“Working with B Squared brings great value to Parkview Academy. The role that it plays in shaping our curriculum, standardisation, target setting and assessment, is fundamental to the effective implementation of the school’s curriculum.
“The value to our students is that we are able to celebrate individual success effectively. Every student can be seen to make progress, regardless of their individual learning pace.”
Jonty Emmerson, Assistant Headteacher, Parkview Academy
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Parkview Academy is using
B Squared’s Connecting Steps assessment software with our Progression Steps assessment framework.
Progression Steps covers an ability range from Pre-Key Stage Standards up to pupils working towards the lower GCSE grades. It’s ideal for pupils in specialist settings or for pupils with SEND in secondary mainstream settings.
To find out how B Squared can help your school
Call: 01252 870 133
Email: hello@bsquared.co.uk
Visit: www.bsquared.co.uk
Empowering success through individualised learning
Parkview Academy is a specialist independent school in Welling, London Borough of Bexley. All of its students have SEND and an EHCP and range in ages from 6-19. The school mission is empowering success through individualised and bespoke learning. Its broad curriculum offer ensures that students are encouraged and supported to explore and gain qualifications in their interests, alongside gaining core subject knowledge.
According to Assistant Headteacher, Jonty Emmerson, “B Squared’s Connecting Steps platform is used throughout our school to record baselines, track progress and inform planning and summative assessments. Termly school reports name student’s B Squared levels in each curriculum area and a progress rating of 1-3 is generated in relation to the data. This helps our teachers to set appropriate targets. This data is also used to inform planning to ensure that appropriate differentiation is achieved within mixed ability key stage groups.”
Targeting specific skills for each student within lessons
“Connecting Steps is very user friendly for staff and is used by teachers, tutors and, in some cases, teaching assistants. Progress can be quickly tracked and staff can target specific skills within lessons for each student, enabling us to maintain our school’s bespoke curriculum. For example, within an English lesson where the class is learning to write letters, some students may also be working towards using capital letters for proper nouns, or basic punctuation. This helps to support appropriate differentiation across the curriculum.”
Ensuring students are being taught at the correct level
“Within the school, we use an equivalency table to match up the aims and levels of all qualifications that we offer. Data gathered against the Progression Steps assessment framework within Connecting Steps is used to inform which qualifications students may complete. For example, Year 2 NC is equivalent to Progression Step 6 or Entry Level 2 Functional Skills. This ensures that students are being taught at the correct level within the curriculum that they follow.”
Every student can be seen to make progress
“We use data from Connecting Steps to inform planning and develop progression maps for curriculum areas. Our class groups change each year and students are regrouped based on this data, to give them the best possible learning environment.
Connecting Steps is embedded in our whole school approach to target setting and assessment. The true benefit to Parkview is that it enables us to celebrate small successes due to the grading system within Connecting Steps. For some of our students, these small steps form significant progress in their educational journeys.”
Jonty Emmerson, Assistant Headteacher, Parkview Academy
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