“We needed a simple pupil tracking system that would work with our assessing without levels theory – we needed it to be quick and easy to use. It was essential that it allowed us to record formative and summative assessments, then pull it all together and get an indication of where children are in terms of attainment and progress. OTrack does this with ease.”
Jo Harrison, Headteacher at Stoneferry Primary School in Hull
Jo Harrison, the headteacher at Stoneferry Primary School, had used OTrack for a number of years when sub-levels and average point scores were around. Jo had taken a year away from school, whilst on leave, in that time ‘assessing without levels’ had kicked into full gear. On her return to school, Jo wanted to tackle assessment and tracking head on. She had noticed some issues with the tracking tools that were being used, she knew exactly what needed changing and what was needed in school to provide a simple pupil tracking system – Jo contacted us to see if we could help.
After a couple of phone calls and a few emails, we had identified what needed to be done to improve the tracking systems at Stoneferry. We got to work on putting a sturdy and simple tracking system together and, a few weeks later, I went out to see Jo to show her the system, enter some assessments and analyse the data.
A true assessing without levels system
The teachers at Stoneferry now use our Class Track app to record the outcomes of assessments against the DFE’s national curriculum objectives.
“Class Track helps teachers to assess as they go along, rather than having to pull everything together all in one go at the end of a fixed period of time. They can see which children they may have to focus on, and which children may be ready for mastery etc. Now I can see exactly which strands of the national curriculum have been taught and which pupils have achieved them.”
Jo Harrison, Headteacher at Stoneferry Primary School in Hull
At the end of each term Jo and her staff run reports in OTrack to analyse the outcomes of these assessments. The reports help them identify areas that pupils may need more support in, where there are strengths and weaknesses for individuals and groups of pupils. The system supports the schools assessing without levels theories and their assessment system in general.
Summative analysis and reporting
The rich data held in Class Track also powers reports that, using the schools theories, suggest an overall summative judgement of each pupils ability in Reading, Writing, Maths and GPS. The teachers can enter this suggested attainment stage or use their own knowledge of the pupils to enter a moderated summative judgement. The senior leadership team then use this data to analyse year group, ability group and contextual group attainment a progress across the school. This level of analysis has proven invaluable for reporting to governors.
“OTrack helps us to see, very quickly, who is likely to reach age related expectations by the end of the year and who is not. We can now easily identify high and low performing groups across the school. We can also produce this analysis in a way that is clear and simple for everyone to understand.”
Jo Harrison, Headteacher at Stoneferry Primary School in Hull
Stoneferry have recently started looking at the reporting to parents tools available in OTrack, and will introduce a termly report to parents in the near future. As always, we will be more than happy to help Jo and her team get more out of OTrack and any of its features as soon as they need them.
