theTeacherCloud - Evidence for Learning - Case Study: Ferndown First School

Schools are now using the ‘Evidence for Learning’ app to centralise the collection and documentation of children observations

Ferndown First School in Dorset is just one of many schools that have recently chosen to use the ‘Evidence for Learning’ app to improve the way they capture, document and share observation evidence.

‘Evidence for Learning’ is simple, effective, with endless possibilities.
Jo Di-Pede – Head Teacher,
Ferndown First School (www.fernfirst.dorset.sch.uk)

Evidence was ‘all over the place’

Like many schools, Ferndown First School has traditionally used paper based methods to document children observations and achievements. However, in doing so they found the process of incorporating the required photographs was proving to be difficult without printing, and more importantly very time consuming and costly. According to Jo Di-Pede, Head Teacher, ‘our evidence was all over the place, making it difficult to organise and centralise the collection of this valuable information’.

Making the most out of 21st Century Technology

One of Ferndown First School’s key aims in their 2015 vision is to ‘make the most of 21st Century technology’, and to help achieve this they have invested in Apple iPads as a tool for both teachers and learners.

Getting more out of iPads

Although they had already been using an online tool to track assessment, unfortunately they found that this was not suitable for use on iPads. This led to the ICT Co-ordinator being tasked to see if there were any Apps available within the Apple App Store that would not only help address the problem of easily gathering and documenting observation evidence but would also allow them to track assessment.

Free Trial

Ferndown chose the ‘Evidence for Learning’ app as it gives all new users a free trial period, allowing them to have the opportunity to see how it would work within their school environment. According to the Head Teacher Jo, ‘The staff reaction has been very positive, so we have decided to initially roll out across the Foundation Stage and Year 1, with the aim to be eventually used across the whole school’.

What makes the ‘Evidence for Learning’ app so great to use?

The ‘Evidence for Learning’ app is being used on a daily basis in Ferndown First School for both child initiated and teacher focused sessions as it allows them to easily capture children observations and achievements, quickly tag them to individual or groups of children, and then map these to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.

Supports ANY Assessment framework
The ‘Evidence for Learning’ app will support any assessment framework. It has a Framework Library that contains an 'open' collection of education, curriculum, and assessment frameworks from all around the world. It even allows users to upload their own custom frameworks. This is a feature that appeals to the Head Teacher Jo Di-Pede, ‘we like being able to use the EYFS framework, however in the future we will be aiming to import our own assessment sheets as well’.

Easily Produces Reports
The ‘Evidence for Learning’ app also allows you to easily produce personalised reports on demand that can be sent either to a printer, email, a cloud-services provider such as GoogleDrive, Dropbox or SkyDrive, or directly to other Apps installed your iPad. At Ferndown First School they use this feature to not only help with the creation of children learning journals, but also to provide evidence to support the conversations at parents’ evenings, observation evidence for assessment moderation purposes, and even provide the invaluable information that can be sent to those new schools for when a child leaves.

Helps with planning
The ‘Evidence for Learning’ app will even allow you to quickly check a child’s progress and identify which areas of the EYFS are still to be achieved, allowing you to plan useful, relevant activities right there and then.

Already seeing a return on Investment
Within the first 3 months Ferndown First School have already seen a return in their investment in the ‘Evidence for Learning’ app as there has been a reduction in the amount of time staff spend documenting evidence. According to Jo Di-Pede, Head Teacher, ‘Although it is still early days for us, we are already seeing the benefit. Our Early Years Base leader feels the app is saving us quite a lot of time, allowing them to spend more time with the children’.

About Ferndown First School

Ferndown First School is situated in the town of Ferndown, some eight miles north of Bournemouth and is, as such, on the northern edge of the Poole/Bournemouth conurbation. The school was built as an open-plan middle school in 1968 and the first school moved in their extensive premises during the late 1980′s. Since September 2008 they have been a two form entry school with an admission number of 60, and there are currently 286 pupils on roll aged between 4 and 9 years old. Staff consist of 12 full time teachers and 5 part-time teachers who are supported by 1 Higher Level Teaching Assistant and 14 Teaching Assistants. The school has 3 administrative staff. There are numerous extra curricular activities offered before and after school, that are well supported by staff, pupils and parents.