish days.
• Select the Number of Terms for the Academic Year.
• Amend the Term Names as required
• Complete the each of the Term Start Dates and End Dates as required by clicking on the Calendar icon.

• IMPORTANT: To ensure smooth system functionality, it’s best to set up the school terms so that each one starts immediately after the previous one ends. Any holiday days should be added to the Academic Days setup. This setup helps maintain access to certain system features while Students are not in school, allowing adjustments to be made when needed.

• Select the Period Structure from the dropdown and set the Timetable Day for the First Week Day of Term 1 to 1. This will usually be blank for Primary schools.
• If needed use the Colour Code to differentiate between different Period Structures.

When complete click Create

Navigate to Config > Curriculum > Academic Days to begin editing the days within the new academic year, including holidays, inset days, and staff-only days.

From the Academic Year drop-down select the newly created academic year.

The Key and Display Options will display the chosen period structure.

Expand each term using the drop-down arrow in the top-right corner to begin editing academic days in sequence throughout the year.

Select the Edit button on the right-hand side of the panel to amend the status of individual days within a single week.

Set the appropriate Day Status using the drop-down options in the AM and PM columns. This includes staff-only days, school holidays, and public holidays.

Click Save

Repeat this as required for each term.

Note: Some Local Authorities do not accept the Bromcom staff only code ‘$’. Please confirm with the Local Authority which code should be used instead.

For schools with a two-week timetable:

When defining a school holiday period, the Timetable Week pattern must be accurate to ensure the timetable is correct when returning to school.

For example, if a term or half term ends on Week 2, the next term should begin on Week 1. Holiday periods may disrupt this sequence and may therefore require adjustment.

Select Edit for the first week following the holiday.

Adjust the Timetable Days (TT Day) column for each day in the week as required.

Generally, Week 1 consists of Days 1–5 and Week 2 consists of Days 6–10.

Once the correct Timetable Days are set, select Cascade Timetable on Save.

If holidays are being added sequentially throughout the year, also select Cascade changes in this term and all subsequent terms to update the Timetable Week pattern for the remainder of the year.

Click Save.

For further information, see How to Edit Academic Days

This section looks at changes to curriculum information. For example; Year Groups, Subjects, Departments, Faculties, Houses, Learning Aims etc.

Most of this information will be created automatically when re-activating the link between virtual and partner schools. However, it is still worth double checking to ensure that any expiring subjects or groups are managed.

If there are changes to these settings then skip to the next section

Subjects, Departments and Faculties

These will normally continue through from year to year. If any are not in use for the next year, they can be given an End Date using Groups>select the relevant Group> View>Basic Group Details>End Date

Click Save if making any changes.

Memberships of staff and Subjects to Departments, and Departments to Faculties can also be amended to reflect the situation for next year otherwise they continue through unchanged so long as there are no end dates applied e.g., if a member of staff leaves and this sets an end date to all their memberships.

Add any NEW items as required with a start date of the beginning of the new academic year.

IMPORTANT: In all instances, please remember to double check any entered Start or End dates to ensure that they correctly match the appropriate dates from either the current year (in the case of items being ended) or the forthcoming Academic year (in the case of new items being added).

Student Learning Aims

Student Learning Aims are managed on the virtual school record. Those that are continuing from the current Academic Year to the New Academic Year can be left alone as they will continue with the Student into the New Academic Year.

If a course is ending, then the related Student Learning Aims also need to be ended. This can be done through Modules>Curriculum>Bulk Learning Aim Update

Choose to update the Learning Aims by Student, Class, or Learning Aim.

Once selections have been made, click Apply.

The next page will show all the Students selected with ALL their related Learning Aims

Then select the Learning Aims for the Students that need an End Date added by clicking on the lines that need updating and enter the relevant End Date and Status in the boxes above the Column Headers, then click Apply to apply the End Date and Status to the selected Learning Aims.

