“Back at the launch of the Scottish Attainment Challenge we started to get much better informed around the data,” says Head Teacher Scott Pennock. “We got that really pointed decile data and it was very clear where those really clear community challenges existed.” 

Improved access to data has allowed staff at Wallace High to better understand their learners’ needs: “We created a system whereby all staff had really easy access to the data sharing system for that clear data on the pupils in their class.”

This data is seen as equally important as other key information like learning needs and contributes to a fuller picture in pupil profiles. However, staff at Wallace High understand that no child should be stigmatised or singled out by this information and that all interventions should be discreet: 

“It’s about those young people who’re not producing work, not because they don’t want to but because they’ve got challenges in their life that are barriers to being able to do that. It’s about using the greater intelligence for a positive intervention, not to define people or a negative way. I’m really conscious of that and I don’t want that. Everyone is an individual in their context.”