News
System updates for each development release, such as new functionality, features and bug fixes and other non development news items relating to Get Information about Schools (GIAS).
All news items show what was originally displayed at the time of publication, therefore some links in these news items may no longer work.
System update
15 November 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- fix establishment breadcrumb which is incorrect in edit mode on IEBT tab
- fix establishment edit view local authority code
- fix establishment change history missing pagination chevrons
- fix pagination functionality in GIAS with missing chevrons
- fix spelling error in the academy joined date error message
- fix news and sign out links where overlapping
Further information
Office for National Statistics (ONS) frequency update
We mentioned in our last release note that we had paused the frequency update from yearly to quarterly of the ONS data as we needed to resolve some technical issues and advised that we would keep users updated. This work is still paused, and we will provide a further update in our next release.
For reference the fields updated are:
- District
- Ward
- Parliamentary constituency
- Urban/rural description
- Middle super output area (MSOA)
- Lower super output area (LSOA)
Data update
14 November 2022
There has been an issue identified with two new fields, Quality Assurance Body and Establishment Accredited in GIAS holding null values rather than 0, which equates to N/A. This has impacted 712 records in GIAS.
This may have impacted the data for users who consume data through our automated services, webservice and SOAP API.
A temporary fix was deployed to our live service on Friday 11th November and we will monitor the service on a daily basis whilst a permanent fix is developed. The integration between the temporary and permanent fix will be seamless to the user.
All data provided via web service and the API is now correct. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused, please feel free to contact us should you have any concerns or questions.
System update
4 October 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Corrected incorrect establishment breadcrumb in edit mode.
- Added more padding between 'Search' and 'Clear search' on the download no results page.
- Added breadcrumbs to the establishment governance tab for "Edit Person" and "Replace Person" pages in edit mode.
- Amended the alignment and increased the font of 'Clear search' on the individual search - choose specific download no results page.
- Update styling for 'Closed' label.
Further information
Office for National Statistics (ONS) frequency update
We mentioned in our last release note that we would be increasing the frequency from yearly to quarterly. We still plan on doing this, but we need to resolve some technical issues before we can complete the next update. We will keep users updated with progress on this work.
For reference the fields updated are:
- District
- Ward
- Parliamentary constituency
- Urban/rural description
- Middle super output area (MSOA)
- Lower super output area (LSOA)
Further information
- The yearly update of data from the underlying data of the schools, pupils and their characteristics statistical publication has now been completed.
The fields that were updated were the:
- total number of pupils
- total number of boys
- total number of girls
- number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM)
- percentage of children eligible for free school meals (FSM)
- The yearly update of data from the school level annual school census (SLASC) data collection for independent schools has now been completed.
System update
28 June 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- New primary button on the download page.
- Pagination degradation added.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) frequency update
As stated in the last news update, we are increasing the frequency update of the following reference data we use from ONS from yearly to quarterly following the release of the May data from ONS:
- District
- Ward
- Parliamentary constituency
- Urban/rural description
- Middle super output area (MSOA)
- Lower super output area (LSOA)
The ONS May update has been completed.
Users are not expected to need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated.
A post release note will follow.
Further information
The yearly update of data from the underlying data of the schools, pupils and their characteristics statistical publication will take place shortly over several days. A notice will be added to the service whilst this work is undertaken and then updated once all work is completed.
The fields that will be updated are the:
- Total number of pupils
- Total number of boys
- Total number of girls
- Number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM)
- Percentage of children eligible for free school meals (FSM)
System update
17 May 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Update pagination to have more padding.
- Format content layout of modal.
- Format content layout and amend wording of group name or reference number field search modal.
- Format content of reveal on Download page.
- Update styling for 'Closed' label.
Further Information
Office for National Statistics (ONS) frequency update
We will be increasing the frequency update of the following reference data we use from ONS from yearly to quarterly following the release of the May data from ONS:
- District
- Ward
- Parliamentary constituency
- Urban/rural description
- Middle super output area (MSOA)
- Lower super output area (LSOA)
Once this update has been completed, we will let users know.
System update
5 April 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Fix to bulk update governance template.
- Administrator functionality only - improvements for the notification banner and the news page.
System update
22 March 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Amend the padding on the search header page to 50px.
- Help header realignment.
- FAQ page realignment and naming amendments.
- Glossary page realignment.
- Contact on help page realignment.
- Contact page content realignment.
- Terms of use page realignment.
- News page redesign, including homepage latest news hyperlinks and removal of news popup.
System update
8 March 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Validation updates to the children’s centres groups group manager email address fields and filter searches for specific users.
- Make visible the number of free school meals field on the user interface (UI) in non-edit and edit mode. Only the GIAS support team can edit this field in the edit mode.
- Ensure the different search extracts and the downloads have the number of free school meals (FSM) field present where applicable.
- Creation of GIAS About Page.
- Establishment search - remove local authority disambiguation behaviour.
- Update of site breadcrumbs across the GIAS site to reflect the new home page and about page and some existing corrections.
System update
8 February 2022
An updated version of the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service has been released to all users. You do not need to take any specific action unless otherwise indicated below.
This release includes the following improvements:
-
Bug fixes and fine-tuning to improve the overall user experience, including:
- Creation of GIAS service Home Page.
- Update the Independent School Types Fields where EHC Plans are referenced.
- Online Providers - Suppress the Confirm Button.
- Fix for federations created in error.