Tag: Popular
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The Data Drop: GCSE Results gap widens for Disadvantaged students
In this edition of The Data Drop, we’ve analysed over 1.4 million GCSE results from schools in the Arbor community. Our focus is on the attainment gap, looking at how results differ between students flagged as Disadvantaged and those who are not. The Department for Education defines a student as Disadvantaged if they have been…
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Arbor Wrapped 2024
What better way to look back at 2024 than with our very own Arbor Wrapped? A big thank you to all 7,930 schools in the Arbor Community who have made this year a great one. –
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What is a school MIS?
A school MIS, or management information system, is a piece of software which brings together data into one place. An MIS helps organisations make decisions, from daily tasks through to top-level strategy. Every school in the UK has to have an MIS. As a school MIS manages data around all aspects of school life, it’s…
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Hear from eight ex-teachers on their move to a new career in technology
The Arbor team, now over 200 strong, is a diverse mix of of experienced specialists, ex-teachers and Edtech engineers passionate about making a difference to the sector. Ultimately, we’re here to help schools and trusts stress a little less and focus on what matters most – improving the lives of teachers and outcomes of students everywhere.…
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Top tips for managing stress during constant change
As schools and trusts navigate this time of tough challenges and constant change, we want to offer some helpful advice for adapting to new ways of working and managing stress. Danielle Arkwright, our HR and Office Manager, has put together some guidance on how to manage any stress you may be experiencing due to all…
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How to write an effective school development plan
School staff work hard every day to improve standards and student outcomes. But it’s the responsibility of School Leaders to bring staff, parents and the wider school community together behind core values and objectives which focus their attention and efforts. As students’ circumstances have changed during the pandemic, schools have had to be flexible with…
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What’s the best approach to the catch-up curriculum?
It’s been a tough 12 months for schools across the country, with staff having to learn and adapt week-by-week to the changing situation to best support their students. With concerns around the impact of the past year on creating a “covid generation” who have supposedly fallen behind, schools are feeling the pressure to support students…
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Your guide to schools’ financial benchmarking
What is financial benchmarking? Financial benchmarking means comparing your finances with other schools and academies who have similar characteristics and challenges. Areas that schools often compare are their income, expenditure, balance and workforce with either schools of a similar size or within their Local Authority (LA). Why is financial benchmarking so important for schools? We’re…
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Back On Track – Fewer Things, Greater Depth with Mary Myatt
We were honoured to welcome education advisor, writer and speaker, Mary Myatt, to give the keynote speech at this term’s ArborFest – our two-day virtual festival exploring innovative ways of working with Arbor MIS. Mary gave a brilliant talk about how schools can carve out time for satisfying work on the curriculum by focusing on…
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How Arbor has made our secondary school more solutions-focused
As part of our continual work to improve and expand Arbor MIS, we work hand-in-hand with our secondary schools to understand the features we should develop that will best support staff in their everyday roles. We spoke to Rebecca Pickles, Deputy Headteacher at Beacon Academy, about the successes they’ve experienced since moving to Arbor remotely…
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5 ways School Data Managers are using Microsoft Power BI
By School Improvement Consultant, Ed Cadwallader Since I started my career as a School Data Manager nearly 20 years ago, I’ve seen a lot of EdTech come and go. In some areas there have been impressive advances – Arbor MIS, for example, has analytics features that are light years ahead of anything SIMS could offer. …
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Spring term update: Connect more tools to Arbor
Since the pandemic began, schools have had to rapidly change the way they manage their lessons, communications and admin. This has meant using technology in lots of new ways to keep lessons going, and smarter ways of using data to understand students’ changing needs. At Arbor, we’ve been developing new tools to support leaders and…
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What’s the best time in the year to move your secondary to a cloud-based MIS?
Rolling out a new MIS (Management Information System) at your secondary school can feel like a daunting task. That’s why we work hand-in-hand with schools to implement Arbor at the right time and pace. There really is no best time to move – we work with schools throughout the school year and during holidays to…
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Arbor features for Teachers
The classroom has seen a lot of change this term and Teachers are really stretched. To give you an extra helping hand, we’ve developed some really great features in Arbor which take the hassle out of your admin and give you more time to focus on what matters most – your students. Hear from our…
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How hundreds of LA maintained schools are moving to the cloud
Moving MIS can feel like a daunting task, particularly as many schools only have experience of their current system. Even so, the last few years have seen many schools and academies review their tech and replace their legacy, server-based systems with more efficient, cloud-based solutions. We’ve put together two interviews with schools in Hampshire to…