Sisra AnalyticsSchool settings
How pupil data gets into Sonar
Sonar Tracker takes its pupils, classes and contextual data, such as pupil premium, from your school’s management information system (MIS). The MIS stays in charge. Changes you make there reach Sonar overnight, and in most schools you cannot edit pupil details in Sonar at all.
Three ways data arrives
Section titled “Three ways data arrives”How data reaches Sonar depends on your school’s set-up. If you are not sure which you have, look at the Users card on the School page, or ask your Account Owner.
| Set-up | How pupil data arrives | When |
|---|---|---|
| Portal-linked schools | From your MIS to Juniper Portal, then to Sonar | Overnight |
| Stand-alone schools | From your MIS to Sonar, through Wonde | Overnight |
| Schools without an MIS link | Staff add and update pupils in Sonar | When they save |
Portal-linked schools
Section titled “Portal-linked schools”Most schools are Portal-linked. Juniper Portal holds your school’s pupil and staff records, copied from your MIS each night, and Sonar takes what it needs from Portal. If your school uses another supplier’s MIS, Wonde, a service that connects school systems, passes the data to Portal.
Because Portal receives your staff list, users and roles are managed there too. See Users and roles. These schools import and export common transfer files (CTFs) in Juniper MIS, not in Sonar.
Stand-alone schools
Section titled “Stand-alone schools”Stand-alone schools use Sonar’s original set-up: Wonde copies data from your MIS straight to Sonar each night. These schools import CTFs through Send a file to Sonar on the School page. See Import and export statutory data.
Schools without an MIS link
Section titled “Schools without an MIS link”Staff in these schools add pupils, update their details and mark leavers in Sonar. See Schools without an MIS link.
Wonde permissions
Section titled “Wonde permissions”If your MIS data passes through Wonde, Wonde only shares what your school has approved. Portal shows a banner on its User Invitations page when your school needs to update its Wonde permissions. There are two kinds:
- required: sharing staff details, so Sonar user accounts can be managed for you
- optional: sharing contacts (parents and carers), which Comms Hub and sharing observations with parents need
Approve requests promptly. While one is waiting, staff can be missing from the lists in Portal. The Juniper help centre explains how to update permissions.
What comes across
Section titled “What comes across”Sonar copies:
- pupils’ names, unique pupil numbers (UPNs), dates of birth, school entry dates, gender, ethnicity and first language
- year groups and classes
- contextual data: pupil premium, free school meals (FSM), FSM6, English as an additional language (EAL), in care, ever in care and service children
- special educational needs (SEN) status and type of need
- attendance
- leavers
- staff, for Portal-linked schools
Each pupil’s record shows what Sonar holds for them. See Pupils and pupil records.
What does not come across
Section titled “What does not come across”The overnight update does not bring teacher judgements or statutory results, even when your MIS holds them. Statutory results, such as phonics marks, are entered on the statutory assessment pages or imported from a CTF. Portal-linked schools import CTFs in Juniper MIS, and stand-alone schools use Send a file to Sonar.
When changes arrive
Section titled “When changes arrive”Sonar updates once a night. New pupils, leavers, class moves and changes to contextual data all appear the next day. Classes and groups with no active pupils are removed overnight.
For example, Hilde Caveney joins 4 Ruby from another school, and the office adds her to the MIS on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday morning she is in Sonar, in year 4 and 4 Ruby, with her EAL flag. Her phonics and KS1 results do not come with her, so the assessment lead imports a CTF from her previous school. If the office later moves her to another class in the MIS, Sonar shows the new class the next day.
If a leaver still appears after 48 hours, or a change cannot wait until the next day, contact Juniper Education support.
If your MIS data passes through Wonde, pupil and class updates pause for a few weeks in the summer holidays while Sonar moves into the new academic year. See The new academic year.
Change MIS
Section titled “Change MIS”If your data passes through Wonde, Wonde connects your new MIS: contact them at support@wonde.com. To move to Juniper MIS, contact Juniper support. After the switch, check the Pupils list for duplicate pupils.
Common problems
Section titled “Common problems”Nursery pupils are missing
Section titled “Nursery pupils are missing”Nursery pupils only come across once your MIS has a start date and a UPN for them. Add both in the MIS, using a temporary UPN if a permanent one is not appropriate. The pupils then arrive overnight. If they have both and still do not appear, contact Juniper support.
No pupils are showing
Section titled “No pupils are showing”If the Pupils page shows no pupils, there are two likely causes:
- Juniper support has recently refreshed your data, so wait 5 minutes and reload the page
- your school’s DfE number has changed in your MIS but not in Sonar, so contact Juniper support to update it
A pupil appears twice
Section titled “A pupil appears twice”Duplicate pupils usually come from details changed in the MIS. Contact Juniper support, who can merge the two records.
A class has a new name
Section titled “A class has a new name”Rename classes in your MIS. The new name appears in Sonar the next day. If a teacher has set the class as their preference on the Home page, ask them to check it afterwards.