Introduction

The Downs Church of England Primary School in Kent leveraged Sonar Tracker, an EdTech tool, to address the challenges posed by a period of educational disruption and improve the robustness of its curriculum assessment. Despite varied demographics and historical underperformance in key stage 2 outcomes, the school has made notable progress, as recognised in its recent 'Good' Ofsted inspection report. This case study outlines the objectives, processes, outcomes, and experiences related to the implementation of Sonar Tracker, providing insights and lessons for similar educational institutions.

Problem or Challenges 

• Addressing weaker key stage 2 outcomes.
• Improving curriculum sequencing and robustness post-pandemic.
• Enhancing teacher confidence in formative and summative assessments.

Goals set for the project

• Develop a coherent, ambitious curriculum that covers all national curriculum objectives.
• Implement a reliable assessment system to support teacher judgements.
• Increase student performance to meet or surpass national levels.

Background information

• The Downs Church of England Primary School, a large institution in a small coastal town in Deal, Kent.
• The student body consists of children from varied demographics.
• Focus on providing rich local history and tangible experiences to enhance learning opportunities.

Expansion and development

• Full integration of Sonar Tracker across all subjects.
• Monitoring longitudinal data to continue improving student outcomes.

References and Citations Ofsted

“The school has introduced an ambitious curriculum that is coherently sequenced. This was in response to weaker key stage 2 outcomes in 2022. Teachers follow these plans closely and usually check pupils’ understanding carefully. This enables Inspection report: The Downs Church of England Primary School 12 and 13 September 2023 3 pupils to connect concepts and knowledge. For example, in design and technology, pupils develop their sewing skills by gradually learning more challenging types of stitches. As a result, pupils can recall the most important content over time. Pupils with SEND are supported effectively. Staff swiftly identify pupils’ needs and skilfully adapt their teaching to enable them to learn the same curriculum as their peers. Consequently, pupils with SEND achieve well. In a few subjects, staff are at an earlier stage of implementing the new curriculum.”

- ‘Good’ Ofsted inspection report of The Downs Church of England Primary School, September 2023

Deputy Headteacher, Kelly

Implementation of Sonar Tracker

"All teaching staff have tablets to implement the formative assessments for the majority of subjects. Being able to do it at the moment really helped, and then their confidence with that grew, then they do their summative assessment termly as well so that we could track where children are."

Conclusion

The Downs Church of England Primary School's experience illustrates the transformative potential of targeted EdTech solutions in response to specific educational challenges. By incorporating Sonar

Tracker, the school has laid the groundwork for sustained improvement in both teacher practice and student outcomes.