Shirehampton Primary School
Tracking attainment and progress in a large primary school
Based in Bristol, Shirehampton Primary School is a large Primary School, who started using iTRACK back in 2019, after SPTO ceased business. Having researched potential systems to replace SPTO, iTRACK was shortlisted and our CEO, Philip Beale demonstrated what iTRACK Education (formerly LCP) had to offer. Having seen the system, Louisa Munton (Headteacher of the school) decided iTRACK was the right system for their school. Louisa said ‘We chose ITRACK because, simply it made sense and was intuitive. An added bonus was that we could personalise the pupil groups to fit our community as well as breakdown the National Curriculum objectives to make assessment easier for staff.’
Shirehampton started to use iTRACK gradually to ensure a successful implementation. Having had the system for a number of years, they now input data for all subjects and year groups (EYFS- Year 6), for both formative and summative data. Alice Smith (Education Consultant for iTRACK Education) supported Louisa through the training and on-going as the account manager. Louisa said ‘The ongoing support and customer service we have continually received is second to none. Alice is always at the end of the phone or email and is ready to be solution focused – even when the answer is obvious and we are overthinking! Additionally, if she does not know the answer (unlikely) then she will happily find out and quickly revert.’
In January 2022, Louisa started using our report writer features, Louisa explained ‘we were looking to update our annual report format with a view to reducing staff workload whilst maintaining a personalised report for each of our parents. The fact report writer draws assessment information directly from iTRACK, already equals less work for staff. Although the comment bank did require some time to set up, it is now done and, whilst staff are free to make minor tweaks, it is ready to use and the amount of time staff will need to dedicate to writing quality reports will be significantly less. For this year we wanted to include more personalised information on attendance so it mirrors the information parents are given at the Parent’s Evening across the year. The process could not have been easier for us as once our idea was communicated and the templates sent, the technical team produced a mock up for us to agree. We have got exactly what we wanted!’
Having felt iTRACK was working successfully in the school, Louisa and Amy McNamee (SENCO at Shirehampton) turned to address a new problem. How to show progress of children working significantly behind? Having heard of iASEND, Amy and Louisa explored how the system could track small steps of learning to inform next steps for the children. They also learnt how it could demonstrate positive progress numerically. They said ‘we like iASEND because it enables us to celebrate all of our children’s achievements and successes however small. As a highly inclusive school, with a Specialist Resource Base, it was important staff did not have to grapple with two different assessment systems; the synergy between the two is very helpful. Just like iTRACK, gaining a strategic view of attainment and achievement is manageable and meaningful for staff at all levels so we can continue to drive outcomes up.’
