• The school
• The challenge
• The process
• The issues
• The impact
• Tips for other schools
• School quick facts
• School contextual data
• Data management and quick facts

The school

Leigh Church of England Infants’ School is situated in the town of Leigh, in Lancashire.

The school has a two-form entry, with 151 children on its roll. It serves an area of high and increasing levels of unemployment with largely rented and council-owned housing.

The 1999 Ofsted inspection report stated that the school had no significant weaknesses.

You can view the ofsted report and performance table by following the links on the right hand side of this page or by going to:

[back to top]

The challenge

Four or five years ago the school noticed that the children’s attainment levels upon joining the school was declining significantly and mobility was becoming an increasing problem. Results were also suffering.

To explore these matters in more detail, and to identify actions to tackle the problems, the school determined to improve its use of data.

[back to top]

The process

Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) tests are used at the beginning and end of reception and again at the end of the year 1.

Results are converted into national curriculum levels and groups of children are colour-coded to identify those who are working at levels that are ‘below average’, ‘just below average’, ‘average’ and ‘above average’.

The standardised PIPS scores are entered into a Microsoft Excel database and used to track progress across the key stage.

There is a whole school assessment week towards the end of each term when all classes use a combination of assessment materials.

The school uses ‘Wigan Block Assessment’ in mathematics and Kent assessment materials in comprehension and spelling. It uses previous national curriculum test papers. All children have writing tasks assessed each half-term.

After this assessment week, teacher assessments are recorded on ‘level descriptor sheets’. Staff meetings then moderate writing levels using children’s work. All staff bring examples of writing tasks from their own class.

All teacher assessments are collected with the test results and recorded on SIMS Assessment Manager. The senior management team meets each term to consider the data collected after assessment week. It uses the information to inform decisions about interventions with particular classes or year groups.

For example, when a dip in mathematics performance of year 2 children was identified the school decided to introduce the use of RM Successmaker.

The two teachers for each year group meet in the week after the senior management team meeting, to discuss the outcomes and to review each child’s individual progress.

Each term, action plans are drawn up for those who are under-achieving and for those who are potential level 3 children.

These plans include such actions as: providing extra homework for certain children; meeting with particular parents; regrouping children in the classroom; targeting the work of particular teaching assistants.

The school identifies a number of groups of children within its data analysis through the use of bold and coloured fonts in all its lists. These could be children born in the summer, children with special educational needs, boys and girls, gifted and talented children, children who are looked after, mid-year transfer children or children at a particular level of attainment.

Each autumn, the governors consider the test results from the summer alongside those for previous years and the school’s PANDA. There is an identified governor who sets targets and joins the annual meeting for setting targets with the headteacher and LA.

Action agreed by governors as a result of their consideration of summaries of data has included, for example, allocating funds to employ an additional teaching assistant and increased teaching time to support an identified year group.

[back to top]

The issues

A great deal of staff meeting time has been given over to the use of data and setting targets.

It has been very important to work at trust and to see that the system is intended not to apportion blame to staff but rather to help staff to focus on children’s needs.

[back to top]

The impact

In its PANDA results, the school’s standards were judged to be above average in mathematics and well above average in reading and writing. The PANDA grade for writing has moved from C in 1999 to A* in 2003.

The school has worked very hard to moderate teacher assessment of national curriculum levels awarded to children. It makes use of level descriptors and the teachers share examples of individual child’s work.

The school has no doubt that the more focused use of performance data has helped it not only maintain, but also improve levels of achievement despite the changing nature of its intake.

It is able to target interventions much more precisely for individual children and groups of children. So, for example, on identifying a particular weakness in writing, it was able to allocate more class time to writing and use target setting data to put the children in groups in the classroom.

It was also able to target teaching assistants to support individual children with specific weaknesses and bring writers into school to work with identified groups of children.

All children have curriculum targets for periods of two or three weeks, for example for punctuation or for using capital letters. The children are then put into target groups in the classroom.

The staff are very positive about the use of data. It is used as evidence for threshold applications and every teacher has a progress target for performance management, for example, ‘To improve the percentage of children achieving level 2B in mathematics at the end of year 1’.

According to several teaching staff:

‘Everyone has been involved in the process.’

‘It is really helpful for targeting children based on what they have achieved before.’

‘It helps to show the rate of learning and any hiccups.’

‘It is good because it is colour-coded – the children stand out.’

‘A boy was identified by a very low PIPS score in reception – he had a score of four. Extra support was given in year 1 but tracking progress showed little improvement so he was put onto the ‘Flying Forward Together’ programme. This is a home learning programme and involved his mother working with the school. He has blossomed; his writing is much better and he smiles!’

[back to top]

Tips for other schools

Advice to schools in a similar situation, looking to set up their own systems, would be to:

• introduce regular, termly teacher assessment
• work together to establish a clear idea of national curriculum levels using level descriptors
• devise a calendar for assessment and data use
• make sure your system is manageable and provide the necessary secretarial support
• be sure to listen to what the data is telling you and use it
• use the Schemes of work units for medium-term planning.

[back to top]

School quick facts

School quick facts
School name:	Leigh Church of England Infants’ School
School type:	Infant
School category:	Voluntary-aided
School LA:	Wigan
School last inspected:	April 1999
School location:	Urban
School address:	Walmesley Road, Leigh, Lancashire WN7 1YE
Headteacher:	Sharon Howard
Pupil age range:	4-7
Pupil gender:	Male and female
Pupil background:
Pupil mobility:
Special education needs (SEN):
Free school meals (FSM):	Broadly average
English as an additional language (EAL):

[back to top]

School contextual data

School contextual data
Context	2001	2002	2003
NOR	178	157	151
FSM %	14.6	14	14.5
% SEN pupils with statement	3	1.9	0.6
% SEN pupils without statement	14	15.9	21.9
% Authorised absence	6.2	5.3	5.2
% Unauthorised absence	0	0	0
Pupil turnover
Results
% Achieving level 2 or above in KS1 reading	88	91	98
% Achieving level 2 or above in KS1 writing	91	88	98
% Achieving level 2 or above in KS1 mathematics	95	93	100

Note, that where possible, these figures have been taken from the Performance Tables website.

[back to top]

Data management quick facts

Data organisation quick facts
Tool	Further information
Pupil Achievement Tracker	www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/performance/
Schemes of work	www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes3/

[back to top]