Teachers at St Paul’s High School in Bessbrook have given the ‘thumbs up’ to Capita’s integrated management information software SIMS.net.

The County Armagh school which has been awarded Specialist Status for Science, has 1,400 pupils on its rolls and is the biggest secondary school in the Southern Education and Library Board Area. Mrs Una McNulty, Vice Principal in charge of Learning and Teaching, whose area of responsibility includes tracking performance within the school, is an enthusiastic supporter of using SIMS to manage and improve performance throughout the school.

St Paul’s has been piloting Assessment Manager - one of a number of SIMS modules used in the school - since September 2008 and Mrs McNulty says staff and pupils are already reaping the benefits. 

Assessment Manager, which was introduced to monitor literacy and numeracy in Year 8 is also used with A level and GSCE Science classes to monitor progress. In the longer term, the plan is to use it to track performance throughout the school. Mrs McNulty explains that Assessment Manager is an efficient way of monitoring and evaluating performance – with the added bonus of not adding to a teacher’s workload.

“With the help of C2k staff, we devised a template for all teachers to use so all they have to do is key in the relevant information, for example, marks in an assessed homework and end of unit tests and the Assessment Manager does the rest, working out averages, percentages, ratios or whatever calculation is needed.”

She continues: “Having access to such detailed information, makes it much easier for form teachers to match predicted grades against actual grades which in turn helps to flag up potential problems at a much earlier stage than ever before.

“Key data on individual Year 8 pupils was keyed into the system at the start of the school year and by the end of September, we were already able to identify which pupils needed additional help and ensure that the appropriate support was put in place.

“Assessment Manager provides an easy means of recording pupils’ grades for homeworks or end of module tests as well as scores in standard tests like NFER on an ongoing basis. It provides a detailed analysis of all the data which can help teachers develop teaching strategies to improve pupil performance.”

Although keen to point out that the system is still very much in its infancy, Mrs McNulty acknowledges that staff already recognise its potential and they feel it is having a very positive impact on pupils’ performance. All schools today generate a huge amount of data but Mrs McNulty states that by using Assessment Manager, staff at St Paul’s can use the information in a much more efficient and productive way.   “Teachers are finding SIMS very user friendly. When they are in their classrooms, they are already logged on to the system so at a stroke, they can either add information or access pupils’ details.With all staff using the system, it is very easy to see patterns emerging training, full use. Teachers have always kept their own paper records but collating them in any kind of meaningful way so they could be shared with other members of staff was so time consuming that it wasn’t generally done.”

With so much information literally at their fingertips, teachers are finding it easier than ever before to monitor performance. “We can see from the results how children are performing as they progress through the school year and can use this in a positive way to highlight good performance and achievement. Assessment Manager saves teachers a lot of time but more importantly it helps identify where support is needed most and at a much earlier stage. We can then monitor the pupil’s performance to assess improvement and identify the ‘added value’ of the support."

“This way we are using the results in a positive way to show improvement, not as a stick to beat someone over the head with.” She adds that it can be very empowering for staff when they see the tangible results of focusing on the specific learning needs of individual pupils.  In addition to Assessment Manager, teachers at St Paul’s also use Lesson Register; Lesson Monitor; Behaviour & Achievement; Nova T4& T6 (cover) FMS (Financial Management) and Examinations.