Expanding from Single to Whole School Progress Tracking: Carshalton Boys Sports College Case Study

Since becoming a customer in September 2021, Vice Principal Jenny Gaylor shares why Carshalton Boys Sports College expanded its use of Pupil Progress from a single subject to the whole school. Jenny outlines the benefits of adopting Pupil Progress as a centralised system across all key stages and departments, the challenges faced in this transition, and positive feedback received from parents, students, and staff. 

Over the years, we've struggled to link high-quality assessment with effective reporting. We faced challenges in finding a system that helped students understand what they needed to do to improve. 

Previously, we had a variety of  progress reports and monitoring systems - each department worked with their own tools, from data managers managing one thing to heads of departments using their own systems. Some staff relied on complex spreadsheets, while others had no system at all. 

Data was often somewhat centralised but not truly owned by the students, teachers, or even department heads. I wanted one system that would provide data at the end of each term, so staff would feel confident in what they needed to do.

Before using Pupil Progress, our data wasn't always backed by quality assessment and lacked links to factors like learning characteristics, knowledge gaps, and subject areas. As a result, students received reports without fully understanding what they needed to do to reach the next level. 

We needed a system that reflected individual pupil progress and helped us focus on what we wanted students to know by the end of the year. 

Pupil Progress has been instrumental in helping us develop something that works throughout a student’s journey with us. The ability to access real-time data has been a highlight, allowing us to track students progress and generate meaningful reports. This has been especially useful during parents’ evenings.

While we send home summary reports with an explanation letter, parents' evenings are where the more detailed reports are discussed in person with parents and students. This has reduced the number of queries after reports were sent home. The reports now link to meaningful data that clearly tells students what they need to know and helps parents support their child’s progress.  

Parents have appreciated this, and it feels like we’ve finally set clear expectations for both them and their children. 

Since we’ve been using the trackers for over a year, it's become clear that having data across all areas and assessment objectives allows us to identify exactly what students can and cannot do. As the quality of the data improves, students will take greater ownership of it. 

The Pupil Progress team has fantastic supporting heads of department, senior leaders, and raising standards leaders. They’ve helped us unite differing opinions and understand the benefit of one centralised system. Over time, the system’s value has become evident: department heads can view data across the entire department and quickly identify which students are on-track. 

Previously, our admin team used to manage reports, but Pupil Progress has saved them a significant amount of time. It’s also saved us time as leaders, allowing us to quickly access data and calculations we need.

The Pupil Progress team has been excellent in collaborating with us to further develop the product, integrating feedback and continually improving the system. This has resulted in a streamlined approach to presenting whole school data to governors and trustees. Our trustees are very positive about Pupil Progress, and since the trackers have been tailored to our needs, it’s clear why the system is our first choice.

I wanted a system that heads of department, heads of year, and class teachers could own and manage, regardless of their experience with software. Pupil Progress is user-friendly, designed by people who understand the day-to-day challenges teachers face.

Looking ahead, our focus will be on students taking ownership of their learning and understanding what they need to do to meet both their personal and school targets. The level of detail in Pupil Progress, from assessing student performance to tracking progress across subjects, already supports this. By giving students the tools to understand their strengths and areas for improvement, we’re empowering them to take control of their educational journey.