Click Save

Repeat this process for any Learning Aims that need to have a different Status or different End Date applied. For assistance with this process please contact the usual Support Channels

Click Save

For more information see How to use Bulk Learning Aim Updates

If using Behaviour, please continue to the next section. Otherwise, please proceed to Promoting Year groups.

IMPORTANT : Resetting and reconfiguration of Behaviour is only required if using Behaviour and the setup is changing in the forthcoming year (this includes removing or adding new Events or Actions), otherwise skip this step and go straight to Promoting Year Groups

If the Behaviour setup requires changing for the forthcoming academic year, or if student point totals need to be reset before the start of the new term, complete this optional section.

• If Behaviour is being used in the Virtual School, ensure the model matches the base school(s) model(s).
• Only the Behaviour Events defined on the Virtual School should be amended or adjusted. Each partner school will continue to manage its own individual site’s Behaviour structure.
• Any Behaviour Events or Actions on the current system that will not be used in the forthcoming academic year should be expired within the Behaviour module.

Behaviour Actions and Events can be ended through:

• Config > Behaviour > Actions
• Config > Behaviour > Events

Select the Events or Actions no longer required and click Expire.

After this, set up the new Behaviour Pathways following the standard instructions.

IMPORTANT: If using Actions then starting new points totals is extremely important; If not completed, then all of next year’s points will simply be added to the current year’s points’ totals

To start new student totals:

• Go to Modules > Behaviour > Reset Student Actions
• Select Start New Points Total
• In Day Start enter the date the new totals should begin from (most likely the first Sunday of the new academic year)

To apply new point totals to all students and actions:

• Choose All Students
• Click the blue Find icon next to Action Name and select all Actions
• Click Apply

To apply new point totals to selected students or actions:

• Click Students, then use the blue Find icon to open the Student Selector List
• Select the required students
• Use the blue Find icon on Action Name to open the Action List
• Select the required actions
• Click Apply

A Confirmation message will appear. Click Proceed to continue.

For more information see How to Reset Student Actions

Year Group Promotion is the process of moving students into their next curriculum year group for the new academic year.

This sections covers:

• Configure Next Year Settings
• Year Group Promotion Wizard

Configure Next Year Settings

To ensure students are promoted correctly, the Next Year settings for each year group must be reviewed within the MIS.

Navigate to Groups > Group Type = Year Group.

Select All year groups and click View.

Using the Additional Group Details panel ensure the correct Next Year Group is selected.

Click Save if making any changes.

Use the Next button at the top of the page to review each year group in turn.

Refer to the table below as an example of correct year group progression.

Note: The final year group in the school will typically promote into itself, as student memberships are removed for the following academic year when they are processed as leavers.

Click Save to apply any changes.

Year Group Promotion Wizard

To complete the promotion, navigate to Config > Curriculum > Year Group Promotion.

Begin by reviewing the academic year from which memberships are to be taken from. This option will default to the current academic year, or the previous year if the process is completed in September.

As part of the process, two options are available in the next drop-down menu:

• Add to any existing memberships – preserves any memberships already added to the Year Group for the following year (e.g. new students manually added with a future start date in September).
• Overwrite all existing memberships – removes any existing memberships in the Year Group for the following year and replaces them with the promoted cohort.

Two further options are also available:

• Create Bands matching those in the current year, including memberships – Creates bands based on the current year structure and carries forward existing students memberships.
• Include staff memberships e.g. Head of Years – Includes staff assigned to the year group in the promotion process.
  If staff are not included and their membership to the year group is set to Track Group End Date, they will remain associated with the same year group. Otherwise, their association with the Year Group will end on the assigned end date.

Finally, the Active On selector allows selection of the date from which Year Group memberships are taken and promoted.

IMPORTANT: It is crucial that this is set to a date in the current academic year, prior to September, while students are still in their current year groups.

This ensures students are promoted into the correct next Year Groups in the new academic year.

Click OK to complete the promotion process.

