Showing progress towards Preparing for Adulthood

Rowden House school provides individualised care and education programmes for children and young people aged 11-19 with severe learning difficulties, autism and challenging behaviour. Based in the Herefordshire countryside, the school has extensive grounds and woodlands, giving students a tranquil, spacious, accessible and safe environment in which to learn and live.

According to Head of Post 16 Provision, Lucy Armstrong-Clarke, “Connecting Steps from B Squared is suitable for assessing all levels of ability. This means we can baseline all of our students quickly, and easily assess their small steps of progress.”

Clearly see where students are currently working

“Connecting Steps is a well structured system that enables us to clearly see where our students are currently working, and identify next steps, to inform planning. All of our teachers are now using the same assessment system, which ensures consistency if they move classes or key stages. It is also much easier to share student information with staff as they move up the school.”

Highly cost effective with excellent support

“We have found Connecting Steps to be highly cost-effective, based on the ease of preparing reports and the excellent support we receive from the company.”

“B Squared has kept us updated on its latest products and we are now using Steps 4 Life to develop our post 16 and work experience assessment, and to be able to evidence progress in relevant skills.”

Ideal for post 16 and work experience assessment

Steps 4 Life aims to provide a broad assessment framework that settings can use to prepare individuals for life. Some individuals will be working towards independent living, with employment while others will be working towards semi-independent living and others will be in supported living. The Steps 4 Life framework is designed to support professionals in showing progress by tracking how an individual has developed existing skills, learnt new skills or used existing skills in different contexts.

“We introduced Steps 4 Life, having experienced the benefits of using Connecting Steps. It enables us to assess the relevant skills our post 16 students are developing, to prepare them for adult life. Steps 4 Life has a very similar format to B Squared’s Progression Steps assessment framework that we were already using in school. This means staff are already competent and confident to use it. Also, student information is easily transferred, which saves so much time.”   
Lucy Armstrong-Clarke, Head of Post 16 Provision, Rowden House School.