Principals: Simplifying rolls only a step in the right direction

Simplifications to school rolls and registers are just steps in the right direction towards keeping all pupil records online instead of on paper, principals said.

The Department of Education has told all 3,300 primary schools they will no longer have to fill in as much information as in the past into pupil roll books, such as details of parents’ occupations or monthly average attendances, from September.

However, class teachers will still have to maintain roll books and principals must keep the official register in manual formats, despite years of campaigning for a national primary pupil database.