Wirral Council

KS2 SATs and Year 6 Maths Baseline

John Tomlinson, Senior School Advisor – School Effectiveness, Wirral Council

The PDF reports have empowered school improvement officers to take a proactive approach in addressing key areas across their schools. Headteachers are now working together to discuss the data and use evidence to enhance their curriculum. This collaborative effort is fostering a data-driven culture, leading to more informed decisions and targeted improvements in teaching and learning.

From the performance reports provided to Wirral Council, several key insights emerged:

  1. Student Progress – We’ve identified trends in student progress, highlighting areas where students excel and where they may need additional support.
  2. Teaching Effectiveness – The reports have shed light on the effectiveness of different teaching strategies, helping to pinpoint which methods are most successful in improving student outcomes in mathematics.
  3. Resource Allocation – Insights into resource allocation have been gained, showing how different levels of support and resources impact student performance.
  4. Curriculum Gaps – The reports have helped identify gaps in the curriculum, allowing for targeted interventions to address these areas.
  5. Professional Development Needs – We’ve identified specific professional development needs for teachers, enabling tailored training programs to enhance teaching skills.
  6. Comparative Analysis – By comparing performance across different schools, we’ve been able to share best practices and foster a collaborative approach to improving mathematics education.

These insights have been instrumental in driving targeted improvements and supporting the overall goal of enhancing mathematics teaching and learning in Wirral schools.

How did we create this Analysis?

Wirral Council chose our Year 6 Maths Baseline to see what actions to take across Year 6 in the coming year. Our Analysis broke the assessment data down into meaningful insight – looking instead at topics or cohorts rather than individual answers. This aggregation allows you to see patterns emerging which can be the drivers to implement change.

The process outlined below shows how we did this…

  1. Data Collection: We started by asking schools to administer our tailor-made assessments. These assessments are designed to align with the curriculum and target specific learning objectives.
  2. Data Processing: Once the assessments were completed, they were marked and the data sent over to us. By sending the assessment marks to us, they enabled our team to conduct a thorough forensic analysis, identifying trends, strengths, and areas for improvement. 
  3. Forensic Analysis: Our team conducted a detailed analysis of the results. This included identifying trends, pinpointing areas of strength and weakness, and comparing performance across different groups of students.
  4. Individual Report for every Headteacher: We compiled the findings into comprehensive reports. These reports included visual aids like charts and graphs to make the data easy to understand and interpret plus our Individual Pupil Profiles to enable intervention strategies to be created.
  5. Actionable Insights: The reports provided actionable insights, such as specific areas where students need additional support, effective teaching strategies, and recommendations for curriculum adjustments.
  6. Higher Level Summary for LA Assessment Leads: We will then collated all the results into a FREE summary report for the school improvement team, facilitating discussions on how to implement the findings. This collaborative approach ensured that the insights are used to inform teaching practices and improve student outcomes.

By following this process, we were able to provide valuable insights that focus on what matters most – supporting every pupil to realize their potential.