What is the difference between a Group and a Filter?
Pupil filters allow you to quickly view the data for pupils with the same selected characteristic.
For clarity it is worth defining the difference between a Group and a Filter. Filters may be used to display only the boys. In theory you could create a Group of just the boys and use that instead.
The difference is that the Filter will always look at the contextual data to pick out all the boys but the Group will only ever be the boys put in the Group when it was set up. In other words, a Boys Group will be out of date as soon as a new boy joins the cohort but a Filter will always be up to date.
For this reason Groups should not be used to record anything which is already held in the Contextual data; SEN, Gender, Birth term etc.
Groups are designed to hold any pupils who share a common attribute and you may want to view together. Good examples of this are ability teaching groups, for example in Literacy and Numeracy, intervention groups, after school clubs or anything which may be useful for the purpose of data entry or analysis.
Using Filters
Filters, in Sonar, are designed to be straight forward to use and consistent throughout the application. So if you know how to use them in one place, you know how to use them everywhere.
The button is usually to be found in the top left.
Often, filters are pre-applied when you run a report or tool (to show a specific year group for example). In which case the button will indicate the number of applied filters.
To view the filter tool just click the button.
The Contextual filters all relate to non-assessment based pupil characteristics.
It is worth noting that the tool supports combining filters. For example, Pupil Premium boys.
Year - Choose the year group or groups
Birth - You can either choose the specific month range, e.g. born between September to December inclusive, or choose the season of birth.
The birth season relates to when a child must start school in England:
| Season | A child born between: | … reaches compulsory school age on: |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn | 1 September and 31 December | 31 December |
| Spring | 1 January and 31 March | 31 March |
| Summer | 1 April and 31 August (summer born) | 31 August |
School Entry - Choose the date range between which the children started in this setting.
Attendance - Drag the two ends of the slider to define the percentage range to filter pupils for.
Pupil Groups - These are class groups and any saved pupil groups that have been created.
Contextual - Filters for Gender, First Language, SEN and SEN Need.
Focus - These filters allow combinations to be applied
No filter applied
Filter all pupils with that characteristic. e.g. Pupils who are eligible for Pupil Premium
Filter pupils who do not have that characteristic. e.g. Pupils who are not eligible for Pupil Premium
Clears all filters
Cancels any changes you have made in the form and exits the form without applying any changes
Exits the form and applies any selected filters.