Teachers invited to conference on improving pupil performance

Secondary school teachers from across England are invited to a conference on how data can help improve pupil performance.

Education data specialist FFT is hosting two conferences in England for secondary school teachers.

The Aspire to Achieve 2 conferences, are taking place on Tuesday 10th November, in London's Congress Centre and Thursday 12th November at the ICC, Birmingham.

Breakout sessions include 9-1s, A*- Gs and scaled scores, Raising Aspiration, Improving student intervention, and Collaborating for success in Aspire.

Examples of best practice from schools across England will be available, as well as the chance to discover the latest cutting edge, but practical, research from Education Datalab, FFT's new centre of excellence for quantitative research in education.

Tim Leunig, Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Analyst at the Department for Education is set to deliver the keynote speech in Birmingham.

Paul Charman, director of FFT, says: "Following on from the success of our first national education conferences for secondary schools in Birmingham and London in 2014, we are delighted to announce Aspire to Achieve 2."

Paul adds: "The pace of change in education is enormous at the moment.The conferences will give schools the chance to show how Aspire can help schools get to grips with the impact of new government measures such as Attainment 8 as well as changes to GCSEs and the introduction of scaled scores. With the mix of data, research and practical education support, the conference will provide schools an excellent opportunity to learn, network and share best practice."

The Aspire to Achieve conferences in England cost £199 (plus vat), or £299 (plus vat) for two people from the same school and are geared towards secondary school teachers, especially head teachers and senior leaders, subject and department heads, data managers and governors.

To book or to receive more information on FFT's Aspire to Achieve Conferences please visit www.fft.org.uk.

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For media enquiries please contact FFT Media Officer Sasha Mansworth at sasha.mansworth@fft.org.uk or on 07947 615500.

Notes to editors

About FFT

FFT provides data and analyses to schools and LAs in England and Wales, enabling teachers to inform the setting of ambitious and aspirational targets for students. By analysing pupil results and pupil progress, school leaders have access to insightful data to support school improvement and self-evaluation. FFT has also managed the National Pupil Database for the Department for Education since 2004 and has contracts with the Welsh Government to process data and calculate value added progress indicators for all pupils and schools. For more information visit www.fft.org.uk.Follow FFT on Twitter @FFTEdu

About Collaborate module in FFT Aspire

Aspire Collaborate, is set to revolutionalise how teachers and school leaders across England share school performance data.Presented in a clear, visual and highly interactive dashboard format, FFT Aspire Collaborate allows local authorities, academy chains and schools to combine performance data from other schools in a single dashboard.

A wide range of groups have already started to be set up including local school clusters, school alliances, free school meal benchmark groups, coasting schools, regional subject specific groups; schools at risk; outstanding schools; national school networks.

Schools can pinpoint pupils who may need extra support and intervention at the critical early stage – at the touch of a button.

About Student Explorer module in FFT Aspire

FFT's student dashboard – Student Explorer – is part of its data system for schools and local authorities – FFT Aspire. The student dashboard makes it easier to identify pupils who may require additional support and intervention as well as those pupils who may have the potential to make higher than expected progress. The Dashboard also allows teachers to get a full picture of a pupil's history and context including previous attainment, term by term attendance, school moves, FSM and SEN data.This personalised view can help schools set challenging but realistic targets as well as providing more effective all round support.