Classroom Monitor, Classroom Monitor
Curriculum coverage: Classroom Monitor is the perfect fit!
Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School
- Age Range
- 7-11
Classroom Monitor is more flexible than other trackers when it comes to curriculum coverage. This Deputy Head tells us how Classroom Monitor gives tea
“The new curriculum basically means you need an assessment system to track every single objective. You need an extremely easy and manageable system to do so, or you run the risk of adopting a ‘best fit’ model that doesn’t work with the new curriculum. Classroom Monitor does just that.
“Classroom Monitor has given us the core curriculum framework but has still given us the flexibility to make it match what we want as a school. We’re not forced into doing things the way the assessment system has been set up to do, something some other companies require.”
A system that adapts to your ongoing curriculum needs
“We knew from the outset that we wanted to use the Rising Stars Progression Framework as it gives our staff support statements in making their judgements. We’ve also tweaked the scoring in Core subjects so that we can do what is right for the children in our school and our School Development Plan.
“In Maths, for example, certain areas of recall are now far more heavily weighted. As our understanding has moved on over the last two years about what is best in assessing the new curriculum, our use of Classroom Monitor has adjusted easily and efficiently. Now, we don’t automatically generate an overall judgement based on the percentage of the curriculum achieved. We use the percentage to inform our own judgement.”
Formative assessments and test results all in one place
For total curriculum coverage, Classroom Monitor allows you to view summative test results alongside your formative judgements to get the complete picture.
“Classroom Monitor has several ways you can measure progress, but we also wanted to use Hodder scores from PUMA and PIRA tests and integrate these into Classroom Monitor. This keeps all our assessments in one place and helps us look for trends. It also ensures, for example, that children who are working ‘at greater depth’ are not slowly slipping towards ‘working at the expectation’. This flexible set up has also allowed us to show children who are consistently ‘working below the expectation’, ie SEN children, can still show progress
“Busy teachers are simply not going to get multiple documents out whenever they are making assessments. With Classroom Monitor, everything you need is right there. Simple. Quick. Easy.”
Must see next: Find out how teachers’ work-life balance at Walton-le-Dale has improved during report-writing season thanks to Classroom Monitor. Full story.
Peter Richardson is Deputy Head at Walton-le-Dale Community Primary School in Lancashire. The school has a pupil roll of 438 and is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. They’ve been using Classroom Monitor for over 2 years.
