In Conversation With… Charlotte Wilde, Taunton School

At Alps, we are always keen to hear from schools about their experiences using our platforms to enhance student progress.

In this edition of “In Conversation With…”, we had the pleasure of speaking with Charlotte Wilde, Assistant Head Academic at Taunton School, a co-educational Independent School in Somerset, about how Taunton has integrated Alps into its academic tracking and intervention strategies, and the success they have had using Alps Connect, our powerful tool for school performance analysis.

Why did Taunton School Choose Alps?

“Our main issue was that our year in-year tracking wasn’t value-added focused, it was all very outcomes-focused. It was very, ‘what percentage of A*-B should we get, what percentage of 9-7 should we achieve?’ and it was very much looking at, ‘are the students hitting those metrics?’ 

‘What it wasn’t doing successfully, was picking out any child who, whilst they might be sitting comfortably in the middle of the cohort, weren’t performing at their best. And so, they were maybe getting a grade 6, and we were happy, because that was within our percentages, but then when you looked at it in more detail, we’re going, ‘just a second, that’s a child who could be getting a grade 8, if we put the correct intervention in place. 

‘So, we started looking into Alps about this time last year, at the recommendation of our Education Governor who had used it for 12 years in his previous setting, and then we started the training in April.” 

How is Alps being used at Taunton School?

“We have a termly ‘data dump’, where every child does a test – they’re not formal tests, it will just be whatever our Head of Department thinks is best for their subject. 

‘We then collect all the test grades, and have a really good look at children who are in the red.* The children who are all in the red get a postcard home, which has been really nice, because it’s meant that some of our weaker students who have been working their socks off to get their grades, have been able to have that recognition, have been able to get that postcard, and they’ve felt really good about themselves. ‘We’ve also used that to look at any children in the blue**, identifying any children who actually will be top performers, but they’re just not working their best at the moment, and discussing interventions. 

‘Rather pleasingly, it’s come into our house parents, who do bi-weekly report-backs on students. It’s been coming in there a few times: ‘this child’s not quite where they should be yet, what can we do to improve?’ and that’s been coming from the data they’re now able to access.” 

*Red in Alps terms means matching the top 25% against national benchmarks.

**Blue in Alps terms means matching the bottom 25% against national benchmarks. 

How have staff responded to Alps?

“They have responded really positively. I think the main reason is because it’s really simple. They can just look, they can see straight away what the patterns are. My house team have really enjoyed using it, because when they see a pattern in front of them, you can’t dispute if a child is in the blue or if a child is in the red.  

‘I’ve had one house parent who has changed his Year 11 tutoring routine, because he was noticing that none of his students were achieving where they could be. They were all ok, but they weren’t really hitting that red. And so, he has now introduced weekly mentoring for them to work in a classroom and think about how we revise, how we get the best out of ourselves. And that came directly from having the data in front of him to see where his students were underperforming.”

You can view the full conversation with Charlotte here:

End Note from Alps

Along with Taunton School, we currently work with over 1,200 schools and colleges and 95 Groups and MATs in the UK and internationally, offering our high-quality analysis at both KS4 and KS5. 

If you do not use Alps, but are interested in how Alps could support you to improve your outcomes, do not hesitate to contact one of our friendly team at [email protected]. You can also call us 01484 887600 and we will be delighted to speak to you, or you can book a demo with one of our knowledgeable team here.