Improving Your Sixth Form: 5 Top Tips for Monitoring and Tracking

Foreword from John Philip, Alps Senior Education Consultant

I originally wrote the first edition of 99 Ways to Improve Your Sixth Form in the early 2000s while still teaching at Little Heath School. That decade brought two Ofsted Outstanding judgments, a second SSAT specialism, and a journey that connected me with Alps and PiXL, both of which played significant roles in the development of our sixth form. 

The success of that sixth form and the insights gained from working with schools across the UK and beyond led to what’s now a well-travelled piece of work – continually updated to remain relevant. What strikes me most after 20 years of policy shifts and social change is how enduring the fundamentals of a great sixth form really are.

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Improving Your Sixth Form: 5 Top Tips for Monitoring and Tracking

Effective monitoring and tracking are at the heart of a successful sixth form. When used well, they provide far more than data points – they create a shared understanding of progress, sharpen professional conversations and ensure that no student slips through the net. 

In a post-16 context, where outcomes, destinations and value-added matter deeply, getting monitoring right is essential. Below, John shares five practical tips to help sixth form leaders and teachers strengthen their approach to tracking progress, intervening early and supporting every student to achieve their potential.

Tip 1: Ensure students understand the purpose of monitoring and tracking 

Monitoring and tracking of students’ progress at whole school and subject level should ensure that where underachievement is evident appropriate intervention is put in place. 

• In-year monitoring and tracking is critical and must be based on a collective understanding of what a current or predicted grade means. 
• Alps Connect has revolutionised the ability of schools to track value-added progress, at KS4 as well as post-16. 
• Do all teachers check students’ understanding systemically, identify misconceptions and provide clear, direct feedback?

Tip 2: Use ‘data drops’ as a trigger to review student progress 

Review subject and student progress and what this might mean in terms of attainment and value-added progress after each ‘data drop’. 

Make sure all subject leaders and classroom teachers can identify which students need to be supported because they are: 

• Significantly under-achieving 
• Not achieving their preferred UCAS offer 

Alps Connect enables teachers to model the improvement in value-added progress required using intuitive ‘How Do I’ and ‘What-If’ modelling tools.

Tip 3: Grade attitude to learning, as well as attainment 

Ensure attitude to learning is graded as well as attainment when subject teachers record grades. 

Consider recording data to indicate attendance, punctuality, homework or coursework concerns. 

Similarly, enable teachers to record attributes requiring praise.

Tip 4: Monitor attendance meticulously 

Ensure teachers are meticulous in recording attendance and punctuality in lessons and that leaders, tutors and mentors regularly review the data and take appropriate remedial action where necessary. 

Attendance has emerged as a significant issue post-pandemic, and it is crucial that absence is tracked just as robustly post-16. 

Alps Connect can be used to powerfully visualise the impact of poor attendance or poor attitude to learning on attainment and progress.

Tip 5: Use Minimum Expected Grades to inform monitoring 

Use minimum expected grades or personal challenges to inform monitoring and mentoring learning conversations. 

Ensure that all students know what their minimum expected grade is, any personal subject challenge targets, the grades they are currently achieving and what they need to do to improve their work in each subject. 

Provide additional mentoring support for key marginal students in danger of underachieving. 

This focus group could be co-ordinated by the Head of Sixth Form to whom all the mentors feedback. 

To make this high-profile use members of the Senior Leadership team as ‘focus group mentors’. Mentors should be encouraged to phone or email parents to give regular progress updates. 

In the spring of Year 13, also use a UCAS deficit tracker that enables teachers to see how close/far away students are from achieving each grade/points offer. Support each student towards achieving their goals by empowering all involved with this crucial information.

Closing Thoughts from Alps Education  

Strong monitoring and tracking are not about generating more data, but about using the right information at the right time to drive meaningful action. When students understand expectations, staff share a common language of progress and leaders can clearly see where support is needed, intervention becomes timely, focused and impactful. 

By embedding these approaches into everyday practice, sixth forms can create a culture where progress is understood, celebrated and improved – ensuring that every student is supported to achieve the outcomes and destinations they aspire to. 

If you would like to explore how Alps can support your post-16 improvement journey, through clear, trusted analysis and expert support, book a demo with our friendly team to see how Alps helps schools and colleges drive excellence in the sixth form.

About the author: John Philip

John started working with Alps in 2008, while he was working at Little Heath Comprehensive School. At Little Heath, John used Alps to achieve top 2% performance in value-added progress. Whilst at Little Heath, John worked with schools regionally and nationally through the SSAT Raising Achievement Partnership Programme. Since leaving Little Heath in 2010, John additionally worked as an associate for many secondary schools through PiXL.