Brighton College, Abu Dhabi
Tracking attainment and progress in British International Schools
Brighton College students, faculty and parents benefit from iTRACK assessment.
Andrew Noakes Head of Brighton College Prep School gives iTRACK full marks.
Brighton College located in Abu Dhabi is rated as outstanding by the local Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK). The School offers a first-class British education for pupils aged 3 to 18 through its Pre-Prep School, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form, to over 1800 pupils.
In April 2019, Andrew Noakes, Head of the Prep School, met iTRACK Education (formerly LCP) at the BETT MEA event held in Abu Dhabi. From our initial conversation it was clear that his interest was in systems that could streamline the assessment process and capture attainment and progress data for his staff and pupils. As a result, we were able to demonstrate our iTRACK program designed specifically to achieve his objectives.
We also spoke about our paper-based and online Curriculum Assessment Test (CAT) papers that we could offer in English, Reading and Mathematics for Years 1 to 6, as part of an integrated solution. This was immediately identified as a process that could save significant time in preparing and marking termly tests and deliver results to a tracking system, freeing-up more time to teach. Moreover, an efficient and highly effective way to extract meaningful attainment and progress data for each cohort and individual pupil within the school.
We demonstrated iTRACK to the Heads of Assessment and IT at the College the following day and began negotiations to provide the solution.
Andrew Noakes commented…
“I was delighted to experience demonstrations and discussions with iTRACK Education which, from the first moment understood precisely what we were seeking to achieve. It was refreshingly different to find a provider with a service which matched our aims, hopes and intentions without compromise. Having agreed to supply the online CAT tests and iTRACK program, iTRACK Education has worked in partnership with their Head of Data and Assessment, Joshua Aldersley, to take advantage of the flexibility of the iTRACK program to cater for the College’s specific requirements.”
Joshua recently said:
“The changes that have been made to iTRACK so far have meant that the reports look exactly how we want to convey the information to parents and staff. Our Parent Ambassadors saw an example of how this report will look recently, and responded very positively.”
Working together over the Autumn term we have also delivered a range of tailored enhancements to iTRACK including two new and additional data columns to the system
– one to register effort and one to detail the teachers for each class. The latter being particularly important for Brighton College given the large number of staff employed by the school.
A further development introduced the ability to add further information to the School Report Writer, enabling the College to create relevant and bespoke reports tailored specifically to their school.
Adjustments have also been made to the colouring scheme to enable the reports to fit the specification we were given for their reports. This was particularly important as the school have parents who are non-English speaking but relate to the colour grading system to help understand their child’s progress and attainment.
In working in partnership with the College, iTRACK Education has demonstrated the flexibility of iTRACK and our ability to develop bespoke requirements. The use of online assessment tools will significantly reduce teacher workload and improve the efficiency of the assessment process.
As we come to the end of the first term using iTRACK, here is some of the feedback from the College.
Andrew’s story continues…
“There is a considerable degree of faith invested by a school when researching potential solutions for a planning, recording, monitoring and reporting system upon which teachers and school leadership will be heavily reliant. The desire to save time for teachers whilst enhancing and improving practice to the benefit of pupils is understandably very high indeed. Sadly, practicable solutions can often turn out not to be as successful as one might hope. Faith, when adopting an important school system, is therefore usually accompanied by both trepidation and a large dose of hope.
As a Prep School in an international setting, we knew from our own desires and experiences, and our discussions with our many different stakeholders, that there had to be a far more simple and effective way to automate and record what we do as a school for pupils where we consider it both meaningful and vital to do so.
iTRACK allows us to plan and track the learning objectives being taught, record, update and review the degree of understanding shown by each child, class, year group.
We are able to report that understanding, easily and in ways and formats to suit both teachers and parents.
We report in a timely and more frequent manner, allowing both home and school to support children with their understanding of topics as soon as possible.
Data identifying patterns of understanding shown by different year groups, subject areas, gender, amongst other categories, can be generated as soon as we request as, once built in fact, at the press of a button.
Useful data can be generated faster and more easily than we could have hoped for.
We have different reporting formats at different times and terms of the year, we can generate reports for meetings, inspections and review with ease. iTRACK allows us to record summative assessments as well as formative professional opinions.
The next stage of our current project with iTRACK Education, which will bring us significantly closer to achieving our overall goal, is the integration of external third-party numeracy and literacy assessments. These enable us to validate or question our professional judgement, as well as providing a broader (national and international context) for each pupil’s understanding.
iTRACK Education assessments are being integrated to allow this. A schedule which is adaptable to ensure it suits our school, means digital assessments and the automatic transfer of the results of these, integrate seamlessly with iTRACK. Third-party assessments record children’s understanding in core areas allowing us to calculate an independent judgement of value being added, progress and attainment. Combined with the recording of our own appraisals of pupil comprehension, iTRACK ensures judgements are as balanced, thorough and as robust as possible.
In other disciplines too, iTRACK has meant that we can record progress. In areas of school life where the curriculum is our own and where we have designed the objectives, we can assess a pupil’s understanding or skill proficiency against our curricula. Therefore, bespoke assessment and reporting can be established for Music, Art, PE, PSHME, extra- curricular activities; iTRACK lends itself to so many areas of school, the offering is versatile and incredibly accommodating.
The stage that we are now at as a school with iTRACK, this ‘seamless’ planning, tracking and reporting package has only been reached as a result of the close interaction with iTRACK Education themselves. From the moment the first discussions took place, directly with Philip Beale, the Managing Director and Keith Goodchild, Operations Director, the focus has been on delivering a solution which directly benefits both pupils and teachers.
In my opinion, iTRACK is an absolute ‘win’ for pupils, teachers, parents, governing bodies, inspectors and owners; all are significantly better-off in terms of progress, information and time.”
Andrew Noakes
Head of Preparatory School
Brighton College Abu Dhabi
