Melrose Primary School, Scottish Borders

We employed Emma Nylk at a cluster level, to design a 6 point attainment tracker to be used within all cluster schools.

We began by working closely with Emma to share with her the design brief. Emma has expertise in both spreadsheet design and statistics. In this phase Emma was able to advise us and also challenge us on what we were asking for, ensuring that the measurements we were asking for would be both valid and useful. This was extremely helpful and allowed us to work collaboratively to create a very specific brief.

Emma was able to work to the brief in a really prompt and efficient manner. She produced trackers ready for use which were really fantastic and fully met the brief she was given. Furthermore, she created a set of help sheets and guides which ensured that the trackers could be used, even by someone without prior experience.

We are now using the trackers successfully in our school and cluster. The tool she has created is very powerful and we are yet to scratch the surface of it’s true potential. It is undoubtedly giving us valuable attainment data that can be used to look at and compare data across the cluster. We are able to track changes and observe trends. We are also able to do analysis based on attainment against risk matrix children, PEF and more.

For me there are numerous advantages to this. The biggest, however, is the amount of time it is saving us. Rather than wasting time crunching data, we are able to gather the data that we need quickly, allowing us to focus on planning interventions and actions that have a real impact for our young people.

Overall we are highly satisfied with the work that Emma has produced.

Earlston High School, Scottish Borders

We had been looking for a solution to our data management issue – and Emma has provided it for us. At three points in the year, teachers enter data about attainment in the senior phase, which we need to read swiftly in order to act on the information and improve academic outcomes for young people.

Emma has provided us with a system which allows us to identify young people who are not attaining and to act on this information swiftly. Furthermore, she has given us the ability to look at big data trends – those on track for 5+ National 5s for example – so we can target set for attainment outcomes.

The service provided by Emma has been outstanding. She has the ability to see data analysis clearly and has made numerous suggestions which we have found incredibly useful.

Stow and Clovenfords Primary Schools, Scottish Borders

The attainment tracker created by Emma Nylk provides a very user-friendly format that allows us to record attainment data with little effort, customise markers to suit our school and analyse data for specific groups of children.  I feel that there is a huge gap in the market for such a tracking system that allows the user to customise and analyse with simplicity.