Evisense shortlisted for

2 Bett Awards!

We are thrilled to share the news

that Evisense has been shortlisted

for not just one but two Bett Awards!

Evisense is a finalist in the

categories Whole School Aids for

Learning and also Special

Educational Needs Solutions. The

winners will be announced at the

awards ceremony in London on 24

January 2018.

THE WHITEBOARD B Squared Ltd Newsletter Issue 3: November 2017

Welcome! Publication in September of the results of the DfE’s consultation on Primary

school pupil assessment and the Rochford Review recommendations has

dominated our conversations with schools ever since! In actual fact we have been

working to identify the best approach to meet the changing needs of schools since

the Rochford Review was first published in 2016. Read on for full details…

This issue of our customer newsletter also includes updates on our newest

assessment frameworks, details on what we have been up to so far this term, as

well as access to an exclusive 3-month trial of our evidence management

software, Evisense. Your feedback is crucial to us. We would love to hear what

you think about our newsletter and what you’d like to see in future issues.

Dale Pickles, Managing Director, B Squared

Rochford Review:

P-Levels are going!

Rochford Review Update! We have been working for some time on new content for Connecting Steps

based on the recommendations from the Rochford Review. The report identified

two categories of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

For pupils not yet engaged in subject-specific learning, our latest

assessment framework Engagement Steps is now available! Read all about it on

page 3.

For pupils engaged in subject-specific learning, we are creating Progression

Steps our observation-based, formative assessment framework. It helps

teachers to identify and record the on-going achievements of pupils who are

working moderately or severely beneath age-related expectations in some or all

areas of their development.

Visit the SEND section of our website for full details.

Teachers:

Are you struggling to show progress for children with SEND?

Do you spend hours organising photos of pupils’ activities?

Worry about safeguarding and the security of your school’s photo/video evidence of learning?

You don’t have too!

Evisense provides teachers with a simple & straightforward way to manage evidence of learning securely.

“Evisense benefits us hugely as the vast majority of our pupils with

SEND cannot complete a worksheet or do other ‘typical’ standard forms

of assessment. Our main way of recording assessment of pupils is

using photos or videos to show them participating in a learning task.

Evisense enables us to store, filter and use these photos to show

achievement and progress in a relevant and meaningful way. We can

also easily and securely share these with parents.”

Lisa Galfredi, Class Teacher, Redburn School

Seen us on Facebook?

Please LIKE our Evisense page to make sure you get to see our latest updates!

Sign up now for a FREE 3-month trial.

Are you struggling to track the progress of

children with PMLD, SLD or CLDD?

We have been working on new content for Connecting Steps based on the

recommendations from the ‘Rochford Review: Final Report’. Our new

assessment framework Engagement Steps, for non subject-specific learning is

now available!

The Report identified two categories of pupils with Special Educational Needs and

Disabilities, each with very different assessment requirements:

• Pupils engaged in subject-specific learning

• Pupils not yet engaged in subject-specific learning

We have designed Engagement Steps to support the learning and assessment of

students not yet engaged in subject-specific learning. The Report recognised that the

subject-specific areas assessed by the P Levels are not appropriate for students with

the most significant disabilities and difficulties; so, a new approach is required.

The Engagement Steps assessment framework - covering what was formerly known

as the developmental range from P1(i) to P6 - is divided into key developmental

areas which reflect the four areas of need listed in the ‘Special Educational Needs

and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years’: Cognition & Learning; Communication

& Interaction; Social, Emotional & Mental Health; and Sensory & Physical.

“Through our research and understanding, we know that students not

yet engaged in subject-specific learning will not work progressively

through each step, completing one and then moving on to the next.

Instead they will experience and engage with skills across multiple

levels, which is why we have designed Engagement Steps to work in

a non-linear fashion to reflect this behaviour.”

Alex Hurle, Head of Education, B Squared

Our Latest

Assessment

Frameworks

A big thank you to all the

schools that took part in the

development and trial of our

new assessment frameworks

for Connecting Steps over the

summer.

We had a great response to

the trials and were able to

provide access to these

frameworks for over 1,200

contacts in schools.

We are pleased to share with

you the news that Engagement

Steps is now available to

purchase. Whilst Secondary

Steps and Steps for

Excellence are also nearing

completion.

Engagement Steps is our new

observation-based, formative

assessment framework aimed

at schools working with

children who have PMLD,

SLD, or CLDD and are not yet

engaged in subject-specific

learning (see story on the right

for full details).

Secondary Steps is our new

Key Stage 3 and 4 tracking

system. Aimed at schools

working with secondary age

children studying for GCSE or

BTEC examinations, it is

based on the 2014 Secondary

National Curriculum

programmes of study.

Steps for Excellence

enables teachers in Scottish

schools to track pupils’

progress within the Curriculum

for Excellence. A number of

Scottish schools are already

using this framework alongside

Evisense, our evidence

management platform, to link

photo/video evidence of

learning to Experiences and

Outcomes.

Follow B Squared on Twitter

and like us on Facebook for

our latest product updates.

Find out more Order now

B Squared on the road!

We have been to all of these events since the beginning of the

academic year! The Autumn term is proving as busy as ever!

At The Scottish Learning Festival we were joined by two guest

teachers Lindsay Ireland from Firpark School and Lisa Galfredi from

Redburn School (pictured bottom left). They did a fantastic job

demonstrating our new Curriculum for Excellence assessment

framework to Scottish teachers and sharing their experiences of using

Evisense for evidence management.

At The Welsh Autism Show we showcased Evisense to SENCOs and

demonstrated the benefits of using Autism Progress to profile and

assess the impact of an individual's autism. Developed with experts from

Scottish Autism, Autism Wessex and the North East Autism Society,

Autism Progress provides a range of ability-relevant strategies, that help

with the design of personalised support plans for individuals with autism.

At the TES SEN Show the B Squared team (pictured top left) spent time

talking with visitors about the Rochford Review recommendations and

their implications for settings working with individuals with SEND. As

well as highlighting our newest assessment framework Engagement

Steps (see previous page for more details).

We had a very special birthday to celebrate in September! B Squared has now been

helping schools to track pupil progress for over 20 years!

Established in 1997, B Squared provided paper-based assessments developed by

teacher and founder of the organisation Brenda Pickles, to track the progress of her

special needs pupils. The launch of Connecting Steps in 2012 digitised this process.

We now offer a fully hosted software system for pupil assessment and evidence

management. Over 3,000 schools are currently using our products.

For more information on any of our products, please contact us on

hello@bsquared.co.uk, call 01252 870133, or visit:

B Squared Autism Progress Evisense

Get social with B Squared!

Link to our Twitter feeds

and Facebook pages for

B Squared, Evisense and

Autism Progress where

you see the logos!

Forthcoming Events