Popular Questions
The following questions have been asked in discussions with schools interested in using the OnwardsandUpwards system to fulfil their reporting and pupil tracking requirements.
- Where can I find your terms & conditions and data policies
- Our terms & conditions, data protection and data security policies can be downloaded from our Pricing page
- Is OnwardsandUpwards adaptable to all abilities of learners?
- Certainly. It is what OnwardsandUpwards was specifically designed to do with unlimited and flexible 'I Can' statements for academic and non-academic progress, e.g. life skills.
- It covers early years through to adult life skills, progress towards independence, employability etc. You can add your own 'I Can' statements to suit your own requirements or import them, with permission, from our ever growing embedded library of learning checklists provided by the OnwardsandUpwards Special Schools Community. Steps can be refined to measure infinitely small measurements of progress or larger depending on their ability and rate of progress.
- Can we use our own Learning Outcome Checklists (iCan/Can Do, Statements)?
- Yes. You can add them directly or import them from our growing library of checklists created by the community of OnwardsandUpwards schools.
- Does OnwardsandUpwards cater for setting flexible SMART
- Yes. You can set SMART targets against learning outcome statements (iCans) in several ways.
- Targets can be set as percentage of level or stage (traditional method), as a percentage or number of mastered statements from a basket of statements or as progress towards specifically targeted statements.
- You can even set targets against a collection of highly personalised statements such as in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). You can also mix and match these to give a truly holistic picture in a way that suits your school, curriculum and learners.
- Is OnwardsandUpwards Rochford Review ready?
- OnwardsandUpwards is infinitely flexible and our Special School Community tell us it is.
- “The Rochford Review very much supports the absolute importance of formative, holistic assessment for the lowest attaining pupils." It was like OnwardsandUpwards was designed and built with Rochford in mind, before the report was even published.
- Here is an excellent paper by Richard Aird OBE, Reflections on the Rochford Review Recommendations
- Is OnwardsandUpwards easy to use?
- Yes. Depending on the level of user the system displays exactly what the user needs to know or do. It is also highly visual. If you can use a web-browser, you can use OnwardsandUpwards.
- Does it provide detailed analysis?
- Yes. You have standard automated visual reporting at the click of a button to answer any questions you want answers to - when you need to know. Everything is held in one place. Cut and slice reports anyway you like.
- Does it provide cohort reporting, e.g. Looked After Children, Pupil Premium
- Yes. OnwardsandUpwards has a powerful and infinitely flexible cohort reporting functionality already built in so you can compare any group of learners to any other on-the-fly. Learner attributes would be imported from your school's administration (e.g. SIMS) system or if you don’t have one, imported from spreadsheets or added directly.
- We really like the visual and colourful reports. Can we have others?
- Yes. We continually add new reports as they are requested by our OnwardsandUpwards Special Schools Community. We don't charge for this service because every new report adds benefit to all of our users. If you can describe the report you want, we can add it to the system for you. Dynamic reporting is being gradually introduced so you will be increasingly able to create your own variations.
- How is the OnwardsandUpwards system implemented?
- Your badged and initially unpopulated OnwardsandUpwards system can be deployed in less than 48 hours of your initial subscription payment. Implementation happens at your pace following our ten-step process. Full ‘How do I?’ help files, PDFs and videos are embedded in the system and real-live humans support your designated ‘SuperUser(s)’. We make it go right for you so you’ll be happy and want to tell others.
- Can parents have access to the information?
- Yes. You get unlimited user licences at no extra cost. You can restrict access e.g. to an individual.
- Can we attach evidence?
- Yes. You can attach videos (or other electronic media) against any pupil’s learning outcome or for any subject. The entry is timestamped and the file can be viewed or retrieved.
- Can it be accessed out of school?
- Yes. OnwardsandUpwards is web-based so you can access it anywhere you have the Internet using your own individual username and password.
- Can it be used on an Apple Mac?
- Yes. We are committed to OnwardsandUpwards being compatible with all fixed and mobile devices such as tablets and will always be cross-browser compatible.
- Can we benchmark against other schools?
- This can achieved though data warehousing, uploading your learners' progress anonymously. We suggest you start with a cluster and roll out from there. We already have examples of special schools moderating.
- Can we provide access for our teaching assistants?
- Yes. You have unlimited user licences and you can control access privileges per user.