There do seem to be some very bizarre design decisions that the designers have made. For example, at the end of an academic year, when pupils are rolled up, a fresh copy of every student is made. So, a given student may appear in 5 or more distinct records in the main pupil table, each with sex, ethnic group etc fields. How often to students change their ethnic group on transition from one year group to the next? Also, some details
Well it's possible for ethnic group to change, especially if the definitions for ethnic groups change. But that's could happen at any time.
seem saved multiple times across many tables, rather than just being saved once in a single table.
Sounds like someone missed that one of the primary points of a database is not to have multiple copies of the same data. -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763