Lindsay Roberts, Deputy Headteacher
Pluckley CE Primary School
"The right2learn online assessments have enabled us to accurately measure and demonstrate value added and has exceeded all our expectations. The more we use it, the better it gets. A fantastic resource!"
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Right2 Learn Case Study
Background
Pluckley CE Primary School in Kent is a rural school with 177 pupils, with mixed age and year groups across Key Stages 1 and 2.
Prior to taking on the right2learn assessment service, the school faced difficulties relating to the ability to accurately measure and track progress in order to illustrate value added between KS1 and KS2, particularly in Maths. Staff were concerned that teacher observation and year end paper based assessments did not identify children's progress and learning needs early or often enough to enable them to be addressed and achievement raised.
What were your initial expectations?
The headteacher, Richard Rule, subscribed to the right2learn assessment service for three years in 2005, following a referral from several other local schools using the service. The initial expectations were that the service would be used to address the difficulties in accurately identifying learning needs and tracking progress in Maths, via a consistent and reliable means. It was also hoped that staff would be able to use the analysis outcomes to influence children's progress.
"We very quickly realised we could do a lot more with this resource!"
Lindsay Roberts, Deputy Headteacher
How do you use the Right2Learn service?
Lindsay says, "The assessments are used in different ways for subject and according to the year group." In Maths, assessments are delivered both after the specific units are taught and as part of the half termly review process. With the older year groups, the teacher also applies the differentiation and allows them to take assessments from earlier years for consolidation. English assessments are delivered at the end of each term, and Science assessments are delivered against specific units taught from different years in the curriculum, due to the mixed year groups.
Children are not made aware by the system if they are taking assessments from differentiated year groups, ensuring that there is no negative impact on tailoring the assessments to their specific needs.
At times, assessments are delivered to groups of children via interactive whiteboards and on other occasions directly to each child via a pc. "The flexibility in delivery options and ease of use are key factors to the successful use of the service," said Lindsay.
The automated analysis is then used to track the children's progress against each subject across each year, enabling areas for further lesson planning and the needs of the whole class and individual children to be identified.
How does right2learn support your needs?
Support is provided via telephone, the right2learn online communication tool, and where needed by a visit to the school. Planned support is provided in the form of updating access details for new intake years, and communicating details of enhancements clearly via letter and the option of staff training.
More importantly, the willingness of right2learn to provide unscheduled support when needed by schools is reassuring for teachers and greatly appreciated.
"The level of support provided by the right2learn team is excellent! There is always someone available to answer any questions. The company takes ownership of problems that occur and are very responsive to suggestions for further enhancements to the service. This has been a key factor to the success of the service at our school," said Lindsay.
How much difference has the right2learn service made to your school?
Lindsay Roberts states firmly that the right2learn service makes a great difference to the school by meeting many of their assessment needs. In particular, the main requirement to have a reliable and consistent process of identifying children's needs and tracking progress has been addressed. The key factors to success are listed as follows:
The user-friendliness of the service and flexibility in delivery options.
- The fact that assessments can be tailored to individual children's needs.
- The assessments can be delivered at any time of year to relate to the immediate subjects being taught and match the information requirements of teachers.
- The automated marking saves time and provides immediate feedback to teachers and children.
- The system offers a consistent means of progress measurement with which children are comfortable and in which teachers have confidence.
- The differentiation allows assessments to be delivered according to the needs of each child, enabling individual and overall standards to be raised.
How do you plan to develop your use of the right2learn service further?
There are several existing features the staff at Pluckley Primary School plan to make greater use of in the future. This includes encouraging the children to make more usage of the post assessment review feature to develop their own learning, working independently or in small groups. In addition, teachers plan to make more usage of the "gap analysis" pages for lesson planning purposes.
"We are also looking forward to using the new target sharing feature to communicate targets directly to the children via the gap analysis pages."
"right2learn is a fantastic resource and I would recommend it to any school."
Lindsay Roberts, deputy headteacher.
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