On track to Outstanding: Parklands Primary School
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Following Parklands Primary School’s Outstanding Ofsted rating, we were keen to catch up with Chris Dyson, the headteacher, to ask how his team had been tackling the challenges they faced.
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An amazing story
What a great story Chris has created. He started as head in September 2014. Since then, he’s transformed the school from having more than 150 exclusions in a year to an amazing environment where pupils ask to stay!
When I visited the school, I couldn’t believe what I saw and heard. There’s so much to tell you, I’d need to write a book, but I’ll have to settle to summarise with this very short tale…
When I was leaving at around 3 pm, I heard a pupil tell the office staff, “if Mum is a little late, it doesn’t matter, I’ll stay here with you this weekend.” Kids want to be there, teachers want to be there, and parents want to be part of it. Check out @chrisdysonHT on Twitter to see what goes on in school.
Back in September 2014, Chris had to move fast and make positive changes. On day 1, he banned shouting at kids and got to work on getting staff, pupils and the whole community involved in creating an inspiring place to learn.
Moving with the times
Amidst all this, Chris had to deal with the changed national curriculum and the removal of levels. This is where we could play our part.
“Moving with the times and not sitting still is vital. Changes were needed, and OTrack is at the forefront of these changes.”
Chris Dyson – Headteacher Parklands Primary School, Leeds
Over the years, we’ve seen so many tracking experiments. We’ve seen which ones work and which ones don’t. So we knew we had the experience to help Chris create a simplified tracking model. A model that would help him, and his staff, stay away from mountains of tracking tasks. We’ve helped many schools spend less time using their tracking software and allocate more time to excellent lesson planning and teaching.
Time saving
For Parklands, one of the main benefits of OTrack is the power of the analysis. We worked with Chris to make sure the reports matched the needs of everybody at Parklands. Work that previously took the school hours is now available in easy-to-use reports.
How does OTrack help you and your senior leadership team?
“OTrack gives us instant analysis with its reports. It is vital that my SLT sing from the same hymn sheet and OTrack makes that easy. It also enables us to immediately detect any children who need support.
My teaching staff can now keep their tracking tasks simple. This means we have more time to address any barriers to learning, and put plans into action.”
Find out more
If you’d like to find out more about Parklands, follow Chris on Twitter at @chrisdysonHT.
