In Conversation With… Mark Rothery, Dixons Academies Trust

At Alps, we are always keen to hear how schools, colleges, Multi-Academy Trusts and Groups integrate our tools into their academic processes.

In this edition of “In Conversation With…”, as a long-standing user of Alps, we spoke to Mark Rothery, Executive Principal at Dixons Academies Trust, about his experience using Alps Summit, our powerful tool for Group-wide performance analysis in his current setting and the positive impact that it has had.

Dixons Academies Trust is working to improve the future for thousands of children in parts of the North of England, where young lives are adversely affected by social and educational disadvantage. Dixons believe that every child, regardless of their background, should be able to fulfil their academic potential and go on to thrive.

Why did Dixons Academies Trust Choose Alps?

“As a MAT, we only purchased Alps Summit about two years ago. So, although we’ve had it in our Sixth Form College, we’ve only had it in our two school Sixth Forms and at Trust-level for the last two years.

‘We used a range of different data analysis for those Sixth Forms, and had never really tried, as a Trust, to standardise around one package. So the choice was, ‘do we do a big exercise, and look at all the alternatives,’ or ‘do we standardise on Alps, where we are extremely confident it’s the market leader, and the best tool to use?’

So, without a huge exercise looking at different options, we just took the decision to standardise on Alps, because we were already using it very successfully in our Sixth Form Colleges.”

What impact has Alps had across Dixons Academies Trust?

“We were doing data analysis, obviously. Some of it we were doing quite laboriously, to try and get metrics to allow us to compare across different settings, different cohort sizes. So, it’s brought a lot of ease and simplicity to having that birds-eye view across MAT-level performance, so that’s a good thing!

‘Anything that saves time is a good thing.

‘It’s quite nuanced, Alps. I think even at quite a senior Trust level, it’s quite easy to drill in effectively without being distracted. So there are a couple of things that Alps has helped us see that we wouldn’t have seen without Alps at a Trust level, in terms of our Sixth Form provision across the MAT.”

What impact has Alps had for your students?

“We do embed Alps at the Sixth Form College into just about everything we do with students.

‘The target grades we set students, the target grades that we communicate with parents, the on-course monitoring and the on-course quality assurance of our department and then the post-results analysis.

‘It is very much a whole system, and I’m here because we’ve bought into it. We genuinely believe that it is a great product, and I wouldn’t want to endorse anything that I didn’t whole-heartedly believe in.”

You can view the full conversation with Mark here:

End Note from Alps:

Along with Dixons Academies Trust, 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 on 01484 887600 and we will be delighted to speak to you, or you can book a demo with one of our knowledgeable team here.