External students can be added by any or all the options below, please note that partner school students should be added via the partner school and will flow into the virtual school via the data transfer:

Manually Add a New Student

Navigate to Students this will open the Student List Page

Click the top left New

Fill in the Create New Student field as required and click on Save or Save & Add Siblings

After saving the Student Profile page will open, add any information and Save. For more information see How to Add a New Student

Adding Students via CTF or ATF Import

Information can be passed to the school from another school.  Check there is a copy of the CTF or ATF on the PC, this can then be imported into Bromcom.

CTF

Navigate to Students, click the Action drop down and choose CTF Import

Click BROWSE to search the PC for the CTF file.  Once found, select it, and click on OPEN. 

Then Enter Admission Date for when the new students will be starting.  Normally this would be the first day of the first term of the new Academic Year.

Once the required details have been completed, click on Next to import the students into the system. For more information see How to Add Pre Admissions Students using CTF or ATF

ATF

Navigate to Students, click the Action drop down and choose ATF Import

Click on the BROWSE to locate the ATF Import file.  Once found, select it, and click on OPEN.

Then Enter Admission Date for when the new students will be starting. 

Normally this would be the first day of the first term of the new Academic Year.

Once completed, click Next. For more information see How to Add Pre Admissions Students using CTF or ATF

Please confirm with each partner school once individual End of Year processes are complete and outplaced students and offered classes lists have been finalised.

Once confirmation has been received from each partner school, complete the following actions:

Navigate to Config > Setup > Virtual School Configuration

Click to select the Partner School from the displayed list.

Each school must have the Period Structure mapped so that all timetabled classes match.

To do this, click Map Period Structure

This will display the Period Structure for the selected school.

The Partner School Period Structure will display on the left and the Virtual School on the right drop down Partner Calendar Model, which will show as NOT SELECTED

Using the dropdown menu, change the Partner Period Structure to match the Academic Year, then match the Period Structure to the Partner School.

When finished, click Save.

Please note that schools must have matching Period Structures for the data to transfer successfully.

Click the Actions dropdown menu and select Import from Partner Schools. This will import data from the selected Partner Schools.

Click Close.

Click the Actions dropdown menu and select Export to Partner Schools. This will export data to the selected Partner Schools.

After the first import has been completed, click the top left Save.

Staying in the Config>Setup>Virtual School Configuration screen after the test imports have been completed and each partner school information is flowing correctly, reactivate the link by selecting the timing for the daily data import schedule and the Academic data import process.

Note: Set the schedule for the synchronisation of Student and Class Data as well as Academic Data by clicking on the drop-down menus for each process and selecting from the following options:

Student and Class Data Synchronization Schedule:

• Every Morning (08:00)
• Every Afternoon (13:00)
• Every Night (18:00)

Academic Data Synchronization Schedule:

The Bromcom recommendation is every hour, as this allows sufficient time for the data to transfer before the next transfer takes place, ensuring the data is precise with no overlapping exports.

• Every 30 Minutes
• Every Hour
• Every Morning (08:00)
• Every Afternoon (13:00)
• Every Night (18:00)

Tick/Untick the two options based on Virtual School requirements and setup:

• Student Admission Numbers are unique across all schools
  • When ticked, the data transfer will not be able to write data to a student who has an identical Admission Number to another student. It is the responsibility of the schools involved to create an Admission Number sequence that will not be duplicated.
• Staff Codes are unique across all schools
  • When ticked, the data transfer will not be able to transfer Staff information to another member of staff who has an identical Staff Code. It is the responsibility of the schools involved to create a Staff Code sequence that will not be duplicated.

Select All Schools and on the Actions drop down choose ‘Import from Partner Schools’:

Once imports have completed and no errors are found in the Transfer Logs:

Then click on ‘Show only exceptions’ to see any errors

Anything shown here should be reported to the usual Support Channels for further assistance.

Populate all the Class Memberships on the Virtual School system for all shared classes. Select All Schools and click on Actions, then choose ‘Export to Partner Schools’:

If you have any issues or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the usual Support Channel