Despite the fact that most schools in Nexus will either already exist or will be created from GIAS, there may be circumstances where you need to create a new school. This is done through the 'Add School' button on the School List page.
When you click 'Add School' three options are presented:
New Schools
Schools are automatically added to Nexus every Wednesday morning, based on a refreshed GIAS extract. With this in mind, it is very unlikely that you will need to add a new school manually. However, the situation can arise if you wish to add a new school that is on GIAS, but the Wednesday update hasn't occurred yet (in which case it will be skipped during the auto update if added manually beforehand).
You should never set up a new school 'for testing or dummy purposes' (see Practice Schools below) as they will potentially impact on your reporting.
Once the New School option has been selected, you will see the screen above and be able to enter the details. Care should be taken to ensure that the details you input are complete and accurate, especially when it comes to School Name, type, phase, URN and DFE Number.
Please also ensure that you follow the guidance in the blue box on each occasion as it may be subject to change (and this should be a rare event that a new school would need to be created.)
Click 'Save' when complete.
Practice Schools
Practice schools exist solely for testing purposes, usually around imported of data. Some LA value this opportunity and - prior to Practice Schools being set up - were using 'real' school records to do so with some negative consequences. Practice Schools were therefore added to the system. They behave and are set up the same as New Schools but they are cleared nightly from Nexus (except for March and April.)
Once again, please ensure that you note and follow the guidance in the blue box around Practice Schools and you completely understand what it is explaining and the impact that this can have on your LA results if not followed.
Also note that the 'practice' part of 'practice school' relates to data importing. LA officers shouldn't need to create many - if any - real schools. These practice schools are also not suitable for training schools on Perspective Lite as there will be no associate Perspective account for the practice school. If that is your aim, please use the Perspective Lite Training Account.
Other Establishment
This option should only be used if you need to create any other type of establishment that does not already exist in Get Information About Schools (because if it is in GIAS then it will have been added in Nexus already). These will chiefly be nurseries or other early years provisions. Before adding an establishment, make sure that it does not already exist in your Local Authority (remember that the default filters on the school list is for open schools only, so other establishments would be hidden).
As above, please note the guidance in the blue box to the right of the screen.